To Kill A Mockingbird Themes

“You did the crime, now you do the time,” this age old adage is currently being used to describe Tom Robinson and the case against him; however, Tom will no longer serve time, considering that police officers murdered him when he attempted to flee from prison. A legion of people believes that Tom Robinson’s actions ultimately led to his demise, and that he is just another worthless human. In actuality, the father of the accuser, Bob Ewell, was the cause of Tom’s death. Maycomb’s most reclusive citizen saw an opportunity to capitalize on the town’s racist nature, and gain a few seconds in the limelight. Furthermore, this newly found fame would provide a stark difference from his everyday life of being the town’s most hated resident, and hopefully

“‘ I have nothing, but pity in my heart for the chief witness for the state, but my pity does not extend so far so to her putting a man’s life at stake , which she has done in an effort to get rid of her own guilt… I say ladies and gentlemen that it was guilt that motivated her’” p271. In this quote, Atticus reveals that the evidence presented suggest that it is Mayella who is at fault rather than Tom. Tom was a compassionate man who felt pity for her, and her selfish natures had causes her to rape him. Additionally, he proves that Mayella-in an attempt to hide her interactions with Tom from the public-has put his life in danger. One could argue that Mayella had done these actions in an effort to protect herself from going to jail.

In a society like Maycomb’s, rude and distrustful white people, like Bob Ewell, could easily have an advantage over African Americans simply because of the way the social pyramid is laid out. On page 101, Atticus and Scout discussed the future of the case, “‘Atticus, are we going to win it?’ ‘No, honey.’” The fact that Atticus was actually positive that he would not win the case, shows that the society truly believed that Tom Robinson actually raped Mayella Ewell, even without any information or evidence.

When someone doesn’t commit a crime, their unwavering story and ample evidence should prove their innocence. Yet in Tom’s case, the other side’s story changes repeatedly and incorporates many holes but Tom still found himself convicted. According to Mr. Tate, Tom Robinson punched Mayella’s,” right eye, Mr. Finch”(Lee 225). Not only does this differ from Mayella’s retelling in which her left eye is punched, this would be difficult for Robinson, with his left arm mangled from a cotton gin. He can’t blacken her right eye while choking her but the jury only saw his dark skin.

Tom knew how bad it would look if he was caught with Mayella, which was why he ran away from the situation with the Ewells, even though he was innocent. He was terrified and knew something bad was coming. The prosecute questioned Tom about these particular actions. “‘Scared of arrest, scared you’d have to face up to what you did?’ ‘No uh, scared I’d hafta face up to what I didn’t do.’

Tom Robinson is discriminated against just because of the color of his skin. In the book, he is accused of raping Mayella Ewell by Bob Ewell. In court, Bob Ewell says “‘...Mayella was raisin’ this holy racket so I dropped m’load and run as fast as I could but I run into

The relevancy of the book “To Kill a Mockingbird” has not changed a lot from the time it was first published to today. This book was published in a time period where racism was a large issue. In “To kill a Mockingbird” we follow three young children, Scout, Jem and Dill through their rude awakening to the real racist word in Maycomb. With the children seeing how wrong the treatment of African Americans was it became very obvious to them how the mistreatment impacted the African American community. While on the other hand the people with racist beliefs have never known anything different, African Americans were subhuman to them.

That’s one part I didn’t like about the book. The stereotypes of the black families of Maycomb. As soon as Bob Ewell turned Tom Robinson in for “raping” his daughter the whole white community believed it because he was black. He was a kind, loving father and husband. But no one bothered to get to know the real him or see past the color of his skin to really know that.

Many people feel bad for her, including Tom. Tom Robinson was the only one who wanted anything to do with her. Tom lost the case because he was black. Tom helped Mayella and Tom was only trying to be a gentleman. Mayella was a white female in need of help.

His physical disadvantage made his slaughter even more unjust. During the trial, his testimony made it clear that he was always kind to Mayella. So not only was he innocent, he was a kind-hearted man killed only because of the color of his skin. To conclude, Tom Robinson was a good man who didn’t have the means to protect

“People generally see what they look for and hear what they listen for” (Lee ) The people of Maycomb are constantly caught up in the racist mindset of their upbringing. The Tom Robinson case is a huge example of some of the injustice or prejudice that took place. Tom was put on trial for a crime he didn’t commit, and was unfairly convicted due to the all white jury. When an entire system seems to be turned against you, it can be hard to hold on to hope for a positive outcome.

Perceptions are often incorrect when one is unwilling to believe or does not have all of the facts. These inaccurate perceptions can lead to false accusations, which in turn can cause an immense amount of suffering. In the case of Tom Robinson, other’s perception of him and people of his race led to a false accusation against him. More specifically, the people of the Southern town of Maycomb perceived African Americans to be uneducated and untrustworthy, thereby declaring the Negroes as inferior to themselves. When Tom Robinson ran from the Ewell home upon the arrival of Bob Ewell, the unkempt and unreliable father of the alleged rape victim, it was assumed that Robinson had done something of suspicion.

Tom was accused of raping a white woman who was Mayella Ewell, Mayella said he raped her while he was helping her with chores. She later on tells the readers that it was false allegations. The reason why she didn 't tell the truth at her first trial was because, Mayella was afraid of being embarrassed because she kissed a black male. She rather have an innocent man get charged with a crime than that. “However, Robinson was transferred from the state prison to Maycomb 's county jail on Saturday, two days before he stood trial on Monday, and Atticus had to defend him against a lynch mob”.

First, starting off with the biggest issue: racism. The story of To Kill a Mockingbird takes place in the early 1930 's, the years of the Great Depression and unemployment was spreading rapidly. Racism was extremely strong, especially in the south (which this story takes place). Being African-American at this time was horrible. They had the most effect from the Great Depression having to take on even more jobs and work even harder.

To Kill a Mockingbird is a book mainly about the coexistence of good and evil. The book stresses and emphasizes on the exploration of moral nature in humans. There are many themes in this novel including courage, innocence, racism, femininity, etc. However the most prevalent theme in the book is innocence. Not just innocence in itself but the danger and harm evil poses to the innocent.