Ambiguous Decisions In To Kill A Mockingbird, By Harper Lee

The novel “To Kill a MockingBird”, written by Harper Lee, consists of many characters with many ambiguous decisions. Characters such as Atticus, the strong-willed father, Mayella Ewell, the lonely young women, and Jem, the older brother of Scout, made consequential choices, with unclear motivations. However, by recognizing their backgrounds and understanding their current situations, their motives becomes more clear. For reasons, such as maintaining their own sense of justice and self respect, family love, and the desire to have company, led these characters to make questionable decisions.

In order to uphold his sense of justice and self respect, Atticus voluntarily chose to defend Tom Robinson at the jail and the court case. In chapter

Throughout the entirety of the novel, Lee portrayed the town to be prejudice towards African Americans, to the extent of blinding them from distinguishing right and wrong. For instance, when the jury came to a conclusion, Judge Taylor announced, “guilty, guilty, guilty…” (Lee 225). This judgement unveils, how racist the town is towards African Americans. This racism came to the point where it was unacceptable for a white male or female to have any associations with another black person. With this being said, Mayella, who is guilty of kissing Tom Robinson, had to frame him to protect her own social standing. However, in her defense, she kisses him because of her loneliness. When Atticus was interrogating Mayella, it is evident she is lonely for Scout stated “When Atticus asked had she have any friends, she seemed not to know what he meant, then she thought he was making fun of her.” (Lee 223). In addition to not having any friends, she was also the only women in her household. Due to her gender, age, and family name, she was isolated from the community, ultimately deriving her to seek any kind of attention or company. Overall, she was only a lonely young women who was desperate for company, but murdered the only one that provided her attention to meet the expectations of those who didn’t care for