To Kill A Mockingbird Social Segregation Analysis

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Inequity among racial classes relies on fundamental beliefs that a majority of the members in a community hold and maintain. Harper Lee takes great care to highlight the intricacy of systematic social segregation in her book To Kill a Mockingbird, exemplified during the trial of the field hand, Tom Robinson through the external struggle he faces with the passive and belligerent citizens of Maycomb and between his delators, the deep-rooted, precedent bias in the system, and, after his conviction, the internal struggle of whose terms he lives on. A single person is not responsible for Tom Robinson’s death; racial stigma derives from a system of flawed knowledge and attitudes, found in the citizens of Maycomb, and behaviour of the community as Bob Ewell’s hatred towards black people stems from a hierarchical complex that arises from Maycomb’s corrupt social ladder, where wealthier, white families such as the Finches rest at the top, and the poorer, white families, including the Ewells, are at the bottom. As the people of Maycomb look down on the Ewells with condescension and pity, Bob Ewell targets the only group of people in Maycomb that have a lower social status than him, the black community. Moreover, when Bob Ewell opens the case against Tom Robinson, he is knowingly and actively attacking the black community. During the trial, Bob Ewell tells Mr. Gilmer that he knew who had raped Mayella when he found her on the floor, and unnecessarily remarks, “I’ve asked this county for fifteen years to clean out that nest down yonder, they’re dangerous to live around ‘sides devaluin’ my property” (175). Despite the insignificance of Bob Ewell as a citizen in Maycomb, he makes sure to comment on the even lower social status of the black people that live around him. His disproportionate anxiety of needing to establish superiority over a person or group leads him to not only target and subsequently kill Tom Robinson, but also attack the black community, as Initially, Atticus expected for the jury that was reviewing the case to consider it for a short amount of time, and directly after, come up with a verdict. However, Atticus tells Jem, who remarked about how quick the jury had decided whether Tom was guilty or not, that the jury examined the case for a few hours, and says, “You might like to know that there was one fellow who took considerable wearing down- in the beginning he was rarin’ for an outright acquittal” (222). If the entirety of the jury had a biased mindset before they entered the courtroom, convicting Tom Robinson would not have lasted several hours, but as Atticus states, there was a member of the jury who objected and argued against the popular opinion of sentencing Tom just because he is black. However, as they still found him guilty, that member withdrew their argument in fear of being socially outcasted. The jury was comprised of twelve white men, each having a semi-important role in their community; one member disagreeing with eleven other members allows their vulnerability to having a social stigma, thus destroying their recognition, and privilege. The fear of being rejected and

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