To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

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In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Jem and Scout grow up learning how people in Maycomb treat one another. In a large portion of the novel, characters of the rich and the poor are involved in Tom Robinson’s case. Some characters are mockingbirds (someone or something that only does good), but nobody was able to see how they could be. Maycomb is infected with racism and prejudice affecting how people view one another including the mockingbirds and the innocent: Mr. Dolphus Raymond, Mayella Ewell, and Walter Cunningham.
Maycomb’s citizens, contaminated with racial prejudice prevents them from truly understanding and accepting Mr. Dolphus Raymond. Before the trial begins, Jem talks about Mr. Dolphus Raymond in a tone as if he feels pity for him: “He drinks out of a coca-cola bottle filled with whiskey; people say he never got over his weddin’ where his bride couldn’t handle the fact he liked blacks more than whites. He’s been drunk ever since” (214). Jem believes that Mr. Dolphus Raymond is a spoiled, drunk man who has no idea what he is doing at all; Jem feels bad for how he lives his life being inebriated all the time. The people of Maycomb don’t pay much attention to Mr. Dolphus Raymond, only seeing him as a drunk, and nothing else. During the trial, Mr. Dolphus Raymond gives an explanation to Scout and Dill as to why he is “always drunk”: “If I weave a little and drink out of this sack, folks can say Dolphus Raymond’s in the clutches of whiskey- that’s why he won’t change his ways” (268). Mr. Dolphus Raymond was purposely hiding his true identity; he knew that the people wouldn’t understand why a white man with a good family history would prefer black people over whites. The racism all over Maycomb forced Mr. Dolphus Ra...

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... treated contemptuously by Maycomb county, unable to truly read the person and understand before viewing them.
Jem and Scout had learned a lot over the years about racism, social inequality, and “the simple hell people give to each other” (269). Maycomb’s citizens are unaware of the actions they make and ignore the consequences. Certain people are judged just for their appearance such as a black man. They are judged just like the cover of a book, where Maycomb is unable to open the book and read it. Even the mockingbirds are judged unfairly due to the uncertainty of society to actually learn something about the person and understand. Ultimately, Mr. Dolphus Raymond, Mayella Ewell, and the Cunninghams are all innocent; but Maycomb’s citizens, contaminated with racism and prejudice, are unable to read and understand one another.

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To Kill a Mockingbird

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