Racism's Ability To Change A Life
To Kill a Mockingbird: Racisms Ability to Change a Life
In the small, southern town of Maycomb, Alabama life moves pretty slow. Everybody knows everybody, and when word gets out about something, it does not take very long for the whole town to find out about it. All of this changes on a hot, summer night when Tom Robinson, a black field hand, is accused of rape by a white girl, Mayella Ewell. Then when a prominent white lawyer, Atticus Finch takes on Tom’s case pro bono, Maycomb descends into chaos, fuelled by hatred and racism. All of a sudden this small town’s old-fashion values become the center of a racial dispute. Author Harper Lee has portrayed the deep set traditional way of thinking of the white southerners who are unable to accept that blacks are their equals. Atticus knows this and believes all blacks, not just Tom, have been denied the equality they deserve and by law, are allowed to have as an inalienable right. The white townspeople of Maycomb find it difficult and unacceptable to consider them equal. Racism has been illustrated while depicting the lifestyle of the black community and the varied problems they face from the white population. In response to the trial, the lives of Tom, Atticus, Jem, Scout and all of Maycomb will forever be transformed.
Tom Robinson suffers from the existence of racism more than anyone else in the novel because he loses his life from it. When Tom is accused of rape a white woman he is put on trial and Atticus decides to defend Tom because he knows he is innocent; but there is only so much he can do in front of an all white jury. From the beginning, Tom never had a chance of convincing the jury he was innocent. Although, evidence pointed to Bob Ewell, Mayella’s father, the all white jury was not going to convict a white man over a black man, no matter how strong the evidence. This is the depiction of the views of a small southern town. The trial shows the true evilness people can encounter when dealing...
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