In contrast to Mayella, Tom Robinson was treated as if he were not worth anything, for example he was being called Boy, big buck, when he was being questioned. When Mr Gilmer asked for Tom’s reason for helping Mayella, Tom admitted he had felt sorry for her. “ ‘.. I felt 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”. (Page 217/218) No black man should feel sorry for a white person.
To begin with, he is treated cruelly and is accused of a crime he did not commit - raping Mayella Ewell-from the white population because of the color of his skin. Mayella states that Tom “got [her] round the neck, cussin’ and saying dirt,” which is an event that never occurred. The only reason Mr. Robinson gets convicted guilty in the trial is because of the prejudice and discrimination he faces from the society in which he lives. The jury was not in his favor because his words were going against a white man’s words and because Mayella broke “a time honored code of society” by “tempting a Negro” (272, 272). Next, during the biased trial, Mr. Glimmer continuously addresses Tom rudely, calling him “boy”: “Had your eye on her a long time, hadn’t you boy?” and “…do all that chopping and hauling for her, boy” (263, 263).
Alfred Kelly Ms. Kaye English 2 Section 6 April 19, 2015 The Socioeconomic Hierarchy of Maycomb County Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird superlatively paints a picture of what living in a small town in the south during The Great Depression would have been like. She shows the social pyramid of Maycomb through multiple characters’ actions and reactions towards certain inhabitants of Maycomb County. Lee also uses the repute of the townspeople as an example of how people were viewed based on numerous aspects of their existence. Lee’s characters’ inclination towards others is a consummate example of their position in the social pecking order of Maycomb. The echelon of dwellers of Maycomb is shown threw the dispositions of their actions and
Cousin Francis yelled, “He`s nothing` but a nigger-lover!” (Lee pg83). Just because Atticus was doing the right and noble thing, Cousin Francis thought that he loved black people but he did not know Tom. Although, Jem stated that, “Atticus says cheatin` a coloured man is ten times worse than cheatin` a white man.” (Lee pg201) It is worse because it is like killing a mockingbird, which is a sin, coloured men do not really bother anybody. And then Atticus explained that, “...You’ll see white men cheat black men everyday of your life, ...whenever a white man does that to a black man, ... that white man is trash.” (Lee pg220). He explained that white men always win and cheat, so the white men are the victors but the white man is always a bad man.
Not only was his skin color dark brown, but his arm was disable. Robinson was falsely accused for raping Mayella. This is because the father of Mayella (Bob Ewell) was trying to cover up the fact that he beats his daughter. Although Robinson was an important character of the novel, he did not have any control to say what was on his mind, his view of
Scout learns a major lesson which is not to kill a Mockingbird. She learns that Boo is simply an innocent mockingbird and does not harm just sings and Boo just suffered from his fathers cruel intentions which made the town see him as a harmful creature. The children and Boo never had a physical connection or chemistry but this barrier is soon broken when he saves the children form Bob Ewell. Scout now understands and see’s Boo as actually a real creature although she still points at him, which shows her transformation is still in progress she treats Boo like a real person. When Atticus fails to understand that Boo was the one who killed Bob, Scout explains Atticus a lesson which is usually visa versa, that you must never kill a Mockingbird and by exposing and giving him the negative publicity towards Boo it would be like killing him in a way.
It is a sin to kill the innocent and helpful mockingbird. But around the time of the Great Depression, important morals like that one seem to have been tossed aside. At that time, when a black man went to court, it didn’t matter whether he was guilty or innocent. The fact that he was a colored man made him the target for unjustified accusation. Innocent human beings have been killed for nothing but the crime of being different.
Tom Robinson Mockingbirds are killed daily without any reason. Their only sin is to ‘‘make music for us to enjoy, sing their hearts out for us’’ but many times the price of innocence is death (119). Many people are not prepared for the evil they encounter, and as a result, they are destroyed. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee uses Tom Robinson’s innocence and dark color of his black velvet skin, in order to show the senseless persecution found throughout the hypocrisy and lies of Maycomb. Many people tend to blind themselves to the truth, which is what happened with Tom Robinson.
People aren't willing to accept change and theirs not much you can do in the 1930's to change that because it was "sociality acceptable" not to. Racism was given to its full potential in this novel by displaying that of Tom Robinson being charged on a crime that he did not commit. He is accused of raping a white women by one of the most untrustworthy people in the town. This was just another accusation in this time but ended as most did, with the wrong outcome chosen because of social inequality. Differences in social status are explored largely through the overcomplicated social status.
In the beginning she's just this innocent kid, but by the end she sees the town in another light. A clearly innocent man is convicted because of his race. This causes her to go from seeing her town as this nice, lovely place where bad things don't happen, to this place where racism exists and people are killed because of it. It's a dark time in the book and during that time people are shown for who they really are. The "dark" causes Scout to "see" the way things truly are.