A double
entendre is a statement that has a double meaning: a surface meaning and secondary (usually more
important meaning).
In his closing statement to the jury at the end of the
Tom Robinson trial,says to the jury that the case should never have come to court. He then
states:
This case is as simple as black and
white.
This is an example of a double entendre. On a
surface level, it means the case is completely simplistic and obvious, as easy to determine as
the difference between such opposite colors as black and white. It is all clear-cut as far as
Atticus is concerned: the evidence shows clearly that Tom Robinson, because of his useless left
arm, couldn't have committed the rape as it has been described by Mayella and her
father.
However, the statement also means that the case is as simple as race:
it is a matter of a black man being accused of raping a white woman. If Tom Robinson hadn't been
black and Mayella white, the case would never have come to trial. In this meaning of the
statement, Atticus is asking the jury to understand the racist implications of what is going on.
It comes down to a man being accused of a crime simply because he is
black.
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