Atticus Finch is virtually unique in the novel in the respect he has experienced and understood evil without losing his faith in the human capacity for goodness. Atticus understands that, rather than being simply creatures of good or evil, most people have both good and bad qualities. The important thing is to appreciate the good qualities and understand the bad qualities by treating others with sympathy and trying to see life from their perspective. He tries to teach this ultimate moral lesson to Jem and Scout to show them that it is possible to live with conscience without losing hope or becoming cynical. In this way, Atticus is able to admire Mrs. Dubose's courage even while deploring her racism. He serves as a different type of teacher for the children, he teaches them about Morals and principle. Atticus is responsible for being the target of racial prejudice because of his defence for Tom Robinson. Tom’s life was not only affected by prejudice, it also killed him.
A calm, timid black man who kept himself to himself and his family, was accused of rape by poor, lonely “White Trash” Mayella Ewell. In actual fact, she was not the one who accused him, it was her father who needed to persecute the Negro.
All the court needed to hear out of that 19 year old girl was a simple cry, and it was enough to get Tom locked up for life.
Bob Ewell had accused Tom of taking advantage of her, or in other words, rape. Although it was not true, it was enough to destroy him.
Besides, being a Negro said “everything”, black means guilty, in the old world of the South, where the introduction of slavery was eradicated, some of the whites at the bottom of the social strata feared that there would be no boundary between them and the blacks (poor or otherwise).
The experience of the trial was a real eye-opener for Scout. All her life she was under the silly impression that justice was always served, and man was created equal. That was the day which proved all that wrong. Scout clearly explains the emotions that were felt;
“I shut my eyes. Judge Taylor was polling the jury: Guilty…Guilty…Guilty. I peeked at Tom, his hands face looked worn and his shoulders jerked as if each “Guilty” was a separate stab between them.”
The prejudice, “guilty” was what tempted Tom to give up all hope and dig his own grave. The following night, he tried to escape prison, and was shot while trying to climb the fence. However, this brings up a very important point on how to further prove Tom’s innocence. At a very early age, Toms left arm was severed in a cotton accident, and has not been of use to him.
Mayella’s bruises were on the right side of her face, if Tom were to punch her like he was accused of doing, he would have punched her left side. If his arm had been working, he would have been able to safely climb over the fence. This innocent man did not deserve what he received, but because of his race he was given no other choice. Atticus described how it was unbelievable that children were the ones who saw the truth better than adults by saying,
“They’ve done it before and they’ll do it again; and when they do it - seems only children weep.”
Tom’s words however, no matter how truthful and convincing, stood no chance when put against a young white woman.
Link Deas, Tom’s former boss, explained this even more when he commented,
“Well after all, he’s just a Negro.”
This is the theme of prejudice being exploited in the form of racial difference. Tom’s former boss, Link even tried to demoralize him by saying that he was just a Negro.
“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view ... until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.”
Atticus gives Scout the crucial piece of moral advice that governs her development for the rest of the novel. The simple wisdom of Atticus' words reflects the uncomplicated manner in which he guides himself by this sole principle. His ability to relate to his children is demonstrated plainly in his restatement of this principle in a simpler sense that Scout can understand ("climb into his skin and walk around in it").
Scout struggles, with varying degrees of success, to put Atticus' advice into practice and to live with sympathy and understanding toward others.
Because exploration of the novel's theme of prejudice takes place through the perspective of Scout, the education of the child is necessarily involved in the development of the novel's theme. Harper Lee uses Scout as a ‘device’ in which he tells the story through first person narrative in the eyes of a naïve youngster. One example of this would be during the Missionary Tea party, we realise that Maycomb society is highly superficial, hypocritical and prejudice.
"When they finally saw him, why he hadn't done any of those things ... Atticus, he was real nice...."
His hands were under my chin, pulling up the cover, tucking it around me.
"Most people are, Scout, when you finally see them."
