To Kill A Mockingbird: Why has Harper Lee shown us the law and justice in Maycomb in the 1930’s?

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Adam Howie                28/11/01

To Kill A Mockingbird: Why has Harper Lee shown us the law and justice in Maycomb in the 1930’s?

The main subject in this story is the trial of Tom Robinson, the man who has been accused of raping Mayella Ewell by her father, Bob Ewell. Tom Robinson is a black and the Ewells are a poor, white family, living in poor conditions and are classed as white trash. Since Tom is black, living in the very racist town of Maycomb, no lawyer was willing to stand for him apart from Atticus Finch, the father of Scout who’s viewoint is what the book is based around.

I think Harper Lee chooses to show us the law and justice in Maycomb in the 1930’s because he wants to show how it is corrupt from the prejudice and racism, which is very common in the town of Maycomb. He wishes to show us how far it reaches, which is as far as convicting someone who is shown to be incapable of the crime he has been accused of and has had limited evidnce put against him. Above this, it shows how a white person, no matter what social class they may be, will never be degraded so much that he may fall below a black person.

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At the trial of Tom Robinson, he is shown to be a man neither physically or mentally capable of committing such a crime. He is fearful and polite. I believe this is shown in Tom because Harper Lee wants to show the differences shown in the attitudes of a black and a white person in this situation. The black person seems to be fearful showing how he is alone, fearing the white people, thinking that he was convicted as soon as he walked into the court room and sat down in front of the all white jury. He is ...

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