Using Tom Robinson's trial as a starting point, explain what we learn about Maycomb society from reading 'To Kill a Mockingbird'.

Essay by smita285High School, 10th gradeB, December 2002

download word file, 5 pages 3.9

Throughout the whole of the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, we learn about many aspects of Maycomb society. However, many of these aspects are revealed most clearly during the heart of the novel, the trial against Tom Robinson. He was a black accused of raping Mayella Ewell, of the disrespected Ewell family. We learn more about how Maycomb has a close society by the majority of people having one opinion about a certain subject, e.g. racial prejudice. We learn more about the three key witnesses, Bob and Mayella Ewell, and Tom Robinson. We see how they are rejected by the Maycomb community, and therefore considered to be outsiders. We learn more about the way that Maycomb residents live by a strict code. 'She has merely broken a rigid and time- honoured code of our society.'

Prejudice is arguably the most prominent theme of the novel. It is directed towards groups and individuals in the Maycomb community.

Racial prejudice is the fiercest form of prejudice in the novel. It is important to explore the background reasons why racial prejudice occurs in the first place. The abolition of slavery after the American Civil War had changed the legal position of Negroes in American society. The Whites now saw the Negroes as potential competitors for jobs, particularly in the hard years of the Economic Depression during which To Kill a Mockingbird is set. Fear and paranoia led to the belief by Whites that the Negroes desired all that the Whites had, including their women. This can be supported by the quote, '- that all Negroes lie, that all Negroes are basically immoral beings, that all Negro men are not to be trusted around our women.' Here, Atticus is summing up the prejudice against the Negro community by the respected white community...