Corruption In To Kill A Mockingbird

On the surface, it could seem at first that we are born into a world blanketed with hopeless, moral fog, but throughout the fog, which is created by none other than the forces of conscience and emotion that pumps through our mortal bodies, are the wandering, searching souls of our innocence, praying to emerge unscathed, and our corruption preying on the previously named. Three characters in the novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” remarkably portray separate, yet very evident representations of the infamous mockingbird and contribute a view that maybe there are more mockingbirds then what is first assumed. These three characters: “Boo” Radley, Scout Finch, and Tom Robinson, resided in the slow, quaint, old town of Maycomb, County, Alabama. In

Scout, the novels main character, is a smart and inquisitive girl, she often speaks bluntly, and is shamelessly child-like and tomboy-ish. Spanning the time of about three years, the novel watched the Finch girl change and mature, making the book much like a bildungsroman. As the book progresses, Scout finds herself confused and questioning why the world is such a wicked place; her main experience being the injustice of Maycomb court’s final ruling of the Tom Robinson trial. Mr. Robinson, a chivalrous, black man, and accused of raping a young, white lady, was given a death sentence, riding only on the word of the young lady and her white, drunkard father, Bob Ewell. No clear evidence was given. Perturbed, Scout began to realize just how discriminatory and arbitrary the world is. Although Bob Ewell had won “his” case, during the trial Atticus Finch, Scout’s father and a Maycomb County lawyer, had humiliated him. As an indignant, spiteful, and cowardly drunk, Bob attacked both Scout and Jem on the road one evening. What had Scout or Jem done to him?! Fueled by emotion and a little help from some alcohol, evil had engulfed Mr. Ewell like an inferno, provoking him to attempt murder; killing the

Now, in this time frame it was general knowledge that blacks were inferior to the white “race” and the rights they enjoyed were little to none, so the fact that Tom was given a life sentence is not surprising. However, that does not make it principled! Commonality cannot be classified as morality, especially when in the debate of a human life. Although Tom stood as the mockingbird in the face of hundreds of flying stones, it was not only him. Tom stood as the mockingbird and was a portrayal of each and every one of the black people. At the root of racism and discrimination is a heaping pile of fleshly, sinful emotions; pride, greed, and the desire for power and control. Once again, evil prompts men into doing it’s bidding, and the innocent