Today in Chapter 21 we found out the verdict of the Tom Robinson trial. Before we got to find out, Calpurnia appeared in the courtroom with a letter for Atticus. It was from Aunt Alexandria telling him that Jem, Scout, and Dill were missing. Mr, Underwood stood up and told Atticus that they were with the A.A. people on the balcony. They got down from there and returned home to eat supper. Atticus said that they could return for the verdict if it wasn't chosen by the time they got back. They do end up getting back before the verdict is chosen, and eventually, it is chosen around 11:00 p.m. It took 3-4 hours, and the verdict given is guilty. Atticus leaves, and the A.A. people applaud Atticus for his service. The children, especially Jem is shocked. Jem didn't think that racism would play a part in the decision.
Ok, rant time. I remember how Mayella said that the jury members are yellow-bellied cowards if they didn't decide guilty as the verdict. In my opinion, it should be the other way around. The jury members are cowards for deciding guilty and giving in to racism and ignorance. They were given no evidence by the prosecution except for eye witnesses who were obviously lying and trying to hide something. Atticus exposed all three of the prosecution's witnesses during cross examination. Atticus didn't even try to hide anything during the direct examination of Tom Robinson. We found out the truth of what really happened on November 21st rather than the bended lies by the unprestigious Ewells. Atticus had an extraordinary closing argument. He even told the jury to decide using evidence, not racism, but what did they do? They were overcome by racism and ignorance, and they named an innocent man guilty. He will lose his life because of a lie, and he even has a family. He has a wife and three children who will now be fatherless. The cowardly jury have saved the worst family in Maycomb and destroyed a perfectly fine family. At the least, some of the jury members thought that Tom was not guilty, but they were forced by peer pressure to do something acceptable.
I think it was pretty ignorant of the jurors to decide is verdict is guilty. Atticus did persuade the jurors, because they were in the jury room for quite a while. It was sad that he had to ruin Tom Robinson's life. HE had children, and a wife. IT was sad because at the end of that trial, every single person knew that Tom Robinson wasn't guilty. They didn't do antything about it. Only Atticus and a few other people did something. Great blog post, and I like your meme
ReplyDeleteThis was good summary and I agree with you about the jurors basically destroying a perfect family to another family that others look down to. I also agree with you when you talked about the jurors being too much of a coward to save Tom from the case. good job on this summary!
ReplyDeleteNice blog post! I like how one paragraph is meant for the summary and the other is for your rant. I like how you talk about the reason they voted guilty is that they're racist. I do agree with the last sentence you put. Good Job!
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