To Kill a Mocking Bird Atticus Finch V Scottsboro Boys
Atticus finch, the defense attorney for Tom Robinson in the book To Kill A Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee can be considered realistic. The Tom Robinson case is very similar to the Scottsboro boys case. The two cases can be seen as parallels because the reasons and people are almost exactly the same. Atticus can be considered realistic because of the similarities of the court cases and the ethics of humans.
The Scottsboro boys trial has a significant impact on the book To Kill A Mockingbird. The Scottsboro Boys trial began on March 25, 1931, when nine young black men were arrested for raping 2 young white women, named Victoria Price and Ruby Bates on the Southern Railroad (“Scottsboro Boys trial”). Similar to the Scottsboro boys, Tom Robinson was also arrested and tried for raping Mayella Ewell (Lee 180-181). Both defendants were tired unfairly in a society which encouraged and practiced racism towards the black folk. The jury at that time was probably racist toward the Defendants. Leibowitz was the defense attorney for the Scottsboro boys. He was appointed to this job by the International Labor Defense, similar to Atticus who was the defense attorney for Tom Robinson. Leibowitz was renowned for his knowledge of law, amount of preparation, vibrant voice, and flamboyant style (“Scottsboro boys trial”). Both of these defense attorneys tried their best in giving facts, a reasonable argument, and a good cross examination. For example Leibowitz stated that only a little bit of semen that was found in her was non-motile, which meant that the sperm was no longer moving (“Scottsboro boys trial”). Victoria price and Mayella Ewell are also very similar. Victoria is evasive, shrewd, and smart witted (“Scottsboro boys trial”). The same can be said about Mayella. For example, Mayella Yelled that “ nigger yonder took advantage of mean if you fine fancy gentlemen dont wanta do nothin about it then youre all yellow stinkin cowards, stinkin cowards, the lot of you. Your fancy airs dont come to nothin(lee 188).” The two cases are very similar and it can be said that the book To Kill A Mockingbird is based on the Scottsboro case. The book was written in 1960 which was about 23 or 24 years after the case. Atticus Finch can be considered realistic because