Domestic Violence In To Kill A Mockingbird

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To Kill a Mockingbird Essay

In the book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee there are conflicts in chapters sixteen-nineteen between Mr. Ewells and Atticus. Atticus is defending a black man, Tom Robinson, in court while Tom is being accused of raping Mr. Ewell’s daughter Mayella. There are three main topics in this book. Those topics are racism, poverty, and domestic violence.The white people in Maycomb are voting against Tom Robinson because of the color of his skin. In Maycomb county the Ewells are the poorest family. Also, Mayella was raped and beaten. Mostly everyone is going to go against Tom in court because he is black and he is also very poor. Tom Robinson is accused of raping Mr. Ewell’s daughter Mayella. Tom mentioned that he occasionally passed by their house on a daily basis on his
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Domestic violence plays a big role in this book. Mr. Ewell was saying that Mayella was beat up and raped by Tom Robinson. “Well she was beaten all around the head”. (Lee 224). This shows that Mayella was beaten up and that shows a sign of domestic violence. Mayella symbolizes domestic violence well throughout these past few chapters. “She was bruised up when I got there, and she had a black eye comin’”. (Lee 225). That is another example of why Mayella symbolizes domestic violence in this book. These were the three main topics in To Kill a Mockingbird and I believe that Harper Lee explain them very well. In these chapters it tells me that in that period of time, just because Tom Robinson is poor and black, makes him guilty of this crime. This book shows racism because Tom is accused just because he is black. Even though they had all the evidence they could tell that he was not guilty they still found him guilty. This also show poverty because how poor the Ewells and the blacks are. This book clearly shows domestic violence through Mayella’s injuries. These were all three main topics in the book To Kill a

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