TKM+Essay

In the novel, __To Kill a Mockingbird__, author Harper Lee tells a story about a small town where prejudice and in justice are present in the everyday lives of children and the rest of the town. Prejudice is portrayed through people being scared of someone they have never met and injustice is shown by the racism against African Americans. This is all being seen though the eyes of a child, the child being Harper Lee herself. She sees the concept of right and wrong and how her and other children know injustice better than adults.

A young African American man named Tom Robison was wrongly accused of raping a white woman. This accusation was by the woman’s father and herself. The court trial that had taken place for this crime was very long but eventually everyone knew that Tom Robinson was an innocent man. Even though the logistics were plainly obvious of his innocence, Tom was still found guilty by the jury. “Tom Robinson was probably the only person who was ever decent to her. But she said he took advantage of her, and when she stood up she looked at him as if he were dirt beneath her feet.” (page 192) This ruling was completely unjust. Just because it was a white man’s word over a black man’s, made it seem fair. Racism was clearly present in deciding this poor black man’s fate.

Every day the small town of Maycomb, lived in f3ear of a man that they have never seen or heard from. This man that put everyone in such fear, was Boo Radley. No one’s ever seen him but many rumors were spread about how ugly and scary he looked and what kinds of gross and scary things he did. “Jem gave a reasonable description of Boo: Boo was about six-and-a-half feet tall, judging by his tracks; he dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch, that’s why his hands were blood stained-if you ate an animal raw you could never wash the blood off.” (page 13) These were the kinds of prejudice rumors spread through the town but in reality, this man left girts for children in trees and saved their lives from a terrible man.

The adults of this town usually just went along with all the hustle and bustle of the town news every day. The children on the other hand, found that whenever something was wrong, they know is was wrong and it upset them. When the Tom Robinson trial was over and the verdict was dicided, some of the characters, Jem and Dill, started crying and telling their feelings, “I don’t care one speak. It ain’t right to do ‘em that way. Hasn’t anybody got any business talkin’ like that-it just makes me sick.”(page 199) This was Dills reaction to the way the prosecutor waw talking to Tom Robinson and how it wasn’t fair of them to be so racist and cruel.

Harper Lee did a good job of showing injustice in racism and the prejudice of people we’ve never met. She reflects on right and wrong in a way different from children and adults. This story tells us not to make conclusions based upon before you’ve actually know the truth and how morality is a big importance in life.