“There’s something in our world that makes men lose their heads-they couldn’t be fair if they tried. In our courts, when it's a white man’s word against a black man’s, the white man always wins. They’re ugly, but those are the facts of life” (Lee. 294). To Kill a Mockingbird takes place in a little town in Alabama called Maycomb. The main character is a little girl named Scout and her dad, Atticus, who defends a black man in court. The accusations against the man are a sham, and are instigated by the Ewell family. The Finches are scrupulous unlike the Ewells. The man whose name is Tom Robinson is innocent, but because of racism in the town he is convicted guilty. The quote above is from Atticus and he is talking about how people in the town are so racist and blinded by hate that they cannot even see who is really guilty or innocent. Harper Lee uses characterization and conflict to display the negative effects of racial prejudice and inequality in To Kill a Mockingbird.
…show more content…
At night at the jail a mob of men shows up, and they want to kill Tom Robinson. One of the men steps out of the shadows and says, “You know what we want, get aside from the door, Mr. Finch” (Lee. 202). This shows how the men are there to kill Tom. This proves how racist the men are because they do not know if Tom Robinson is even guilty, but they are ready to kill him because of the color of his skin. As Scout watches the men talk, she thinks to herself, “In obedience to my father, there followed what I later realized was a sickeningly comic aspect of an unfunny situation: the men talked in near-whispers” (Lee. 202). Atticus tells the men that Tom was sleeping so they think it is funny to whisper about killing Tom Robinson. This again shows how blinded by hate the men are that they cannot see how cruel they are being. This shows racial prejudice at the jail, but the reader sees prejudice
At night at the jail a mob of men shows up, and they want to kill Tom Robinson. One of the men steps out of the shadows and says, “You know what we want, get aside from the door, Mr. Finch” (Lee. 202). This shows how the men are there to kill Tom. This proves how racist the men are because they do not know if Tom Robinson is even guilty, but they are ready to kill him because of the color of his skin. As Scout watches the men talk, she thinks to herself, “In obedience to my father, there followed what I later realized was a sickeningly comic aspect of an unfunny situation: the men talked in near-whispers” (Lee. 202). Atticus tells the men that Tom was sleeping so they think it is funny to whisper about killing Tom Robinson. This again shows how blinded by hate the men are that they cannot see how cruel they are being. This shows racial prejudice at the jail, but the reader sees prejudice