What does atticus mean when he says theyve done it before and they did it

Atticus, when asked to defend Tom Robinson, understood that the case stood no chance in resulting a not-guilty verdict for Robinson, but despite this, he still decided to take up the case and defend Robinson. Atticus implored the jury to accept his logical and emotional appeals that he presented to them and to declare Tom Robinson not guilty; Atticus began his closing argument with a logical appeal to the audience. He stated that the case should not have even been called into trial, as only an extreme lack of evidence presented itself. Atticus stated, “The state has not produced one iota of medical evidence to the effect that the crime Tom Robinson is charged with ever took place” (20). The only evidence the court possessed was the anecdote…show more content…
Even though Atticus had done a convincing job of proving Tom Robinson to be innocent, he still suspected the jury would still be against Robinson because he is black. In one last desperate plea with the jury, he told the jury, “Gentlemen, a court is no better than each man of you sitting before me on this jury” (20). Atticus stated that all men are equal under the law. All men are created equal, a phrase Atticus quoted from Thomas Jefferson in his closing remarks. Finally, he states, “A court is only as sound as its jury, and a jury is only as sound as the men who make it up” (20). Ultimately, the jury, not Atticus, declare Tom Robinson innocent or guilty. Atticus is trying to encourage the jury to do what is right, rather than do what society dictates, which is that they must convict a black man. By refusing to do so, they jury threaten the justice system and the equality Jefferson spoke passionately about. Despite Atticus’s logical argument, the jury of Maycomb could not be swayed from their prejudiced, racist views and declared Tom Robinson guilty. Atticus knew that the jury could not be swayed from their prejudiced, racist

First of all, if you learn a simple trick, Scout, you’ll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view . . . until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.

Here, Atticus articulates the central lesson he wants to convey to Scout, which is that empathy is the key to understanding others. Atticus presents lessons in empathy several times in relation to Scout’s schoolmates, her teacher, the mob outside the courthouse, and the jury. By the end of the novel, Scout has begun using empathy to understand others. Though Scout still has a lot to learn about the difficulties of society, her final interactions with Boo Radley demonstrate that she has understood Atticus’s “simple trick” and learned to apply it.

Scout, simply by the nature of the work, every lawyer gets at least one case in his lifetime that affects him personally. This one’s mine, I guess. You might hear some ugly talk about it at school, but do one thing for me if you will: you just hold your head high and keep those fists down. No matter what anybody says to you, don’t you let ‘em get your goat.

Atticus knows that by agreeing to defend Tom Robinson he has put himself and his family in line for some unpleasant experiences. Atticus is particularly interested in protecting his children from the ugliness around the trial, and here, he tries to convince Scout to ignore whatever abuse comes her way. Scout tries mightily to obey her father’s advice throughout the novel. Scout’s struggle to behave the way she knows her father wants her to versus her urge to protect her family form one of the conflicts of the novel.

I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do.

Here Atticus is talking to Jem about Mrs. Dubose’s commitment to beating her morphine addiction before death, even though she knows she is going to die regardless. Elsewhere in the novel Atticus uses the same language to describe how he faces Tom Robinson’s trial knowing from the beginning that he cannot win, and that the jury will find Tom guilty no matter what. Atticus directs this lesson to Jem because Jem is the one who is most embittered and defeated by Tom’s guilty verdict.

“How could they do it, how could they?”

Here, Jem asks Atticus how the jury could find Tom Robinson guilty. Atticus’s reply suggests that the racism inherent in the guilty verdict is part of the past, present, and future of the community. Atticus also suggests that only people that the members of the jury won’t feel any remorse about their actions, as children like Jem, who weeps for Tom’s fate, are the only people innocent and unprejudiced enough to recognize the injustice of the verdict. Though this line comes in a quiet scene between father and son, it is one of the most scathing indictments of Maycomb’s culture that Atticus offers.

Jem, see if you can stand in Bob Ewell’s shoes a minute. I destroyed his last shred of credibility at that trial, if he had any to begin with. The man had to have some kind of comeback, his kind always does. So if spitting in my face and threatening me saved Mayella Ewell one extra beating, that’s something I’ll gladly take.

In this quote, Atticus says he would rather Bob Ewell focus his rage on Atticus than on one of Bob’s children. He is trying to get Jem to consider the situation from Bob’s point of view, and understand the humiliation and rage Bob must feel as a result of the trial. While Atticus is empathetic to Bob’s experience, he underestimates the depth of Bob’s rage, which will affect his children more than it affects Atticus directly.

Those are twelve reasonable men in everyday life, Tom’s jury, but you saw something come between them and reason. You saw the same thing that night in front of the jail. When that crew went away, they didn’t go as reasonable men, they went because we were there. There’s something in our world that makes men lose their heads—they couldn’t be fair if they tried.

Here, Atticus explains mob mentality, arguing that well-intentioned individuals can lose their basic humanity when they act together. Examples of this behavior include the group that appears outside Tom Robinson’s cell at night, and the jury that finds him guilty. Atticus also suggests that the presence of reasonable people can serve as a cure to unreasonable behavior. This principle seems to guide Atticus’s commitment to doing right even when there is no hope of success.

That was the one thing that made me think, well, this may be the shadow of a beginning. That jury took a few hours. An inevitable verdict, maybe, but usually it takes ‘em just a few minutes.

Here, Atticus is talking to Jem about how long the jury deliberated before returning with a verdict. Atticus sees a glimmer of hope in the fact that the jury did not immediately find Tom guilty, as they usually would in such a case. The fact that they debated the case for a few hours suggests at least one member of the jury might have believed Tom was innocent. Atticus recognizes that the time it took for the jury to reach a decision is a small victory, perhaps too small to even be considered a victory, but that it is still a kind of progress, and that it should be valued.

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Asked by bookragstutor on 20 Aug 10:23

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Answered by MHood2 on 12 Sep 20:37

The actual quote you are referencing, I believe, is: "They’ve done it before and they did it tonight and they’ll do it again and when they do it – seems that only children weep?” This happens in Chapter 22 after the verdict in the courtroom. Atticus says it because no adult in that courtroom sheds a tear one way or another. That is because they have become desensitized to the racism that surrounds them...but the children haven't...and they cry.