It's due tomorow. We have a pretty diverse group of people here on nation, im guessing some of you are nice writers. If you have anything to say please PM ME OR WRITE ON MY WALL!
Mocking Bird Final Response
Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mocking Bird, staged in the small county of Maycomb, Alabama, during the Great Depression of the 1930’s, is a story of the community’s regular contact and experiences with intolerance. In the book Tom Robinson, a black man, is accused of raping a white woman, Mayella Ewell. Just like in most other southern communities of the United States, African Americans are outcasts, and are subject to widespread criticism and fallacies by default. The narrator, Scout Finch, is the daughter of the lawyer that is called on to defend the accused man. Aside from having to struggle with criticism from her peers regarding her father in relation with the case, her brother, Jem, and her new friend and “fiancéâ€, Dill, have adopted a growing curiosity and interest to the supposed monster, “Boo†Radley, living down the street. Boo’s name is constantly slandered with misconceptions of his unspeakable past, and rumors of his current practices, by children and adults alike. Similar to anywhere else in the south, racism is strong in Maycomb, and just like everywhere else, intolerance is common. Throughout the story, a theme of prejudice is revealed both in the trial, and in the children’s suspicions and bias’ of Boo Radley.
A great deal of prejudice and racism is observed in Maycomb County. All over town, word of the trial has caused unrest. To the townspeople, the most upsetting part is that Atticus, a reputable man credited with good moral and credit, is the one defending a black man. In this scene, Atticus is confronted on his doorstep by a mob of people. ". . .don't see why you touched it in the first place. You've got everything to lose from this, Atticus. I mean everything" (146). They wanted to find out why Atticus was defending a black man for a very serious charge. Because it is a black man being charged, the people stand by the prejudice that all Negroes are immoral and Atticus is not at all justified in trying to protect Tom Robinson. Racism can also be seen as tensions grow between the black and white communities. When Calpurnia brings Jem and Scout to her church, they are apprehended by Lula, a woman at the church. She says: “You ain’t got no business bringin’ white chillun here—they got their church, we got our’nâ€(119). Here, Lula is attempting to remove Jem and Scout from the church simply because they are white children. Lula believes that it is unfair that white people exclude blacks, so she is promoting the exclusion of white people from black institutions. During the case itself, Atticus points out a few prejudices to close his case, and attempts a final stand in defending Tom Robinson. He says:
“The witnesses for the state, with the exception of the sheriff of Maycomb County, have presented themselves to you gentlemen, to this court, in the cynical confidence that their testimony would not be doubted, confident that 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, an assumption one associates with minds of their caliber†(204).
Atticus has set out on the table the most common prejudices and assumptions about African American men in hope that the people of the jury would set aside their passion, and come to a verdict justly. The people of the jury like many other white communities in the south, have assumed that because Tom Robinson is black, he is immoral, untrustworthy, and shouldn’t have anything to do with a white woman like Mayella. Unfortunately, the jury is unable to let Tom Robinson pass as innocent. He is sent to jail and tries to escape and is killed in the process. Word spreads around town, and one of the things said is: “Typical of a ******’s mentality to have no plan, no thought for the future, just run blind first chance he saw… when it comes down to the line, the veneer’s mighty thin. ****** always comes out in ‘em†(240). After being sent to jail, Tom Robinson still had a second chance to be put on trial. Sadly, Tom Robinson was “tired of taking white men’s chances†and he tried to escape, putting matters into his own hands. People liken African Americans to animals in the sense that they act without thinking and they cannot help it.
The people of Maycomb also hold prejudice about another particular individual in Maycomb, the famous “monster, Arthur Radley, “Booâ€. The Radley’s have always shut themselves off from the rest of Maycomb. As a result, no one knows much about what goes on in the Radley household. Because of this shady presence, many people began making false assumptions and prejudices. “Once the town was terrorized by a series of morbid nocturnal events: people’s chickens and household pets were found mutilated; although the culprit was Crazy Addie, people still looked at the Radley Place, unwilling to discard their initial suspicions†(9). All of the children have never seen Boo Radley. They have not even lived long enough to have a clear history of his life. Despite this, Jem knows what Boo looks like, or at least he believes he knows. “Boo was about six-and-a-half feet tall, judging from his tracks; he dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch. That’s why his hands were bloodstained—if you ate an animal raw, you could never wash the blood off. There was a long jagged scar that ran across his face; what teeth he had were yellow and rotten; his eyes popped, and he drooled most of the timeâ€(13). Simply put, Jem has likened Boo Radley to a beast or monster of some sort. He draws his conclusions from the rumors he hears and fabricates prejudices of his own. When Scout begins to spend time with Ms. Maudie, she tries to find out things for her own. “Maybe he died and they stuffed him up the chimneyâ€(43). Prejudice can spread very quickly. Here Scout is sharing her belief that she has harbored from Jem. The case of Tom Robinson had come to an end, but the tensions had not fallen. When Bob Ewell attempts to kill Jem and Scout, Boo Radley turns out to be the one who saves them. Scout is finally able to see past the prejudices, and Atticus helps her. “’An’ they chased him ‘n never could catch him ‘case they didn’t know what he looked like, an’ Atticus, he was real nice. . .’. . . ‘Most people are, Scout, when you finally see them’â€(281). A great majority of Maycomb has yet to see past these rumors. Many people didn’t even know what he looked like or how he acted, and yet, he was blamed for a variety of things that he did not do. When Atticus tell Scout that “most people are niceâ€, he means for her to understand that prejudicing people is wrong. He wants her to know that most people are good, but that she’ll only see it if she gives them a chance.
The theme of prejudice is revealed when Scout and Jem start to understand the many unforgiving truths about the bias’ placed on blacks, and when Scout finally realizes Boo is not the monster that everyone makes him out to be.