Essay On Tom Robinson In To Kill A Mockingbird

“Victory is always possible for the person who refuses to stop fighting” (Napoleon Hill) To summarize this quote that if they want to win something, they have to keep fighting and try as hard as they can. This quote relates to both heroes, Tom Robinson and Rosa Parks, they both had to fight to have their equal rights and nothing could stop them from doing what they believe and what they have been wanting. Tom Robinson, from To Kill A Mockingbird, had to fight a case that he had no chance of winning since his race. He will be going against a white person,  and him knowing that he is African American which leads him to losing the case. A person similar to Tom Robinson is Rosa Park,an African American woman who received a punishment which sent to jail. Her story takes place on a public bus and she would not give up her seat to a white person therefore they sent her to jail. From To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee a heroic character, Tom Robinson, has very similar problems and challenges as a real life hero Rosa Parks.

In the book, To Kill A Mockingbird, one of Tom Robinson's most shown traits is determination. He shows this trait by not giving up on his fight to win the case. Since the beginning of the case, everyone thought that Tom Robinson was the one who hurt Mayella without even hearing Tom's story or Mayella's story. The reason that he is receiving unfair treatments is for the reason of him being African American, from the start he knew that he would not be earning the same treatment that Mayella is going to be obtaining. With him knowing that it is going to be an unfair trial, he still does not give up and keeps doing what he thinks is right: “But this is the truth that applies to the human race and to no particular race of men'' (Lee 232).  Since they were starting to realize that the case needs to not be about race, it was helping Tom Robisons side a little bit. Which leads to how Tom Robinson has kind of been changing people's mind. Rosa Parks was showing her determination  by not giving in to giving up her seat. Even though she had the right to sit in the front of the bus, they had rules that the black people sat in the back and white people got the front of the bus. She knows that she will not “win” the fight but she keeps going and at no time does she gives up until the end when she experiences trouble:  “Surprisingly, on June 19, 1956, two out of three judges for the US Court for the Middle District of Alabama ruled in favor of the women’s challenge that bus segregation was unconstitutional” (Theoharis 156). As a result of the judge being on Rosa Parks side, more and more people were starting to listen to what Rosa Park was saying. Which was starting to lead to people starting to believe her and acquire more people on her side.  

Tom Robinson really shows bravery by fighting for the case even though no one was on his side or really even listening. He could have been digging himself a deeper hole by saying what he thought and how he did not really do anything. Especially when all of his points were proving Mayella's points wrong. This very likely made all of the town and especially the Ewell family really mad. It all could have been worse for him by doing this but he did not care and did what he thought was right at the time. At this moment Tom feels the need to say, “No suh, scared I’d have to face up to what I didn't do” (Lee 225). Tom is trying to express how he feels about capurating all the blame for something he didn't do. He is simply saying that he is thinking that he is going to be taking in the fact that he is going to be told he is guilty for something that he did not even do. Bravery is one of Rosa Parks strongest traits. The trait really shows in her when she knew that she was going to be having trouble but she still did what she knew she should do. When she sat at the front of the bus she knew that she had a feeling that she would not be able to pull away with it but she still did it. She even knows that she is going to receive punishment for doing it but she did what she was wanting. However, she should be able to sit wherever she wants to sit, so that's what she did: “Rosa was able to push past these comments to help achieve the group’s goals of inciting change” (Theoharis 43). Simply stated, Rosa Parks did not let the comments of people stop her from doing what she was believing. She did not listen to them and kept going forward with her case.

As a result, this all shows that a real life hero, Rosa Park, is very similar to Tom Robinson, from To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, through their challenges and problems. Rosa Park and Tom Robinson both had a really strong trait of bravery by doing something that their town did not accept, but they did it anyway which happened to cause change in their town. Both of them were also showing a trait of determination when they knew that what they were doing is not going to go over nicely. They did whatever they could to partly gain what they had been wanting in the long run. Victory is not something that they recieve by doing nothing. If someone really wants to achieve the victory they are looking for they have to fight for it and go against some people and somethings. They have to be really strong and brave to fight a strong fight. They also have to have the determination to keep going even when someone hears mean words about them or when they have no one on their side.