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Tom Robinson Case

1249 Words5 Pages

Riya Nigudkar
Mr. McMahon
Literature and Writing
1 February, 2018
Tim Johnson’s Affiliation with the Tom Robinson Case
It is The Great Depression, and an innocent black man has been accused of raping a white woman, nothing new. The novel, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, takes place in Maycomb, Alabama during The Great Depression. The novel covers the years where Boo Radley took over the Finch kids’ childhoods, and Atticus Finch, a respected lawyer, defends a black man. Scout and Jem, spend their years entangled in stories surrounding a man named Arthur “Boo” Radley by using their free time doing anything to see him in person. Amid their activities, their father, Atticus Finch, has to defend an innocent black man in a rape case against …show more content…

A prime example is the Tom Robinson case, which was a blatant display of racism. Jem and Scout saw their “father take the gun and walk out into the middle of the street,” he then killed Tim, and the threat of his rabies was gone (127). The rabies were like racism. Racism, at the time, was something that ruined Maycomb and changed it. The people were less open and more stuck on this one idea of race, while everyone outside of Maycomb were fine. With this mindset and the growth of everyone outside of Maycomb, they would eventually just be so lost and racism would probably be the end of them. This was like rabies, a disease where the animal can’t get rid of it immediately and has to live with it until they get treated or die with it. Without Atticus, Tim would have to live his final days in misery, but Atticus freed him of the rabies, like he would soon contribute in freeing Maycomb of racism. Then, after talking to Jem and Scout about how people’s views in Maycomb were changing for the better, Maudie Atkinson said, “...it’s just a baby-step, but it’s a step” (289). The racism in Maycomb played a role in the Tom Robinson case with false views on race. It infected the minds of Maycomb citizens and brainwashed them into thinking that white people were superior to any person of color. This did result in Atticus losing the trial, but Maudie brought up that even though he lost, what he said definitely affected everyone …show more content…

His feelings towards Tim were like how he took on defending Tom Robinson as well. Then when tensions rose with Tom’s case, so did the nerves seconds before Tim’s last breath. The rabid dog then made his last appearance when representing all the racism and prejudice Maycomb was going through. This dog foreshadowed so many things in relation to the trial and how Atticus would handle them. Even though Atticus did everything he could have, the once innocent black man was now deemed a man guilty of raping a white woman during The Great Depression, and no one could do anything about

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The significance of this event is that it emphasises to the reader that the prejudices of Maycomb were essentially a death sentence to Tom, or more figuratively to the black community as a whole, long before the Ewell’s ever screamed rape. In the end, not even Atticus’ stirring defence of Tom is enough for the white community to abandon their prejudices. Scout realises the frivolousness of the trial whilst reading Mr Underwood’s editorial - no matter how astounding of a

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In 1960, a novel was released by the famous author Harper Lee, this book has then won the Pulitzer Prize, Bestseller and Brotherhood Awards, Library and Presidential Awards and the Academy Awards. The setting of the novel is placed in a small The title of this book is ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ which represents Harper lee’s perspective in America 1930s after slavery was abolished, through the narration of the main character Scout. Harper Lee’s perspective of 1930’s America is efficiently portrayed through the development of coexistence of good and evil, through her manipulation of stylistic devices and aesthetic features. The main themes portrayed in this essay are, growing up and family, courage and fear and Prejudice and Racism.

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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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