PICTURED: Atticus Finch gives his closing statement to the jury. [1]
Preface: It is well known that the sixth amendment of the Constitution of The United States says that "In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed..." [2] But yet, despite the fact that the constitution clearly states that the all juries that people are to be tried under must be impartial, many attorneys, lawyers, and other forms of representation who work in criminal cases will eventually have to deal with a jury who is not impartial at all. In those kinds of cases, it can become difficult to successfully defend the defendant, as it is human nature to be impartial, and to be emotional over situations. So this requires you to get past that and successfully present your arguments to people who are completely opposed to your arguments, despite not even hearing it yet. I should know, as I'm currently working on defending a client who's case is filled to the brim with emotion and has gotten tons of coverage in the news media, with the overwhelming consensus of the public against this client. So with that, I decided to look into the past, and into fiction to find someone who in the past was able to defend their client against a partial jury, and I have found no one that succeeds at this as well as the character Atticus Finch from the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. He manages to expertly (although ultimately unsuccessfully, as his client dies) defend his client, Tom Robinson, a black man who was falsely accused of raping a white woman. In his case, the jury was full of white men and women during the 1930s in Alabama who saw Tom as nothing more than the villain. I'll be looking at Atticus's closing statement, and breaking it down to see why it works so well.
Symbolism/Allusions: Before Atticus gave his closing statement, he did something very unusual, yet very powerful and very symbolic. He "...unbuttoned his vest, unbuttoned his collar, loosened his tie, and took off his coat. He never loosened a scrap of his clothing until he undressed at bedtime..." (230) As stated earlier, this is a very symbolic gesture by Atticus. Lawyers are often characterized by what they wear. But Atticus is dropping all of those things, and effectively reducing himself to the common man. He's effectively stating that "Under all of this, I'm a person just like all of you, sticking up for the commom man." Additionally, during his closing statement, Atticus makes two different allusions in the same sentence when he states "Thomas Jefferson once said that all men are created equal, a phrase that the Yankees and the distaff side of the Executive branch in Washington are fond of hurling at us." (233) Here, Atticus is alluding to the popular quote by Thomas Jefferson, and he also references that the northern side of the United States often says this quote to the South part, after the American Civil War. He's making the point that Tom Robinson is a victim of Racism here, and that this is not a fair trial. Everyone already was against him and he appeared doomed from the start. Atticus is effectively making his audience, the jury reach deep down within themselves and do some soul searching.
Diction/Tone: Atticus makes heavy use of tone in his closing statement, and his general tone can be described as bewilderment, and anger, as shown when he states "The State has not produced one iota of medical evidence to the effect that the crime tom Robinson is charged with ever took place" (231) and when he asks "What is the evidence of her offense?" (231) He also makes a clever use of tone, when he states that "this case is as simple as black and white" which while on one hand means that this case is simple, he is also alluding to the obvious racism in the trial.
Syntax: Atticus uses plenty of Syntax in his speech. For example, he uses asyndeton (and parallelism) when he says "...he did what any God-feating, persevering, respectible white man would so under the circumstances..." (232) or when he uses a rhetorical question when he asks "What did her father do?" (232). All of this is used to create a better flow for the speech.
Application: With that being said, I've been able to gather a basic idea about what to do. For starters, use plenty of symbolism and allusions, as it would give my audience a picture in their head of what I'm trying to communicate. This is made clear by Atticus when he uses phrases like "Black and White" to refer to races, or alluding to "all men are created equal". It's also clear that strong words, such as "reprehensible" or "disgusting" as it helps make what I'm trying to communicate more clear, and it would also stress how important it is, which atticus shows when he uses strong words such as "god-feating". Finally, I know now to use a tone that is almost scornful. Make it clear that this is wrong and that I am dissappointed, as if I'm a parent talking to a child, which Atticus shows when he states that the state hasn't produced any evidence supporting the side I'm fighting. In conclusion, there are many lessons to be learned from Atticus's speech, and I'll be sure to incorporate them into the defense of my client.
Citations:
1. Pakula, Alan J. To Kill A Mockingbird. Universal Pictures, 1962.
2. United States, Congress, “The Constitution of the United States of America.” The Constitution of the United States of America, National Archives and Records Administration, 1991.
3. Lee, Harper. To Kill A Mockingbird. J.B. Lippincott, 1960.