Mercy In To Kill A Mockingbird

Words: 1383
Pages: 6
Open Document
When you think of mercy what do you see? Really think about this. Do you think of a situation of maybe helping a homeless person, or putting a sick dog down and out of its misery? What does it really mean? Mercy, by definition, is compassion or forgiveness shown toward someone whom it’s within one’s power to punish or harm. Throughout this semester of English we have studied four units that have some sort of this theme. There will be examples of these instances from The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, To Kill a Mockingbird, Defiance, and The Merchant of Venice. Mercy is shown in all kinds of ways. Each story and topic has a form of it. In the first book we read, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Junior is a boy …show more content…
In this book, the main idea was about a girl named Scout who is remembering a trial that was going on in this time of her life. She was remembering the trial her father was the defending lawyer in. Her father Atticus was assigned to defend a black man named Tom Robinson. Tom was accused of raping a girl named Mayella Ewell. Right in this description I just stated is an underlying example of mercy. Atticus showed mercy by accepting this case even though he knew it wouldn’t work out. He still chose to give this man a fair trial and do it damn well. When all others besides the black population in Maycomb, Alabama wanted to give up on him and send him right to jail. He would most likely face the death penalty. Atticus Finch had shown a great deal of mercy to this man and his family by giving him a strong fight for …show more content…
In case you didn’t know the Holocaust was a time at the end of WWll that was the mass murder and genocide of the Jewish and minority population. In this unit we watched Defiance and Schindler’s List. Then we got to pick and read our own book that has to do with the Holocaust. There were many cases of mercy along with merciless actions. In the movie Schindler’s List, the whole movie was about mercy. The main character Oskar Schindler was a german man who wanted to start his own pottery and ceramic business. But along with his goal of opening a business, the Holocaust was going on. He started to want to employ the prisoners to work at his factory. He set up his headquarters outside of a concentration camp. Being so close he made acquaintances with on of the general's head of the camp. Through him Oskar was able to buy and employ prisoners. He felt respect and had no judgement toward the Jewish population. He after a while wanted to help and save as many lives as possible through his factory. He showed mercy to these people by giving even the weakest a chance to work. He gave them more food than another place could ever offer to them. He showed them mercy when not one other person would even walk by without spitting on them. Oskar Schindler saved the lives of over 1,000 Jewish and P.O.W’s. At the end of the war he felt so emotional. He thought he could have saved more. All he could do was feel sorry, because he believed he could have
Show More

Related Documents: Mercy In To Kill A Mockingbird

To Kill A Mockingbird And Just Mercy Research Paper

the courtroom. Yet as we observe in To Kill a Mockingbird and Just Mercy, these rights and treatment that should be guaranteed, at the very least, are nowhere to be found in their respective courtrooms. To Kill a Mockingbird follows the court case of Tom Robinson told through the eyes of Atticus' daughter, Scout. Atticus fights for his fair treatment…

Words 1623 - Pages 7

Just Mercy Comparison

Just Mercy, a memoir, and To Kill a Mockingbird, a novel, are set in different eras featuring characters who have been accused of felonies. In Just Mercy, Walter McMillan is a black man who was found guilty and sentenced to death for the murder of a white woman. On the other hand, in To Kill a Mockingbird, Tom Robinson, also a black man, was falsely accused of raping a white woman, Mayella Ewell, and was put on trial. While circumstances and factors in both cases somewhat differ, each book addresses…

Words 964 - Pages 4

Just Mercy Book Report

In the book Just Mercy, we uncover the story of Bryan Stevenson and his encounters with death row inmate Walter McMilian. While navigating through his accounts, we reveal the corrupt justice system that the United States upheld in the 1900’s. Just Mercy walks readers through various court cases involving racial discrimination, childhood trauma, and misunderstood convicts. Their stories are important because they shine light on the unjust nature of people in power and help to connect them with larger…

Words 1031 - Pages 5

Innocent In To Kill A Mockingbird

TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD FINAL PAPER Innocence is both a definitive and relative word. In one sense, a newborn infant is the only truly innocent, as it has just come into the world without any chance to do anything negative. On the other hand, we also tend to see those starving after natural disasters as innocent despite the fact that they may have past misdoings we are dubious to. In the sense of the town of Maycomb, in Harper Lee’s novel To Kill A Mockingbird, children such as Scout and Jem, who…

Words 1072 - Pages 5

What's So Amazing About Grace

seem to be filled with antagonism and conflict rather than sanctuary. Occasionally, however, acts of thoughtfulness and mercy do occur. Philip Yancey describes these two sides of life in his book What’s So Amazing About Grace? He says that the world is filled by what he calls “ungrace.” This “ungrace” is exactly what Dolphus Raymond was talking about in To Kill a Mockingbird when he said, “Cry about the simple hell people give to one another without even thinking about it.” One need not look…

Words 346 - Pages 2

Compare and Contrast Essay

Edwards 1 Priscilla Edwards Zameroski English 9 5 November 2012 Word Count: 1,080 To Kill a Mockingbird Essay Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, written in the 1960s, is about a story that takes place in a small town caught in the war-stricken 1930s. In Maycomb County, particular family names are placed in social categories from the highest rank to the lowest as follows: the Finches, the Cunninghams, and the Ewells. Innocence is lost when these families negatively interact. As a Finch, Scout views…

Words 1141 - Pages 5

To Kill a Mockingbird Essay

Audrey Barclay Ms. Henke English II 12 March 2014 Racism Then and Now In the book To Kill a Mockingbird many examples of extreme racism occur which can be compared to the racism still happening in the twenty-first century. People may think racism has improved over the years, but in reality we’ve just become better at covering it up. Racism is beginning to get better, although, some people have grown up with the norm and begin stereotyping before they even have the chance to think to themselves…

Words 823 - Pages 4

Who Is Bryan Stevenson's Just Mercy?

"Just Mercy," a non-fiction book by Bryan Stevenson. It mainly describes the author's experiences as a lawyer who helps the most vulnerable people, with a special emphasis on his work assisting those who have been unfairly or severely condemned in the criminal court system. At the beginning of this book, Bryan Stevenson introduced himself as a student at Harvard Law School. After I read this part, I thought he was smart, had an enthusiasm for law and legal studies, and had a clear plan for his own…

Words 1336 - Pages 6