CHARACTER ANALYSIS

Tom Robinson

Tom is a young, harmless, innocent, hardworking black. As Scout realizes, he would have been a fine specimen, but for his left hand, which had been injured in an accident. Tom was married, with three children and worked for Mr. Link Deas in his farm.

The only mistake he made was that he took pity on Mayella and often helped her by doing small household chores for her. He pitied Mayella for her deplorable condition and so helped her whenever possible. But the racial prejudices in Maycomb county are still too dominant for this concern to be outweighed, and so Tom lost.

TomÂ’s courtesy and innate goodness is revealed during the court scene, when he refuses at first to repeat the foul language used by Bob Ewell. He never openly accuses Mayella of lying, he just feels that she must be "mistaken in her mind". All this endears him to the reader and his eventual death brings about a profound sense of sorrow and despair at the injustice prevalent in the society.

The Black Community

By including the black community in her novel, Harper Lee has very effectively revealed the striking differences between the two communities: the white and the black. Her main reason in writing about this community is of course to portray the outright oppressive manner in which the blacks were treated during those times. Her book is a bid to the readers to acknowledge the respect and regard due to this section of society.

AtticusÂ’ interest in this society is seen in almost every aspect of his life. His housekeeper is a black and he has utmost faith in her to raise the children in the right way. Atticus never fails to support their cause whenever the need arises. Tom RobinsonÂ’s case is the best example of AtticusÂ’ attitude towards the blacks. It is a case no lawyer would have touched. Atticus takes it up, knowing full well the futility of it. His main concern is showing sympathy towards them any not leaving any stone unturned in bettering their lot.

The blacks in this novel are portrayed as better individuals than the whites. They are honest folk, always maintaining cleanliness, who do any work to eke out a living. This is so unlike the Ewells who though white (are called ‘white trash’) and are dirty, lazy, good-for-nothing people who have never done a day’s hard work.

Even the African tribe which Mrs. Merriweather speaks of reveals a sense of warmth and familial feeling amongst them, which is truly lacking in the whites.

The whites always draw away from the blacks and even speak badly about them, but when Scout and Jem visit the church with Calpurnia, they are treated with respect and are not jeered by the blacks. Calpurnia herself has always treated the children like her own, and has instilled worthy values in them.

Through the court scenes, the reader realizes that Tom had treated Mayella with respect, and had actually felt sorry for her plight. Yet he is wrongly convicted and has to pay for a crime which he never committed. As Atticus points out in his final speech the white have always assumed that "All Negroes lie, that all Negroes are basically immoral beings, that all Negro women are not to be trusted around our men." The truth, he insists, is that there "is not a person in this courtroom who has never told a lie, who has never done an immoral thing, and there is no man living who has never looked upon a woman with desire."

Harper Lee has thus depicted a race which has always been looked down upon, because of their color, and she has tried to mitigate such feelings of racial hatred and prejudice in the reader.

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