To Kill a Mockingbird Essay

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To Kill a Mockingbird In the town of Maycomb people are racist. Even today people still have a prejudice side. In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird there are two races, the people of European decent, and the African American decent. The black characters in To Kill a Mockingbird contribute to the development of the white characters rather than appearing as individuals in their own right. The black characters are there in the novel but, the author doesn’t really expand on their personalities. Harper Lee shows us in the book, that back then in the south the communities saw all African American people as the same; but they do help to develop the white people. Overall the black community in Maycomb helps to shape the white community; as the whites are very rounded characters and the blacks are two dimensional (flat) characters. We have many different examples from the novel that helps us to understand how the blacks unfold the white characters. There is one in particular that stands out, it is the scene where Tom Robinson is in courts and is questioned by Gilmer. “You’re a mighty good fellow, it seems – did all this for not one penny…“Yes, suh. I felt right sorry for her; she seemed to try more’n the rest of ‘em” (lee 197). This quote stands out from the entire book because here was have a black person feeling sorry for a white person. Back in the 1920’s that was an unwritten rule to be sorry for a person of European decent. You might question how this shows how a black person develops a white person but it subsequently does. When Tom says that he felt sorry for her everyone is shocked, because a black person can never feel sorry for a white person. So Tom saying that shapes the white community because it shows that t... ... middle of paper ... ...fending a black person is a huge deal. Atticus does not care that Tom is black, he knows that he is not guilty and wants to help him. This brings out caring and compassionate side of Atticus. Therefore Tom Robinson a black character helps to shape Atticus Finch a white character; rather than appearing as an individual in his own right, To sum it all up, we have three very good points on how the black characters in To Kill a Mockingbird contribute to the development of the white characters rather than appearing as individuals in their own right. We have the black community shaping the white community overall. Then there is Calpurnia expanding Scouts character. Last but not least, we have Tom Robinson developing Atticus finch’s character. The people of Maycomb are very diverse; we have the African American decent who helps to develop the European decent.

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