Atticus, who is not racially prejudiced, successfully teaches Jem and Scout not to be. He accepts the case for the rape of Mayella Ewell, and supports and has faith in negro, Tom Robinson, even though he knows that he is not going to win. For a lawyer, that is clearly most unusual. As we read further into the text, Atticus re-enforces his non-racist behaviour, by believing in Tom’s innocence. Later, he is prepared to stop, by whatever means he can, racially prejudiced Mr Cunningham and friends trying to hurt and possibly kill Tom outside the jail-house before the trial; “In ones and twos, men got out of the cars. Shadows became substance as light revealed solid shapes moving towards the jail door. Atticus remained where he was”……….. “ ‘You know what we want’, another man said. ‘Get aside from the door’. ” This shows that the racism is so strong that Mr. Cunningham and his friends think that it is not worth even sending Negroes to jail and that they don’t deserve to live for something that they are supposed to have done. I would conclude from this, that they must believe that they are either above the law, or that the law, which is represented by white judges, juries, etc., will forgive them for murdering such a low life.
In the courtroom scene, we find that the jury have to make a choice between what everyone wants to hear, and what they know is right. At the end of the courtroom scene, we find that there is a casting vote. This shows that some people on that jury were not racially prejudiced and were prepared to listen to the evidence put before them. They also had the courage to express their own opinions and non-racist beliefs. It is possible that some genuinely believed Tom to be guilty, but this is unlikely, as the author ensures that the truth comes out at the trial. Everyone in the courtroom was shown that Tom could not have beaten up and raped Mayella Ewell, as she had injuries on the right hand side of her face, which means she must have been hit by a left arm. Tom doesn’t have most of his left arm. This shows that Tom was incapable of beating her on the right hand side. We then come to Bob Ewell’s evidence and cross examination. He starts off very confidently answering in a jovial manner; “ ‘Are you the father of Mayella Ewell?’ was the next question. ‘Well, if I ain’t, I can’t do nothing about it now, her ma’s dead’ was the answer.” Later, knowing that he is hiding the truth, he realises that he may be ‘caught out’ by Atticus’ questions; “Mr. Ewell considered the matter carefully, and seemed to decide the question was safe. ‘Yes’ he said.” He stalls for time to think about his previous answers, after many of the questions, by repeatedly saying “what?”, or “How’s that?”, and faltering slightly.
Mayella, however, acts completely differently to her father. She appears shy and fragile in the courtroom, as if scared by something or someone. Maybe it was Atticus, after portraying her father in the way he did, or maybe it was Bob. “Mayella stared at him and burst into tears. She covered her mouth with her hands and sobbed”. After her sudden and unexpected outburst, she seems to tell her version of events very clearly, knowing what she is going to say, as if she had been told or recited the words before going to court. Then Atticus asked her a lot of questions which didn’t really have anything to do with the court case like “‘Did you ever go to school?’, and ‘How many sisters and brothers have you?’” But we later find out that he is detailing Mayella’s background and how she had grown up believing that the black community were below her family. This is another element of racism in the book.
When Tom comes to the stand, to tell his side of the case, he proves Atticus right about his left arm being non-functional. “Thomas Robinson reached around, ran his fingers under his left arm and lifted it. He guided his arm to the Bible and his rubber-like left hand sought contact with the black binding. As he raised his right hand, the useless one slipped off the Bible and hit the clerk’s table.” At first, by his actions, Tom seems to us to be quite nervous and edgy. Although his answers are short, they are detailed and Tom doesn’t seem to falter, despite the crime he is probably about to be convicted for. Along with most of the white people sitting in the courtroom, and Atticus, Tom knows that he won’t win the case, due to the incredibly high amount of prejudice and racism in the town and probably within the jury. Suddenly, Dill started crying, bringing up the fact that it must be an extremely depressing and upsetting time for those who believe Tom’s story, and can see him being humiliated in front of a mainly prejudiced audience. To decide whether Tom was guilty or not, the jury had to have a casting vote, so some people on the jury were beginning to ignore their racial prejudices and actually took into account all the information that was given to them. This is evidence that the prejudice is breaking down towards the end of the novel.
