The first signs of racism presented in the book started when Atticus, Jem, and Jean Louise go to Finch’s Landing, the Finch family retreat, to celebrate Christmas. Scout’s cousin, Francis, heard the news. Which he decided to talk some sense into her by calling Atticus a “nigger lover”. His statement reflects …show more content…
This person was Lula, and said that whites weren’t allowed. They could not pass until Reverend Sykes interceded on their behalf. Once church was over, Calpurnia told Jem and Scout that the majority of people at First Purchase cannot read save her and three others. Their opinion on the Robinson vs. Ewell case was that Mr. Ewell unjustly accused him. This reflects the Jim Crow laws that were in place during that time, increasing oppression of black people, and enforced in the former Confederate states (The Jim Crow South article). There are inconsistencies in which law enforcement applied it. It was a fickle law and open to interpretation. A good example of this is when Mr. Walter Cunningham and his group of cutthroats decides to lynch Tom Robinson, who was in the Maycomb prison, and the only people that defended him was Atticus and Mr. Underwood (both are in the prison). Jem, Dill, and Scout intervene that stops Mr. Cunningham from doing it. The fictional Robinson v. Ewell case is parallel with the “Scottsboro Boys” case where nine young black men were charged with the of raping two white women on a train from Tennessee to Alabama (The Jim Crow South article). Such sensational cases had white women, children, and men camping outside a courthouse anticipating the upcoming drama similar to the situation outside the courthouse in Maycomb …show more content…
Atticus said “In our courts, when it’s white man’s word against a black man’s, the white man always wins” in response to Scout’s deliberations on how Tom Robinson lost the case when Atticus brilliantly defended him i.e. why didn’t Mr. Heck Tate or Mr. Ewell send in for a doctor to confirm the rape by Tom, and Mayella breaking an ancient custom that Interracial interactions were not allowed. An example supporting Atticus was “Tom was a dead man the minute Mayella Ewell opened her mouth and screamed”. After the case, Atticus had to break the news to Helen Robinson, spouse of Tom Robinson, as Tom had an unfortunate accident at a prison with the guards’ w/guns. In result, Helen Robinson died on the spot due to a mysterious