To Kill a Mockingbird (Personal Response)

What do you think is involved in making a fair judgement about a person or situation? Explain.
I believe that to make a fair judgement about a person or situation, we have to first look at each side equally without biasness (without looking at appearance, race, religion, culture, etc.).

An good example is Tom Robinson's case in To Kill a Mockingbird. He was accused of assaulting Mayella Ewell and the case was brought to court. Despite all evidence pointing to Tom Robinson's favour (it was hinted that Bob Ewell was the culprit), the judge eventually found Tom Robinson guilty and placed him in prison. This shows unfair judgement (prejudice against the blacks).

Another example, in To Kill a Mockingbird, when there was a series of morbid nocturnal events, where chickens and household pets were found mutilated, people suspected the Radleys. Even after the truth was revealed that Crazy Addie was the culprit, people were unwilling to discard their initial suspicions. The people were obviously biased against the Radleys. As stated "Any small stealthy crimes commited in Maycomb were his work", "his" referring to the Boo Radley. This also shows unfair judgement.

To make a fair judgement, other than casting away prejudice and biasness, we also have to understand the situation well. To do that, we have to look in different perspectives.

When judging a person, we have to look at the good points and the bad points. It may be a fact that this person has a bad temper, but underneath he actually is kind-hearted. This person may look refined, but is actually rude and insensitive. We must look at every detail, not just looking at the bad points and not at the good points and vice versa. Also, we must look at the REASON the person is as such. For example, this person is very violent, but it was because his parents had abused him when he was young.


When we look at situations, we have to know that for everything that is done there is a reason, and we must look into this reason. This person may have been wrong to hit the other person, but it was because the person insulted him. Similarly, when we view the other side of the situation, this person is wrong to insult the other person, but the other person did not have to hit him back. By looking at situations in different perspectives, we can understand and judge the situation effectively.

Now we can look at a situation in To Kill a Mockingbird. When the judge passed the verdict that Tom Robinson was guilty, the reader would naturally feel that the judge is a bad judge. However, if we look in the perspective of the judge, it was actually quite difficult for him to pass the verdict that Tom Robinson was innocent. If we look at Atticus, who was Tom Robinson's lawyer and supported Tom Robinson, he was despised by many of the characters in the story because of him supporting a black. (Many people called him a nigger-lover as an insult) If the judge had passed the verdict that Tom Robinson was innocent, people would have despised the judge just as they had despised Atticus. From here we can actually see the the judge had little choice in this matter. If he stood up for what was right, people would think he was a bad judge (at least in the story). Looking in Tom Robinson's perspective (as most of the readers of TkaM would have done), Tom Robinson was actually quite pitiful. He had done nothing wrong, only helping others, and despite that he was found guilty of sexually assaulting Mayella Ewell, which he had not. Looking at the different perspectives of the situation, we can now understand everything and judge the situation.