These words, from Chapter 31, conclude the novel. As Scout falls asleep, she is telling Atticus about the events of The Grey Ghost, a book in which one of the characters is wrongly accused of committing a crime and is pursued. When he is finally caught, however, his innocence is revealed. As Scout sleepily explains the story to Atticus, saying that the character was "real nice" when "they finally saw him," Atticus notes the truth of that observation.
In this way, Harper Lee closes the book with a subtle reminder of the theme prejudice that has run throughout it, putting them it to rest by again illustrating the wise moral outlook of Atticus: if one lives with sympathy and understanding, then it is possible to retain faith in humanity despite its capacity for evil—to believe that most people are "real nice."
Another obscure character whose mystery was deciphered by Scout was a man named Dolphus Raymond.
Everyone thought he was an alcoholic, because he always sat in the town square drinking out of a paper bag. After meeting him, Dolphus showed Scout that the only thing in that bag was coke.
He was married to a black girl, and all he wanted to do was to give the people an excuse for his actions by pretending to be a drunkard. In actuality, he was very nice! Dolphus confessed to the only two people who would listen,
“I’m not much of a drinker, but they could never understand that I live like I do because I like it.”
And again, we see the prejudice directed toward Mr. Raymond causing him to hide his real personality.
Atticus supports African Americans, and believes in defending them, while Aunt Alexandra doesn't really take acknowledgement to this. In this sense, Alexandra is prejudice. Alexandra tries to teach the children about their family lineage, and their relatives, so they can learn of their "place" in the hierarchy. Atticus does not believe in this, therefore has not mentioned anything about this before.
Mrs Merriweather and Stephanie Crawford talk about how poor the Murnas are. They seemed so full of concern. Yet, we realise that they themselves are highly prejudiced, gossipy and condescending. People like Merriweather only appear to be loving and benevolent. This is also linked to Miss Gates' lesson where she talked about how dictatorial Hitler is and that Maycomb is a democratic society. Yet, we realise again, through Scout that Miss Gates was very prejudiced and Scout does not understand how such a prejudiced person could talk so passionately about Hitler’s torture and killings. This is how hypocritical Maycomb society is. Even teachers and highly respected ladies are guilty.
The irony of the missionary tea party lies mainly in the fact that the prejudice and hypocrisy of the court is (in Atticus' own words);
"As much Maycomb as missionary circles."
Hypocrisy is rampant throughout the incident, the most obvious perpetrator being Mrs Grace Merriweather, supposedly the most pious lady in the town but who is not charitable enough to treat her Negro maid with any respect and so on. They also condemn Atticus' choice to fight for Tom Robinson in court while munching at his food and enjoying his hospitality.
Also, the missionary circle worries itself about the "sin and squalor" of the Murnas and the saintly J. Grimes Everett and backs that man's attempts to help the Murnas there, but ignore the poverty and problems back at home in the Quarters and even in the home of the Ewells.
Mrs Farrow herself even says that they can try to educate the Negroes till they're "blue in the face" but no woman can be safe still.
Differences in social strata are explored largely through the overcomplicated social hierarchy of Maycomb, the ins and outs of which constantly baffle the children.
The relatively well-off Finches stand near the top of Maycombs social hierarchy, with most of the townspeople beneath them. Ignorant country farmers like the Cunningham’s lie below the townspeople, and the “White Trash” Ewells rest below the Cunningham’s. The black community in Maycomb, despite its abundance of admirable qualities, squats below even the Ewells, enabling Bob Ewell to make up for his own lack of importance by persecuting Tom Robinson.
These rigid social divisions that make up so much of the adult world are revealed in the book to be both irrational and destructive. For example, Scout cannot understand why Aunt Alexandra refuses to let her consort with young Walter Cunningham.
Harper Lee uses the children's perplexity at the unpleasant layering of Maycomb society to critique the role of class status and, ultimately, prejudice in human interaction.
