Gossip is sporadically acceptable, usually substandard, but completely a part of human nature. In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee the people in Maycomb who are the targets of ridicule and misconceptions are usually easy targets because of them being different from the rest of the town. The minorities in this book, racially or socially, are gossiped about by the small minded majority in the small town of Maycomb, Which cause unnecessary consequences like the death of Tom Robinson. In To kill a Mocking bird the people gossiped about almost always can not defend themselves. This is shown with Boo Radley who never comes out of his house because he is portrayed as a monster by the community. Early in the book Jem describes his vision of boo radley based off of the gossip he has heard “Jem gave a reasonable description of Boo: Boo was about six-and-a-half feet tall, judging from his tracks; he dined on raw squirrels …show more content…
Bob Ewell totally makes up all of the accusation against tom robinson in an attempt to cover up what his daughter tried to do. Bob Ewell in court restates what he says happened on the day of the “rape” “Well, I run around the house to get in, but he run out the front foor just ahead of me. I sawed who he was , all right. I was too distracted about Mayella to run after’im. I run in the house and she was lyin’ on the floor squallin”(Lee 233,234). We learn from Tom Robinson this is all a lie besides him running out the front door. The majority of the people in the small town are racist and do not question any of the things they have heard. The small amount of people who are strong enough to have their own opinions like Atticus and Dolphus Raymond know that there is no way that Tom did it. The small minded majority believes all of the gossip put forth because of the social ladder in the south at that time put all whites above