Tom Robinson

• “People in their right minds never take pride in their talents.”
• “Scout,” said Atticus, “when summer comes you’ll have to keep your head about far worse things…it’s not fair for you and Jem, I know that, but sometimes we have to make the best of things, and the way we conduct ourselves when the chips are down – well, all I can say is, when you and Jem are grown, maybe you’ll look back on this with some compassion and some feeling that I didn’t let you down. This case, Tom Robinson’s case, is something that goes to the essence of a man’s conscience – Scout, I couldn’t go to church and worship God if I didn’t try to help that man.”
• “– don’t see why you touched it in the first place,” Mr. Link Deas was saying.“You’ve got everything to lose from this, Atticus. I mean everything.”
• “Link, that boy might go to the chair, but he’s not going till the truth’s told.” Atticus’s voice was even. “And you know what the truth is.”
• “Lemme tell you somethin’ now, Billy,” a third said, “you know the court appointed him to defend this n*****.”“Yeah, but Atticus aims to defend him. That’s what I don’t like about it.”This was news, news that put a different light on things: Atticus had to, whether he wanted to or not. I thought it odd that he hadn’t said anything to us about it – we could have used it many times in defending him and ourselves. He had to, that’s why he was doing it, equaled fewer fights and less fussing. But did that explain the town’s attitude? The court appointed Atticus to defend him. Atticus aimed to defend him. That’s what they didn’t like about it. It was confusing.
• “Scout,” breathed Jem. “Scout, look! Reverend, he’s crippled!”Reverend Sykes leaned across me and whispered to Jem. “He got it caught in a cotton gin, caught it in Mr. Dolphus Raymond’s cotton gin when he was a boy…like to bled to death…tore all the muscles loose from his bones
• Until my father explained it to me later, I did not understand the subtlety of Tom’s predicament: he would not have dared strike a white woman under any circumstances and expect to live long, so he took the first opportunity to run – a sure sign of guilt.
• Mr. Link Deas rose from the audience and announced: “I just want the whole lot of you to know one thing right now. That boy’s worked for me eight years an’ I ain’t had a speck o’trouble outa him. Not a speck.”“Shut your mouth, sir!” Judge Taylor was wide awake and roaring…”Link Deas,” he yelled, “if you have anything you want to say you can say it under oath and at the proper time, but until then you get out of this room, you hear me?…I’ll be damned if I’ll listen to this case again!”
• Mr. Gilmer smiled grimly at the jury. “You’re a mighty good fellow, it seems – did all this for not one penny?”“Yes, suh. I felt right sorry for her, she seemed to try more’n the rest of ’em – ”“You felt sorry for her, you felt sorry for her?” Mr. Gilmer seemed ready to rise to the ceiling.The witness realized his mistake and shifted uncomfortably in the chair. But the damage was done. Below us, nobody liked Tom Robinson’s answer. Mr. Gilmer paused a long time to let it sink in.
• “If you had a clear conscience, why were you scared?”“Like I says before, it weren’t safe for any n***** to be in a – fix like that.”“But you weren’t in a fix – you testified that you were resisting Miss Ewell. Were you so scared that she’d hurt you, you ran, a big buck like you?”“No suh, I’s scared I’d be in court, just like I am now.”“Scared of arrest, scared you’d have to face up to what you did?”“No suh, scared I’d hafta face up to what I didn’t do.”
• “And so a quiet, respectable, humble N**** who had the unmitigated temerity to ‘feel sorry’ for a white woman has had to put his word against two white people’s.”
• “The state has not produced one iota of medical evidence that the crime Tom Robinson is charged with ever took place. It has relied instead upon the testimony of two witnesses whose evidence has not only been called into serious question on cross-examination, but has been flatly contradicted by the defendant. The defendant is not guilty, but somebody in this courtroom is.”