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Minor Characters In To Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee

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Many people have ideas and can judge people by hearing things from others and making completely false accusations towards these people who are very misjudged and misunderstood. To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel written by Harper Lee that displays many different themes that are shown by using different characters and how society views them from the ideas they gather from others. These characters also help teach the children many different lessons along the way. The minor themes portrayed in the novel are still seen in society today and the novel uses many minor characters to help explain them. There is a minor character that helps represent the theme of racism as it is used against him. Tom Robinson was a colored person who was heavily judged by the white people and was …show more content…

87) Atticus is explaining to Scout that just because the odds are against him and Tom Robinson, because of racism and social division. This is no reason to not try and defend the innocence of Tom. “The one place where a man ought to get a square deal is in a courtroom, be any color of the rainbow but people have a way of carrying their resentments right into a jury box.”(Lee Pg. 252). The aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid The racist beliefs are against the colored people and the jury isn’t able to make a decision purely off reason. Even though the court house should be a place where everything is equal, the legal system fails to provide that. “I ain’t never seen any jury decide in favor of a colored man over a white man” (Lee Pg. 238). The aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid afores The racism towards the colored people goes beyond the public and even carries into the jury and makes it unfair to any colored person fighting for their freedom and

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“There’s something in our world that make men lose their heads – they couldn’t be fair if they tried the white men always win” (pg. 220) in the 1930s racism at the time was powerful and strong the connection it had with people made a hatred emotion towards Tom, the white men will always win. Despite all the evidence that prove Tom is innocent, people still view him as guilty. Tom Robinson never committed a crime he is as innocent as a mockingbird, if racism was not a big deal as it was Tom would be a free man. Secondly, even when Tom is on trial at a chance he might die, he still shows kindness and compassion like a mockingbird. During the trial, Tom was called up by Atticus to give his side of the story.

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In the coming-of-age novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the author conveys themes of prejudice and racism. The story follows Scout, a young girl in a small town, with her older brother, Jem, and father, Atticus, who is a lawyer. Scout’s father signs on to defend a Black man, which, to many, is seen as a losing case. Scout begins to learn about the racial bias in her town, seeing how many people treat African Americans differently than whites. Lee displays themes of prejudice through Atticus and his experience defending Tom Robinson.

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To illustrate, “Tom Robinson is a colored man, Jem. No jury in the world is going to say, ’We think you are guilty, but not very,’ on a charge like that.” (Lee, 251). This quote shows how little faith Atticus had in Tom’s freedom. He knew that he would not win Tom’s trial, no matter how hard he tried, because no jury in 1930s Alabama would take the word of a black man over that of a white man, no matter how much evidence there was to prove the black man’s innocence.

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At the end of the trial Tom Robinson knew he was a dead man and tried to escape. Tom was shot no less than seventeen times. This is just one example of someone affected by racism.

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Scouts often struggle to grasp the complexities of the world, especially when it comes to the Tom Robinson case. Harper Lee explained this struggle by writing “Atticus had used every tool available to free men to save Tom Robinson, but in the secret courts of men's hearts, Atticus had no case. Tom was a dead man the minute Mayella Ewell opened her mouth and screamed” (Lee 224). This quote illustrates that Scout does not quite understand the injustice of the Tom Robinson trial. Despite Atticus doing his best to defend a black man with evidence and logic, deep-seated racism still prevails in the court.

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In Harper Lee’s, To Kill A Mockingbird , she uses minor characters in a variety of ways to explore and discover the novel’s theme. Standing in another person’s shoes is one of the first things Atticus teaches Scout in the novel. These characters carry out the main theme of the novel, you never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view. Until you climb in his skin and walk around in it. In the notable novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper has three minor characters, Mrs. Henry Lafayette Dubose, Dolphus Raymond, and Boo Radley to help carry out the theme of the book, which makes them crucial members of the story.

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Throughout life, society creates stereotypes and misinterpret people. This often has severe impacts on the person’s life and their interactions with outside world. Similarly, Harper Lee connects people in her novel to an innocent songbird: the mockingbird, a symbol that she uses a numerous amount of times to connect between the title and the main theme. Throughout the novel, the mockingbird represents two things: an innocent creature that perishes by acts of evil and a symbol of innocence and purity that does no harm while spreading joy and happiness. Mayella Ewell, Tom Robinson, and Arthur Boo Radley identify as mockingbirds - pure, innocent characters that face injuries through contact with evil.

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