Conflict In To Kill A Mockingbird Essay

The 1930’s in America was a horrible time for any black man or woman, and in the book, To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, there are several conflicts that directly display this. To Kill A Mockingbird takes place in the 1930’s in Maycomb county, Alabama, which is a racist society. The narrator is named Scout and lives with her brother Jem and her father Atticus Finch, who faces the hardships of defending a black man named Tom Robinson in court. The novel, by Harper Lee, uses conflict to show that there cannot be justice in a prejudice and racist society.

One example that would display how there is no justice in a racial society is when a Mob shows up at the county jail to collaborate on killing Tom Robinson before the trial even started,

just because he was black. “In ones and twos, men got out of the cars. Shadows became substance as lights revealed solid shapes moving toward the jail door.” (pg. 202) This shows that the men gathered and head towards the jail. “You know what we want’, another man said. ‘Get aside from the door, Mr. Finch.” (pg. 202) This also shows that Walter Cunningham, a family friend of the Finches, brings a mob and demands that Atticus steps aside so that he and the other men can go inside and kill Tom Robinson. This conflict is just one of the many examples of racism interfering with justice, such as when Tom is pronounced guilty in court.
Another example of injustice would be when Tom Robinson is pronounced guilty in court with no evidence against him. “Scared of arrest, scared you’d have to face up to what you did?’ ‘No suh, scared I’d hafta face up to what I didn’t do.” (pg. 265) This quote shows that right from the start, Tom knew that when he was accused, he would be trialed and proven guilty just because he was black in a racist society. “Judge Taylor was polling the Jury: ‘Guilty… guilty… guilty… guilty…” (pg. 282) This also displays that even after all the evidence that proved Tom was innocent, the jury all decided that he was guilty because of the color of his skin. Which was a propensity of the juries to always pronounce a black man guilty no matter what. This conflict is probably one of the biggest examples in the novel of injustice in a prejudice society. But it doesn’t stop there, when Tom is shot seventeen times.
A final example would be when Tom Robinson is shot seventeen times by the guards at the prison because he was trying to run away.

“Seventeen bullet holes in him. They didn’t have to shoot him that much Cal.” (pg. 315) Shows that the guards have a grudge against Tom because they are apart of a racist society. So when Tom gave them the chance, they unloaded seventeen bullets into him. “I guess Tom was tired of white men’s chances and preferred to take his own.” (pg. 315) This quote also displays that Tom relinquished his faith in the judicial system, and knew that there was no way out after being pronounced guilty because of the amount of prejudice in the hearts of everyone in town, so he decided to go and take his own chances. What is sad about this particular conflict is that Robinson knew from the start that he was predisposed to go to jail because he was different from everyone else.

In To Kill A Mockingbird, the author uses the conflicts in the book to show that there can’t be justice in a racist society. The conflicts shown in this book are more than enough examples to show how there is no justice in a prejudice and racial society. It’s important to know that racism is wrong so that innocent people don’t subsidize the price because of one’s thoughts on another race. Racism and prejudice is reprehensible, and gets a society nowhere, and with that, there will never be

justice.