Licked

When talking about defending Tom Robinson, Atticus said, "we were licked s hundred years before we started." He means that Black people have been treated as inferiors for years before and to defend a black man would be a very hard job. Even thought the trial has not begun, they are unready behind at the starting line. Black men were not seen as descent men. According to Atticus, there have not been trials where the black had won a court case. Although this is true, Atticus is still firm in his decision to defend Tom Robinson. He said that there are times in a man’s career where he just had to do things that would impact his life and this is one of these cases for him. He feels the obligation to defend Tom. He even said to Scout that if he did not take the case, he would no have the right to make his children’s listen to him anymore. I believe that he reasons for his strong feelings on the subject are caused by his objection to inequality among white and black people. Even though he knows that people in the county would be mad at his decision and that his children might have to go through a hard time, he still decided to help Tom because of his strong belief in equality.