How is racial segregation demonstrated in Chapter 16 of To Kill A Mockingbird?

The first 200 words of this essay...

How racial segregation is demonstrated in chapter 16?

Crystal Wong

10S

The theme of race is particularly prominent in To Kill A Mockingbird. In chapter 16, the trial of Tom Robinson, a black man accused of raping a white girl, the theme of racial segregation in the American South becomes obvious.

We begin to see racial segregation early on in chapter 16 where Scout describes the scene outside the courthouse: the colored people sat "in the far corner of the square" and the reader is introduced to Mr. Dolphus Raymond, a man who despite his skin color, "sat with them," with "them" referred to as the Negroes. The use of an impersonal pronoun "them" suggest that Scout herself might feel as if the Negro community are separate to the white community. This perhaps gives us, as readers a more critical viewpoint of the narrator. The idea of racial segregation is continued as Scout describes the picnic. When she asks Jem about Dolphus Raymond, Jem replies: "'He's got a colored woman...all sorts of mixed chillun.'". This demonstrates the character of Dolphus Raymond as perceived by Maycomb County. He is introduced as a wealthy but disliked man