To Kill a Mockingbird - Essay Example

To Kill a Mockingbird In To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee uses many characters in the book, including Atticus, Jem, Scout and Tom to convey the major themes of the story regarding courage, racism and stereotyping to the reader. This essay would further revolve around these three topics and provide a review of the major themes in the chapter. In Chapter 19, Lee uses a scene in the court house to depict the theme of true courage in the character of Tom Robinson. In the scene Tom Robinson admits he is scared but not because he is guilty but because he knew he would get tried for something he didn’t do. Through the actions and replies of Tom Robinson, Lee clearly shows that Tom is a courageous person who is not hesitating in telling the truth. And the scene in the courtroom clearly shows that true courage still prevails in the society and according to Lee people who would not be afraid or guilty of a crime would definitely use their power of true courage against the society. Lee in Chapter 19 is also stressing on the realms of racism and stereotyping. Racism as practiced in the society against blacks is seen in the courtroom as told by Lee. This can be clearly seen in the character of Mr Gilmer when he cross examines Tom Robinson. It is seen how Mr Gilmer makes a mockery out Tom’s story. It is seen that even the judge is not objecting to Tom Robinson’s treatment by Mr Gilmer. These racist comments passed by the lawyer against Tom Robinson clearly depict the theme of racism as being practiced in the society against the blacks. Similarly Stereotyping also can be witnessed here as the judges in the courtroom were not paying any particular heed to Tom Robinson’s plea as blacks automatically are considered to be criminals. Therefore it can be said that Chapter 19 is the amalgamation of all these themes together to give out a masterpiece which co-relates the judgment and the main theme of the whole story. Chapter 19 best portrays the theme of true courage and its use as a shield in the whole story. In this Chapter it can be seen that Atticus is fighting to prove that Tom is innocent and is being framed up by Mayella Ewell. An example can be quoted here of how Atticus has courage from Chapter 23, when “Mr. Ewell approached him, cursed him, spat on him, and threatened to kill him.” (Lee 217) If Atticus didn’t fight for Tom Robinson this wouldn’t have happened. This was after the trial ended. Another act of courage came from Tom Robinson. Tom Robinson told his story with no lies in it and stayed strong throughout the case. An example of how Tom Robinson has courage is in chapter 19 “Mr. Finch, if you was a nigger like me, you’d be scared too.” (Lee 195) This was after Tom explained how Mayella Ewell kissed him on the cheek, and she wanted to have intercourse with him but he said no and pushed her off. After Tom was sighted by Bob Ewell he became scared and ran off from the scene. Tom by saying this was trying to portray that he was even scared at that moment when Mayella was forcing him to have intercourse with her. This whole scene was quoted in the court by Tom and he did not even hesitate to tell the judge that he was present at the scene with Mayella. Here again he could have lied that he did not even enter the house but he used his true courage to his defense to tell the courtroom the truth. By this Tom is trying to tell that at that time he could also have taken some other action like he could have ran away from the state or he could have raped or killed both Mayella and his brother, but he did not do so as he had the courage to stand up against something which he did not do. However Lee in her story is also trying to say that courage always does not help individuals to survive in this world as it can be seen that courage gave nothing to Tom but rather imposed sentences on him. Chapter 19 also portrays the theme of how stereotyping is done against the inferior class in the society and how this stereotyping can affect the lives of people. An example of stereotyping is the way people think about Dolphus Raymond without even knowing him. For example in chapter 20 Scout says “somehow, I didn’t think Atticus would like it if we became friendly with Mr. Raymond, and I knew Aunt Alexandra wouldn’t.” (Lee 200) Scout is referring to what other people would have said about Dolphus Raymond as generally people had a negative view of Dolphus Raymond. Everyone in the town thought wrong about Dolphus Raymond as he had a black wife and was a drunkard too. Here it can be clearly seen that stereotyping regarding different individuals was also practiced back then. It can also be seen in the story that Tom Robinson is trying to tell about the stereotyping done against the blacks as according to him no matter if the blacks commit a crime or not they are convicted and because of this Tom was scared as he was a black. Another scene can be quoted here in which Tom states that he used to help Mayella because he felt sorry for her. And in reply to this statement of Tom, Mr Gilmer replies “'You felt sorry for her, you felt sorry for her?' Mr. Gilmer seemed ready to rise to the ceiling."(Lee 197) Through this it can be clearly seen that blacks are stereotyped to be an inferior community who can never want good for the whites. The theme of Stereotyping and the decisions affected by it can be clearly witnessed in the chapter 19 when the pleas of Tom are not entertained in the court by the judge. Chapter 19 is also portraying the theme of racism as done against the races and genders in the story and the effects of racism as told by Lee. The chapter revolves around the thoughts and language used by others when it comes to the blacks. It is seen that because of this racist point of view the Tom Robinson was not given a fully fair trial and was enforced with a sentence. The main example of this is the language used throughout the trial when it comes to Tom Robinson. An example of the language is “what’d the nigger look like when you got through with him.”(Lee 196) This is from Chapter 19 when Mr. Gilmer was asking Tom Robinson questions during the trial. Another example is when Francis says “I guess it ain’t your fault if Uncle Atticus is a niggerlover besides, but I’m here to tell you it certainly does mortify the rest of the family.” (Lee 83) This is a family member of the Finch’s and he is calling his own uncle a niggerlover. Many others have called Atticus a niggerlover throughout the book. It can be seen that through these quotes Lee is trying to tell that the gender and races are considered as important aspects in the daily lives and people take decisions and pass remarks on individuals keeping these two factors in mind. Nigger is a derogatory term used for the blacks which differs these blacks from other individuals of the society. In today’s society the word nigger is considered a slang word but as you can tell it is commonly used in the world for blacks. Racism in the story proves to be dangerous for Tom as he is convicted for the crime he has not committed by the judges just because he is a black. As Lee is trying to tell through her story that these racist perspectives are the ones which are solely to be blamed when it comes to the unjust decision of the jury. Clearly, in To Kill A Mockingbird Harper Lee uses chapter 19 as a tool to build up her whole story as the scene in the courthouse gives off many things about the story. The way how the story develops is dependent on the scenes of this chapter and the main ideas are also portrayed in this chapter. Racism, Stereotyping, and courage are shown to be the major topics of the story and the themes revolve around these topics. It is seen that these three topics majorly affect the decisions and lives of the people playing a role in the society. Later on in the story it is also seen that because of the stereotyped and racist behavior by the individuals of the society Tom Robinson is convicted and injustice prevails even though strong evidence is shown regarding the innocence of Tom. Moreover the courageous behavior of Tom did not give him any good but rather proved to be lethal for him when he is convicted.Bottom of Form Read More