Perhaps inevitably, despite the large amount of evidence proving that Tom was innocent, the jury find him guilty of the Rape of Mayella Ewell. “‘Guilty…guilty…guilty…guilty…’” If Tom had been white, and a higher class than Bob Ewell, Atticus would surely have won his case. This evidently shows the enormous amount of prejudices held by most of the townsfolk, virtually living in a ‘cast’ social system.
As Tom realises that he cannot face his jail sentence, he tries to escape in broad daylight, when most of the jail guards are outside watching him and the other negroes, and gets shot. He is courageous, which Bob Ewell is not. In reaction to Tom’s death, Aunt Alexandra appears upset, which I find quite remarkable, due to her attitude towards black people, especially Calpurnia at the beginning of the novel. By having Calpurnia around the house to help with the children and housework, Aunt Alex has probably unconsciously learnt not to be quite so prejudiced, treating people as individuals, rather than a skin colour. Calpurnia is after all, like a mother to Scout and Jem, and has brought them up well. Calpurnia is obviously very distressed, being greatly saddened by the news. She mumbled and fumbled instead of speaking loudly and clearly, and kept her head down for a while after the news was broken to her by Atticus. Atticus is very distressed by the news, and he wants to tell everyone quickly and get it over and done with. He bottles up his anger and distress, and does not show anyone how upset he actually is. He may, although we don’t have much evidence in the text, be feeling partly guilty for Tom’s sudden and disturbing death. He had earlier told Tom that he may be able to get him out of prison sooner than expected if he worked hard enough to get people’s trust and respect for Tom. He later found out that the possibility of this earlier release was becoming a reality. Unfortunately, he didn’t have time to tell this to Tom, and is immediately upset. Some of the ladies are shocked by the news, which is surprising as they are portrayed as being racially prejudiced. Again, this is further evidence that the prejudice is breaking down, quite rapidly, towards the end of the text. Perhaps they too are learning not to prejudge people. They are probably coming to terms that negroes aren’t all bad, and are as individual as white people. They probably even believe Tom’s side of the story. When the actual trial was on, they knew the truth, but I suppose their pride and their prejudices won them over. Now, they are not ‘embarrassed’, as such, but are not afraid to reveal their true feelings.
At the end of the novel, Bob Ewell wants revenge for Atticus making a mockery out of him in court, so, he hatches a plan to try to kill his children. He follows them from the production, in which Scout is starring as a ham. When he actually springs the attack on Jem, and then grabs for Scout, her ham suit, which she had been complaining about all day, saves her from being stabbed. Bob’s actions and reactions show that he is in fact a very violent man. He also shows that he has the character to beat up Mayella, in a fit of humiliation and rage, making up the story about Tom Raping her. Fortunately at the time of the attack, Boo Radley happens to be around, and comes over to help, although we don’t discover it was him until later. He is just in time to save the children and stabs Bob Ewell before he does any more damage. Boo may feel empathy for the black community, as he has had people being prejudiced towards him, and has had lots of rumours spread about him, all of which were untrue. This demonstrates that Maycomb’s rumours can be false or extremely exaggerated, and individuals make up things according to what they think is right, not what they know is right. Heck Tate begins to understand Boo, and realises that he just wants to be left alone. This shows that his prejudiced feelings are not as significant as the feelings of mutual respect towards people in the community who are worth being respected, unlike Bob Ewell.
When Scout is summarising the story at the very end of the novel, she explains how most of the ill-feeling towards Boo has gone. Most people are beginning to review their opinions of black people, treating them as people rather that letting skin colour cloud their judgements. Atticus sums this up nicely. ‘“An’ they chased him ‘n’ never could catch him ‘cause they didn’t know what he looked like, an’ Atticus, when they finally saw him, why he hadn’t done any of those things…Atticus, he was real nice….”, and Atticus replies by saying “Most people are Scout, when you finally see them”.’
