Atticus

In questi giorni sto ascoltando la lettura di Alba Rohrwacher.
Come mi hanno affascinato la lettura del libro e la visione del film molti anni fa, adesso ascoltarlo capitolo dopo capitolo, giorno dopo giorno, mi piace sempre di più.
Nei primi capitolo ho apprezzato la descrizione dell'Alabama della prima metà del novecento.
Mi è piaciuto moltissimo il tratteggio dei personaggi e di Scout in particolare.
Stamani sono giunto alla famosa arringa di Atticus, che forse nel testo di Lee è ancora migliore della ottima interpretazione di Gregory Peck che forse molti ricorderanno.
Sono un idealista come e più di Finch. Bisognerebbe rileggere la sua arringa (nel testo della Lee) quando parla del vero significato della uguaglianza di tutti gli uomini e quando si auspica un sistema giudiziario che interpreti al pieno questa eguaglianza.
Proprio molto molto bello.

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To begin with,
this case should never have come to trial.
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.
There is circumstantial evidence to indicate that...
Mayella Ewell was beaten savagely...
by someone who led, almost exclusively, with his left.
Tom Robinson now sits before you having taken the oath...
with the only good hand he possesses,
his right.
I have nothing but pity in my heart...
for the chief witness for the State.
She is the victim of cruel poverty and ignorance.
But my pity...
does not extend so far...
as to her putting a man's life at stake,
which she has done in an effort to get rid of her own guilt.
Now I say "guilt," gentlemen,
because it was guilt that motivated her.
She's committed no crime.
She has merely broken a rigid and time-honored...
code of our society...
a code so severe that whoever breaks it is hounded from our midst...
as unfit to live with.
She must destroy the evidence...
of her offense.
But what was the evidence of her offense?
Tom Robinson, a human being.
She must put Tom Robinson away from her.
Tom Robinson was to her a daily reminder...
of what she did.
Now, what did she do?
She tempted a Negro.
She was white, and she tempted a Negro.
She did something that, in our society, is unspeakable.
She kissed a black man.
Not an old uncle,
but a strong, young Negro man.
No code mattered to her before she broke it,
but it came crashing down on her afterwards.
The witnesses for the State, with the exception of the sheriff of Maycomb County.
have presented themselves to you gentlemen, to this court...
in the cynical confidence...
that their testimony would not be doubted.
Confident that you gentlemen would go along with them...
on the assumption...
the evil assumption...
that all Negroes lie,
all Negroes are basically immoral beings,
all Negro men are not to be trusted around our women.
An assumption that one associates with minds of their caliber,
and which is, in itself, gentlemen, a lie,
which I do not need to point out to you.
And so,
a quiet, humble, respectable Negro,
who has had the unmitigated temerity...
to feel sorry for a white woman,
has had to put his word against two white people's.
The defendant is not guilty,
but somebody in this courtroom is.
Now, gentlemen,
in this country,
our courts are the great levelers.
In our courts,
all men are created equal.
I'm no idealist to believe firmly...
in the integrity of our courts and of our jury system.
That's no ideal to me. That is a living, working reality!
Now I am confident that you gentlemen will review...
without passion...
the evidence that you have heard,
come to a decision...
and restore this man to his family.
In the name of God,
do your duty.
In the name of God,
believe...
Tom Robinson.