In "To Kill A Mockingbird", prejudice is the definitely the most prominent theme. The most predominant of these prejudices is against the black community of the county. The blacks are treated as outcasts in society. They are made to give way on the pavements for white people, they have to use different transport and they have the most degrading jobs in the community. The blacks would be given jobs involving hard labour and the lowest of wages. The blacks had their own communities within the county.
The blacks lived in and around their own areas of the town. This way they felt safer in large numbers. The houses they were given were dilapidated and had insufficient heating and equipment.
The churches were run and occupied by black men and women. The churches did not have funds like the richer white churches. The whole of the church has to rely on one book to sing the hymns. The schools did not take black children. The schools in which there were black children were run totally out of the hearts of the few literate blacks. There were no funds available to educate the blacks. Almost all of the blacks could not read or write.
Compared to the whites the blacks had next to nothing in terms of civil rights. One example is the way the blacks were treated in legal terms. If a black was defending his self against a white, even for the worst of crimes. The white man would always win because it would not be acceptable for a black man to send a white man to prison and be let free. The blacks were right near the bottom of the social and class ladder, the only people that were considered less civil than they were, were the "white trash", for example the Ewells, who lived on the rubbish dump.
Not only were the blacks treated differently when on trial in the courtroom, they were made to seat at the top of the courtroom to witness a court case. The whites would get the best seats on the ground floor. The blacks would keep quiet and would, never give support or express opinions on a case when in the presence of members of the white community.
This prejudice is both similar and quite different to that in which we saw in "The Son's
Veto", in both cases there has been a social outcast victim. In the sons veto Sophy would have been made an outcast because of her romances with people of other classes. In "to kill a mockingbird" the blacks were made to use other schools, churches and had an almost impossible task of winning a case in the court.
The prejudice against the blacks is similar to the prejudice against classes in the son's veto. In both the novels somebody has been forced into another community to escape the torment from racism or class prejudice. In "the sons veto" Sophy was made to move to a open minded community to escape the prying eyes of the class conscience public of the small minded village. In "to kill a mockingbird" the blacks have been forced into their own communities just for the safety of their own lives.
In both the novel there is a case of a small-minded community coming together to criticise and make prejudice claims against a group of people. In the sons veto a small village went against Sophy's romance and she had to move to the harsh city. In "to kill a mockingbird" the whites have gone against the blacks and forced them to their own small communities. In both cases this prejudice has caused the death of the innocent party.
The prejudice differs in the fact that the blacks are not allowed to do the same as the whites, they cannot live their lives to the full without breaking the law. In "the son's veto", Sophy can escape the prejudice but only at the expense of her own comforts and morals, she can disguise the fact that she is in an inter-class marriage or romance.
Sophy receives a large majority of the prejudice from her own son. Her son "belonged to a well-known public school" this indicates snobbery and a contrast in class. He has very different views and has control of his mother's life. Early on in the story we witness her son criticising her dialect "Has, dear mother - not have!" this shows her lack of education and his prejudice and "impatient and fastidious" feelings toward her. The son reprimands her "surely you know that by this time!" The son has been going to school around middle, and upper-class students. Their lifestyles have moulded his own and he is no longer of the same class as his mother is. There is now a lack of communication because of this class difference "The boy went onward in silence".
The son hears of his mother's plans to marry Sam, a young gardener "The man alongside was, as she had fancied, Sam Hobson, formerly gardener at Gaymead, who would at one time have married her", the son becomes livid and refuses to allow her to marry a poor gardener. She becomes secretive in meeting with him, "You can be home again in a cab before anybody is up", and she doesn't want her son to find out. The son is class prejudice and feels strongly against her marrying a man of a lower class, "He hoped his stepfather would be a gentleman?
He said" because of this prejudice she won't accept Sam's proposal, " the youth's face remained fixed for a moment; then he flushed, leant on the table, and burst into passionate tears", the boy is emotional because he is so class prejudice. His harsh words further her hesitant decision to decline Sam's proposal, "I am ashamed of you! It will ruin me! A miserable boor! A churl! A clown! It will degrade me in the eyes of all the gentlemen of England". Randolph is so ashamed of being the stepson to a poorer man he is willing to sacrifice his own mother's happiness for his own petty reputation.
On the day of the trial, people have crawled out of the woodwork to attend, some are just curious, but most are there to make sure that justice is done and that means the conviction of Tom Robinson. The next five chapters cover the testimony given in the trial and it is the most absorbing section of "To Kill a Mockingbird". The slow disintegration of Bob Ewell's testimony by Atticus is the centrepiece of this courtroom drama. The white community is so certain of Tom Robinson's guilt that when Ewell is unravelled, so are they. The only reason they have left to find Tom Robinson guilty is the colour of his skin.
Not only is there prejudice between the races, but there is also segregation. In the American south during the 1930's it was not only normal for the races to be segregated, but also it was the law. Blacks were given special places to sit. They often used separate entrances and they used separate rest rooms and drinking fountains.
