I just watched this movie for the first time in over ten years and Atticus' closing statement struck me as being extremely naive. He is a great father who believes in the law being there to protect everyone.
Lawyers don't necessarily believe what they argue. They put forward the argument that they believe will carry the most impact in favour of their client. Pointing out that the law is meant to operate as a leveller for all people, no matter what their race, is a good strategy when dealing with a jury that is inherently biased against a particular race.
But he was extremely naive to think that he could persuade an all white jury that a white woman had tried to seduce a black man and then had been severely beaten by her father for trying to do so.
What makes you think that he thought he could persuade the jury? He was simply doing his job as a lawyer, i.e. defending his client to the best of his ability.
Is he portrayed as being naive in the book? There should be a line or two in the movie where he admits that he's fighting a lost cause. Don't get me wrong, it's a noble cause and he's a saint for doing it but did he REALLY think he had a chance of an acquittal?
From memory, Atticus doesn't talk about his view of Tom Robinson's chances before the verdict. Every adult in the book - even the unbiased ones - thinks that it is a foregone conclusion that the jury will find Tom guilty. Someone comments on how impressive it is that the jury have been deliberating the verdict for several hours, because in their experience, an all-white jury takes very little time to convict a black man.
So we can presume that Atticus would have known very well that the jury would find Tom Robinson guilty anyway. He says after the verdict, "They've done it before and they did it again tonight and they will do it again and seems like when they do it - only children weep." It sounds like he is frustrated and disappointed, but not surprised.
I also agree with movieghoul's view of what Atticus's strategy probably was. A higher court could have overturned the jury's verdict on the grounds of unreasonableness.
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cfwente
9 years ago
Interesting posts, but, sadly and given the time and the place, Tom Robinson had little better than a 50-50 chance of not being hanged, even if he'd been freed on appeal and sent home. . . In many respects, we've come a long way as a nation.
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