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Innocent Characters In To Kill A Mockingbird

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In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, the theme is innocent people constantly struck by tragedy. It is displayed in multiple characters throughout the book. Characters like Tom Robinson, Dolphus Raymond, and Atticus Finch are all examples of innocent people being wronged. These characters have events that change their lives for the worse, yet continue to live their lives only concerned about themselves. Tom Robinson has been accused of raping a young girl named Mayella Ewell. Due to Maycomb being incredibly racist, they didn't think twice about the type of person he is. Tom shows how he is, though, a gentle man that helps around the town. Mayella pleads Tom to kiss her back, rejects her and “didn't want to hurt her” (220). Tom knew he could get in tons of trouble if someone saw this. Instead of …show more content…

He could've taken advantage of the situation, or been vile and rude to Mayella. In the end, Tom chose to be peaceful and compassionate towards her. He never meant to hurt anyone; he just wanted to help. Dolphus Raymond is the only male in Maycomb with an interracial marriage. This bothered the people of Maycomb. Scout warned Dill to “watch out” when Dolphus offered a drink to him (227). This shows that he had been painted as a nasty drunk, even to young children. This is far from the truth. It was just an excuse to hate him because he married a black woman. He admitted to Scout that it was Coke. He told her that he's okay with the rumors so people can live their lives, not constantly trying to find a way to get him down. So they could live their lives comfortably. He chose to allow racist angry people to live peacefully, even if it's at his own expense. Atticus Finch is the lawyer defending Tom Robinson. The town's hatred for Tom followed Atticus. He was Tom’s defendant and because of this, he was abused the same way as Tom. Constantly, people were talking about him. People would throw things at him, and once tried to kill his

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Tom is a man of character who stated that he often helped Mayella Ewell. He went out of his way for others but was a victim of of racism and was characterized by what the people in Maycomb said and thought of him Tom Robinson passed by Mayella’s house everyday to and from Mr. Link Deas field. He stopped and she spoke to him as a civilized person

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The citizens of Maycomb criticize Tom Robinson because he differs from society's cultural norm and because he is a different race which affects how society treats him. “You know how they are. Easy come, easy go. Just shows you that Robinson bou was legally married, they say he kept himself clean, went to church and all that, but when it comes down to the line veneer’s mighty thin. Ni**er always come out in ‘em.”

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After all the work he did for her he never accepted any pay because Tom said she could not afford to pay him. Also, Tom never went on to the Ewell property without invitation so he was not a law breaking person, like the citizens of Maycomb made him out to be. Tom Robinson is like a mockingbird because of what he did for Mayella and how he did it out of the goodness of his

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Mostly everybody that lived in Maycomb saw Tom as a bad person because he had been wrongly accused of doing a crime that was not his. He was wrongly accused of raping Mayella Ewell, most of Maycomb is racist so they immediately assumed he was the one

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She asked Bob what hand he was writing with, and he said both. So he had him write his name down, and they figured out that he was, in fact, left-handed, which makes them believe just a smidge that Bob did in fact hit Mayella. The discrimination that exists in Maycomb extends beyond racial segregation and speaks to social problems that are far more widespread. When Bob sees Mayella on top of Tom, he knows that she was trying to get with an African American man. That was extremely wrong in 1933, so Bob hit Mayella but he knew he could get away with blaming Tom for it because he is African American and Mayella is a white woman.

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Throughout Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird," Atticus Finch serves as a model of tolerance. He consistently demonstrates his conviction that others should be treated with empathy and understanding. One of the most prominent examples of Atticus' tolerance is his defense of Tom Robinson, a black man falsely accused of raping a white woman. Despite the community's intense racism and prejudice, Atticus maintains his belief in Tom's innocence and fights for his rights in court. This shows his tolerance and acceptance of people of different races and his refusal to be swayed by the prejudices of others.

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Throughout the novel of To Kill a Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee, the mockingbird theme primarily denotes innocence. One of the first symbols of a mockingbird that is seen in the novel is the character Dolphus Raymond. Furthermore, the whole Tom Robinson case also has a clear representation of the guiltless theme. Lastly, as started to be noticed by other characters in the novel, Boo Radley is a mockingbird.

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The main characters aren’t the only ones who contribute to the innocent perspective of Maycomb. Dill, the best friend of both Scout and Jem uses his emotions and past experiences to relate to the hatred black people like Tom Robinson face on a daily basis. During the Tom Robinson trial, Dill gets upset over the way Tom is treated by Mr. Gilmer: “This was as much as I heard of Mr. Gilmer’s cross examination, because Jem made me take DIll out. For some reason DIll had started crying and couldn’t stop; quietly at first, then his sobs were heard by several people in the balcony” (Lee 265). Dill later tells us that he didn’t appreciate Mr. Gilmer’s attitude toward Tom Robinson.

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Stories of Innocence “Nice guys finish last,” an unfortunate truth where the innocent are sometimes persecuted, harassed or even killed even though they have done nothing to harm anyone else. In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill A Mockingbird, A mockingbird symbolizes innocence and is shown through few characters .Tom Robinson and Arthur Radley are the two main mockingbirds. Real life mockingbirds could be found as civil rights activists who fought for the rights of African Americans during the 1960’s. According to Harper Lee’s novel To Kill A Mockingbird, the meaning of the mockingbird as a symbol of innocence is shown through Tom Robinson, Arthur Radley and real life civil rights activist Rev. Bruce Klunder.

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What is the meaning of innocence? Innocence means the state, quality, or fact of being innocent of a crime or offense. Like the innocence of being accused for something someone did not do or manipulated by force. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee the mockingbird in the story symbolizes innocence. There are three characters in this story who are innocent in a way or two.

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Let him get a little older and he won’t get sick and cry.” (269) He stated that as Dill Harris was crying over Tom Robinson being treated unequally. As Dolphus Raymond states, the entire town of Maycomb consists of racist adults and children that haven’t yet realized they’ll grow up to be just like them. They won’t cry or have a pit in their stomach, it’ll be normal.

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Tom was only doing a service for Miss. Mayella because he noticed that she worked hard for the children and for her father who abused her because he was often drunk. Tom gave his strength and time to help out Mayella and Tom pitied her because she seemed lonely. Tom only wanted to also help Mayella manage the property she lived on. Tom was a well mannered gentleman who loved his family and helped others “he would not have dared strike a white woman under any circumstances and expect to live long, so he took the first opportunity to run—a sure sign of guilt” (195). Tom tried to avoid the circumstance that he was put into but he became a wounded mockingbird who had less hope of healing.

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To Kill a Mockingbird has many of underlying themes such as racism, courage, respect, femininity, etc. But the theme that fits this book most appropriately is innocence and the harm caused to the innocent by evil and bigotry. Examples of this include Jem, Dill, Tom Robinson, Boo Radley. While all these characters have completely different personalities and circumstances they all have one thing in common. All of them were innocent at one point and were harmed by the evil of

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I felt right sorry for her, she seemed to try more’n the rest of ‘em-” (Lee, 264) Tom said in his testimony that he felt bad for Mayella because she always tried more than the rest of the family and she was always left with all the children so he entered the house to help her. Tom entering the Ewell’s home was a horrible choice, he should have continued on his way home and mined his own business knowing how whites treated blacks in Maycomb. Tom was charged guilty to raping to Mayella Ewell and was sent to jail. After Tom was taken to jail.

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