The Death of the Mockingbird Books can be one way of handling difficult topics, and that is just what happened in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. To Kill a Mockingbird was written in 1960 and set in the Great Depression, around the 1930s. The central conflict of this classic is when Tom Robinson, an innocent colored man, is accused of the rape of a white woman, Miss Mayella Ewell. The case is brought to court, where Atticus Finch is appointed to defend Tom Robinson. Although Tom Robinson should have been more guarded and not have helped Mayella as much, the community was at fault because of the blinding prejudice that caused them to rule an honest, law-abiding, colored man guilty.
Tom Robinson was found guilty of Mayella Ewell due to
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He was extremely optimistic that Tom would be set free immediately. However, Reverend Sykes provided a more realistic opinion on the matter, “Now don’t you be so confident, Mr. Jem, I ain’t ever seen any jury decide in favor of a colored man over a white man” (Lee 238)... In this time where racial inequity ran high, a black person winning over a white simply would not happen.
Colored people at this time did not have hope of a fair trial in any court, and when Tom was convicted his last shard of hope
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Ewell and seven children on the place, boy?”
“Well, I says it looked like they never help her none--”...
“Yes, suh. I felt right sorry for her, she seemed to try more’n the rest of ’em--”
“You felt sorry for her, you felt sorry for her?” Mr. Gilmer seemed ready to rise to the ceiling.
The witness realized his mistake and shifted uncomfortably in the chair. But the damage was done. Below us, nobody liked Tom Robinson’s answer” (Lee 224).
For a black person to feel sorry for a white person was unheard of, and Mr. Gilmer deliberately paused here to let Tom’s words sink in. This should not have swayed the jury, however, as stated above, this was practically a taboo. Another thing to note, that a person of color, someone looked down on by the community was the only person willing to get close and help Mayella. This just proves how prejudiced this community is, against people of color and people who aren’t like them.
Despite all of the evidence pointing away from Tom and to Bob, Tom was convicted. He was sentenced almost exclusively because of his skin color. This concludes the community was ultimately to blame for Tom Robinson because of the inequity that landed him in jail, the stigma that reduced the guards’ guilt in shooting him, and the lack of community support for the Ewells that caused Tom to step up. In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Atticus Finch said that it is a sin to kill a mockingbird. This sin rests on the shoulders of the Maycomb