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“To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee
Macey Higgins
Mr.Pear
Period A
10 November 2018
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Set during the depression in the deep south, “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper
Lee is a moving story the follows the lives of two siblings Jem and Scout. Throughout
the novel, these two slowly start to realize that their hometown of Maycomb is not the
paradise they thought and quickly learn about the prejudice and racial inequality
present in their quiet southern town. One of the many themes present in the novel "To
Kill a Mockingbird" is prejudice. In a perfect world, justice would be blind to race,
gender or any other differences but, as shown in this novel, it was not in Macomb
County in the 1930's. Many characters, or mockingbirds, are exposed to this injustice
present in Maycomb County. Some of these mockingbirds include Boo Radley, Tom
Robinson, Mayella Ewell, and Jem Finch. Hardly any justice is shown in To Kill a
Mockingbird due to all of the heavily embedded racism in society during that time
period, especially in the Southern United States(Lee).
One of the only true voices of justice that persist in Maycomb County belongs
to Atticus Finch, who passes morality along to his children and imbeds his beliefs to
the other individuals of Maycomb. Speaking out against a town full of emotionally
ignorant and prejudice people is no easy task. Atticus explains to Scout the impotence
of this case to her in chapter nine. “Scout, simply by the nature of the work, every
lawyer gets at least one case in his lifetime that affects him personally. This one’s
mine, I guess. You might hear some ugly talk about it at school, but do one thing for
me if you will: you just hold your head high and keep those fists down.”(Lee, ch 9).
Atticus also tells Scout how she has to ignore all of the nasty things people will say to
her over the course of the trial to ultimately become the better person in all of the
circumstances. Eventually fails at altering the views of the people of Maycomb.
However, contrary to this he manages to make Maycomb, especially the jury from
Tom Robinson’s trial, think about their actions and the ways they can affect people.
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Not only does Atticus know of the injustice of the jury, Jem realizes it too. "It's like
being' a caterpillar in a cocoon, that's what it is," he said. "Like somethin' asleep
wrapped up in a warm place. I always thought Maycomb folks were the best folks in
the world, least that's what they seemed like"(Lee, ch 22). This quote shows how
distressed Jem was about how Tom Robinson was declared guilty and how hard it was
for him to comprehend(Lee).
Tom Robinson and Boo Radley are both mockingbirds who are ruined by the
injustice of Maycomb. Tom is an innocent man, but when his word is put against a
white man's, he is illustrated as a liar. Tom did not receive equal treatment in the judicial
system due to his skin color. People of color,...
