To Kill A Mockingbird Tom Guilty Analysis

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However his realization began to unravel along with the case of Tom Robinson who was a black man convicted of rape. For instance, during the night of the verdict Scout and Jem were present and as “Judge Taylor was polling the jury: 'Guilty...guilty...guilty...guilty...' I peeked at Jem: his hands were white from gripping the balcony rail, and his shoulders jerked as if each "guilty" was a separate stab between them…”(282). Jem is greatly afflicted by the fact that despite all the evidence that was presented on Toms’ side, he is still considered guilty. Here is where Jem potentially loses his innocence because he first hand sees and feels “a separate stab between” the injustices that are going on in court, where he believed justice was suppose…show more content…
Nonetheless, this was not his only reaction after the trail, they began walking out and ““It was Jem's turn to cry. His face was streaked with angry tears as we made our way through the cheerful crowd. 'It ain't right,' he muttered, all the way to the corner of the square where we found Atticus waiting…”(284). Jem simply could not grasp how unfair they had been to Tom in the trail. This displays how Jem was immensely damaged since he was full of “angry tears” because the court failed to do what was right. Jem saw how society was truly unjust and through experiencing this trail he lost his original views of people, he lost his…show more content…
For example, one night Jem was talking to his sister Scout about why Walter , a young boy, couldn’t read and Scout said that he didn’t know because no one had taught him but that all folks were the same but Jem responded "If there's just one kind of folks, why can't they get along with each other? If they're all alike, why do they go out of their way to despise each other? Scout, I think I'm beginning to understand something. I think I'm beginning to understand why Boo Radley stayed shut up in the house all this time. It's because he wants to stay inside" (304). Basically Jem is saying if all people got along there would be no inequalities between anyone, no one would hate each other and now he is starting to comprehend why Boo “stays shut up in his house”. Jem is beginning to lose the blindfold of innocence that fogged his mind, he is realizing that there are people who are extremely discerning and ignorant. He begins to question why people go “out of their way to despise each other” it demonstrates how he is fully aware that people are not supporting Atticus in defending Tom Robinson. He even mentions in a sympathetic tone that he now knows why Boo stayed in his house, because otherwise he would be judged and secluded. Additionally we can see that there is a battle going on inside him between his views through childhood innocence
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