Everyone has, at one point in their life, pretended to be something they are not. Whether it be simply hiding one’s emotions or concocting an elaborate ruse to cover up an ugly part of one’s life, no one is exempt from the perceived need of having to wear a mask. In a society so obsessed with outward appearances—both physical and emotional—it’s easy to be caught up in putting on airs to fool others into thinking we’ve got it all together. But sometimes the façade is not self-imposed; others’ personal biases are pushed onto us and cloud our reputations, regardless of whether or not their ideas have any truth to them. Such is the case in To Kill a Mockingbird. Boo Radley is the black sheep of Maycomb County. He’s the story parents tell their …show more content…
Being falsely accused of rape is devastating enough as it is in today’s society; being a black man falsely accused of raping a white woman during the Great Depression is practically a death sentence. And in To Kill a Mockingbird, it is. Though just sentenced to prison, which Atticus hopes to appeal, Tom could not handle the sentence and fled, which ultimately cost him his life. The case, Atticus knew, would be an uphill battle, because of the deeply held prejudices of the citizens of Maycomb. In his defense of Tom, Atticus says, “...You gentlemen would go along with them on the assumption—the evil assumption—that all Negroes lie, that all Negroes are basically immoral beings, that all Negro men are not to be trusted around our women” (Lee, 273). Such is the hallmark struggle of the civil rights movement: No matter how moral, how intelligent, how innocent black individuals were, due process flew out the window. It was guilty until proven innocent, not the reverse, as it should be. Tom, however fictional, symbolizes the numerous black individuals against whom charges were made with the color of their skin as the primary “indicator” of their