When Rev. Sykes offers the children a seat in the coloured balcony, they innocently accept. They have no idea that they are breaking a cultural taboo. Many of the whites in the community would of course rather miss the trial than sit amongst people of another race
Despite Atticus' brilliant cross-examination, which unravels Ewell giving hope to Tom Robinson and comfort to the black community, it will all be in vain.
We should at this stage examine Bob Ewell whose full name is Robert E. Lee Ewell, whose only link with the legend is the name. While Robert E. Lee represents the idealised South, Bob Ewell represents all the evil, prejudice and sloth and he is an abuser of those weaker than himself like the innocent and half crippled tom Robinson. Atticus underestimates the depth of the little man's wickedness, which is to have serious repercussions towards the end of the story.
This is clearly an unfair trial. There are no black witnesses and all the witnesses are in the defence of the Ewells. Also we know that Tom Robinson has no chance of winning the case, especially after he says, "felt sorry for her"
Tom's white employer Link Deas stands up and tells everyone in the courtroom that Tom has worked for him for the last eight years without any trouble, he is dragged from the room. This is clearly an act to get the case out of the way, the y all know that Tom is inevitably going to
be found guilty of raping the young Mayella Ewell.
His fellow townsfolk ridicule Bob Ewell, yet sadly; because he is white he still has the power with the support of the white community to destroy an innocent black man. Just by reading the descriptions of the actions of the people in the trial can you see the real villains. Tom
Robinson could not possibly have raped Mayella with just one arm. There is suspicion that her father raped her, Atticus picks up on this and feels he was just angry at Mayella for inviting a black man into his home.
Atticus makes the Jury think that maybe it is possible for Tom to be the innocent party. He gives a powerful and emotive speech about prejudice and equality. Bob Ewell is believed over tom Robinson for a few reasons. Tom lost a lot of support when he said he felt sorry for Mayella, it was unfeasible that black men feel sorry for a white girl. The obvious is that Bob Ewell is white and Tom is another innocent black man accused simply through a white man's hatred towards his race.
Another incident in the play in which we see racial prejudice is in the lynch mob incident. Bob Ewell, Mr. Cunningham and some other white men go to the jail to mob tom Robinson. When they arrive they stumble across a very relaxed Atticus in a rocking chair. Atticus stands strong and denies them access. He successfully protects Tom Robinson so that he can have a fair trial. The lynch mob incident is another example of Bob's desperate attempt to bring injustice and to send an innocent black man to his death.
When we receive the verdict, "guilty of rape", Tom Robinson is understandably frightened. Atticus is desperate but at the same time he predicted this outcome, even after his heart felt speech about equality and the tom Robinson case. There is still a tense atmosphere in the room but Atticus doesn't want to give up and he has plans for tom Robinson's appeal. Tom thanks Atticus for his support, the only white man to back tom Robinson in the court case.
Sophy and Tom are quite similar. Both died because of the prejudices they suffered from inside their own lives and communities. Sophy lost the will to live after her class conscience son denied her, her happiness. Tom Robinson died when trying to escape his sentence, he was shot many times in the back as he ran for freedom. We can start to feel if there was any need for both of them to die this way. Sophy could have lived happily for once in her life if she had overcome her son's commanding nature and married Sam. Tom Robinson did not have to be put through the trial in the first place, it should have been Bob Ewell standing trial. Both
Sophy and Tom were very fragile people. Tom was fragile, as he was a gentle giant. He was a helpful and friendly black man and the "white trash" took advantage of the situation. Sophy is fragile because she is disabled and has to rely on her son for mobility and he also controls her life. Her son had slowly sucked the life from her by denying her happiness and not accepting any defiance from her weakening mind and body. Both Sophy and tom were vulnerable to their surroundings. Tom walked past Mayella everyday and ironically it was her that decided his fate for him. Sophy suffered from her own family and her own community. She suffered prejudice because she was disabled, a woman and had relationships between different classes.
Both the communities were small minded and this caused the sad deaths of both Sophy in "the sons veto" and Tom in "to kill a mockingbird"
All this prejudice should not have been allowed to flourish in such different communities. In England, women were made to stay at home and Sophy would have suffered from this prejudice, now that she was disabled and was not able to do this any longer.
In history people were less protected from themselves and the prejudice around them. There would have been no way to prevent Sophy's death, her son had to look after her and it was him who decided her fate. Cases like Sophy's would have been common because there was no way to protect her from her won son and community.
In the southern states racial prejudice flourished. Black people were treated as inhuman aliens and made to drink form different fountains, they always had to make way for a white person
if he was approached on the pavement by a white man. All this because they had a difference in skin colour. Cases like Tom Robinson happened too often, as people were too happy to blame the blacks for any faults or crimes they had committed. Blacks were used as slaves and as an easy answer to the white people's problems.