Racism In To Kill A Mockingbird And A Time To Kill

Racism still exists today but it was highly noticeable in the past in the South. Stories have been written about this shameful period. Two stories that reflect overcoming racism in the end are: A Time to Kill by John Grisham and To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Not only do these two stories overcome the conflict of racism they both incorporate similar themes and concepts.
The concept of innocence being lost is a theme presented in both stories. In the story; A Time to Kill, Tanya Hailey, the daughter of Carl Lee Hailey, was brutally raped and beaten by two white men named James Louis Willard and Billy Ray Cobb. This happens when Tanya is walking home from the grocery store and James and Billy throw a full beer can at Tanya’s head. She …show more content…
In A Time to Kill, Carl Lee Hailey, Tanya’s father, killed James and Billy after they raped and beat Tanya. There was plenty of evidence and witnesses to prove that Carl Lee Hailey murdered the two men. One witnesses was a cop who was shot by accident. Despite all the evidence and witness Carl was freed of all his charges. In the eyes of government, justice was not served, but in the eyes of the people, justice was served. This was not similar to Tom’s case in To Kill a Mockingbird. In Tom’s case there was no evidence to prove that Tom was guilty. However there was evidence to prove that Bob Ewell treats his family like trash by beating them and not feeding them. One piece of evidence was the damage done to Mayella face. Most of the damage was done to the right side of her face. This proves that Tom is not a likely suspect because his left hand is deformed. However it proves Bob is the best suspect because he is left handed and has a record for hitting Mayella. Another piece of evidence is that Mayella could not say her father treats her well on the stand. Despite all the evidence Tom was found guilty, meaning justice was not …show more content…
In A Time to Kill, Jack Brigance, Carl’s lawyer, is fully aware of how the white community is going to act to his case. By knowing this he asks for a change of venue, to a place with a lager African American community. However the motion to change the venue was denied. That meant that the trial was going to take place in the white community where the crime took place. All odds were against Carl winning the case. This was because the white jury already knew that Carl was guilty before the trial even began because he was black. Without the support of the white community Jake knew that they were not going to win, so he came up with a plane. On the last day of the trail Jake made the jury picture the horrible things James and Billy did to Tanya. He then made them image the same things, but with a white girl this time. That imagination made the jury realize that Carl was not a monster and only did what did to get back at those who killed his daughter. This showed that Jake was successful in getting the support of the white community. Atticus, however was not as fortunate as Jake. Atticus’ case also dealt with an all-white jury, but times were different. People in Atticus’ time had no tolerance for colored people. This meant that Atticus had his work cut out for him because he had to try and gain the support of the white community. However Atticus was not successful. He tried to make the jury think