Harper Lee recounts many problems with how the community of Maycomb handles racism and justice. This consequences numerous people in Maycomb. The Central One Idea in "How to Kill a Mockingbird" is exploring of why it's a sin to kill a mocking bird figuratively. It also is exploring racism against black people in the 1930's. One of the foremost of the people in Maycomb dealing with racism is Tom Robinson. One of the foremost people dealing with being a "mockingbird" symbolically in this mockingbird metaphor is Arthur Radley.
Many characters of this Harper Lee Ray novel are effected by the society's unjust behavior in Maycomb. In this novel Tom Robinson faces much of the racial injustice. This is of course common during Tom Robinson's time considering it was taken place in the 1930s, and in the middle of the Great Depression. Tom Robinson is an innocent black man accused of having raped a white woman. Even though someone like Bob Ewell which is looked down upon on the social ladder by everyone in Maycomb, the people still believe
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They don't eat up people's gardens, don't nest in corncribs, they don't do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That's why it's a sin to kill a mockingbird." This metaphor is about innocent people that don't bother any one are treated badly.
Tom Robinson is an example of being the "mockingbird" in this situation. The town perpetrates the ultimate sin by accusing him guilty. As a result they have killed a "mockingbird". Tom Robinson has done nothing wrong to anyone yet he is still treated wrongly. Tom Robinson has to accept the consequences of the people's racism towards black people because white people get enraged when something involves a black person. This idea is touched in chapter 9 when Atticus says "Why reasonable people go stark raving mad when anything involving a Negro comes up, is something I don't pretend to