TKAM speech Flashcards
(19 cards)
Intro hook
Imagine a world where you are judged based on your appearance and false rumors alone. A world where the colour of your skin and wrongful whispers of others eliminate your identity and your worth. This is the world we live in today, and the world the characters from Harper Lee’s to kill a mocking bird are forced to face.
Intro background
To kill a Mockingbird is a story of quick judgement and the persecution of innocents. The novel fallows our young narrator, Scout, and her navigation through the great depression, small town life, and the eventual turmoil that comes to the town due to a legal dispute.
Intro claim
Throughout the novel Lee analyzes the complexity of humanity, and how no one person can be classified as good or evil based on appearances and rumors alone.
Intro reasons
We witness Boo radly being judged and ridiculed, not by his own character, but by the rumors the town spin to fit Boo into their narrative. We see Tom Robinson wrongfully convicted, not by the evidence at hand but by the colour of his skin alone, and Mayella being portrayed as the novel’s villain, despite being a victim of her own unfortunate circumstances.
Intro closing sentence
Each character being stripped of their humanity for no reason at all.
Intro to Boo Radley
Starting with Arthur, we see him stripped of his humanity, and twisted into a black and white villain.
Set up to Boo Radley
When Dill, a new face in Maycomb, arrives in the county, Jem and Scout take it upon themselves to teach him the inerworkings of the town. As they describe the eccentric personalities of Maycomb, they take their time to paint a picture of the Radleys, particularly Boo Radley. They describe him as a 7 foot tall monstrosity, who dines on raw squirrels and any cats he can get his hands on.
Boo Radley reasoning
The children have never seen Boo Radley with their own eyes yet they portray him as a monster. The image of Arther they have is a reflection of the town’s ignorance, where the rumors they have heard throughout their lives have painted this image of a madman. Due to the townsfolk’s ignorance and fear of the unknown, they do not take the time to get to know Arthur, nor leave him alone. They instead distort his character to fit their own narrative, creating an image of Boo Radley, an antisocial creature of the night.
Boo Radley closing sentence
They villinze him as a man to fear rather to know, twisting a complex man into a 2D monster.
Tom Robinson opening sentence
By his appearance alone Tom Robinson is classified as a convict worthy of death.
Tom Robinson set up
Atticus has already done a phenominal job of making the jury reflect on the evidnce at hand, and he can only hope it will be enough as he says,
Tom Robinson quote
“‘The state has not produced one iota of medical evidence to the effect that the crime Tom Robinson is charged with ever took place. It has relied instead upon the testimony of two witnesses whose evidence has not only been called into serious question.”
Tom Robinson reasoning
However, the lack of evidence was not enough, because Tom was found guilty of a crime he didn’t commit. In a courtroom where all men are to be equal, Tom’s appearance alone is enough to deprive him of the right. The jury had no palpable evidence he was guilty, yet they justified their sentence because Tom is a Black man. Tom had a story, yet his story was irrelevant due to the colour of his skin. . In the eyes of the jury, he was not a complex individual, but simply a guilty African American man.
Mayella intro sentence
Even Mayella, the seemingly villain of the story, is denied a story of her own.
Mayella set up
n One of the many claims about the Novel was how heartless Mayella is. In one essay, the author claims, “Throughout the novel, Harper Lee portrays Mayella Ewell as a villain who murders the kind, helpless, and innocent Tom Robinson.” Her story, like all the other characters, is much more complex than simply her being a killer of inocents. And through the trial, this is revealed. As Atticus is trying to prove Tom Robinson guilty, he isntead focuses the blame on Bob Ewell. He does this by putting his heinous abuse of Mayella on display.
Mayella evidence
While Lee wrote Mayella’s character to be a symbol of the complications of abuse, in the eyes of the readers, she was nothing more than a vile perpetrator. Throughout the novel, Lee portrays Mayella as a copy and paste of her white trash family. Even Atticus, a role model of true understanding and empathy, shows disdain for the Ewells. By these bigoted judgments, our view of Mayella is tainted from the beginning, biased into condemning her to hatred and wrongful judgment. Her story is not defined by her accusation alone, but rather by the unfortunate circumstances leading towards it. If she were to rightfully convict Bob for abuse, where would she and her family go? And if Bob were to stay in the custody of Mayella, she would have suffered a worse fate than death itself. Even as readers, we neglect to see the complexity of Mayella Ewell.
Conclusion Claim restate
In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Lee investigates the intricacy of humanity and how people should not be judged based on rumors or superficial impressions.
Conclusion examples restate
By the ignorance of the townsfolk, Arthur Radley is thought of as a monster. Tom Robinson is sentenced to a cruel death based on the colour of his skin alone, and Mayella, who is meant to represent a tragic situation, is seen as the villain in most readers’ eyes.
Conclusion lasting message
A world of quick judgment and persecution is a cruel world we do not have to accept. You don’t know the person, so why act like you do? Human nature is not black and white, and it’s not something that can be shoved into a box. It’s a complicated grey area without confinement and closed doors; therefore, we must stop being so quick to ridicule and judge, and quicker to listen and understand.
