Prejudice in To Kill A Mocking Bird
.... When Tom comes to the stand, to tell his side of the case, he proves Atticus right about his left arm being non-functional. "Thomas Robinson reached around, ran his fingers under his left arm and lifted it. He guided his arm to the Bible and his rubber-like left hand sought contact with the black binding. As he raised his right hand, the useless one slipped off the Bible and hit the clerk's table." At first, by his actions, Tom seems to us to be quite nervous and edgy. Although his answers are short, they are detailed and Tom doesn't seem to falter, despite the crime he is probably about to be convicted for. Along with most of the white people sitting in the courtroom, and Atticus, Tom knows that he won't win the case, due to the incredibly high amount of prejudice and racism in the town and probably within the jury. Suddenly, Dill started crying, bringing up the fact that it must be an extremely depressing and upsetting time for those who believe Tom's story, and can see him being humiliated in front of a mainly prejudiced audience. To decide whether Tom was guilty or not, the jury had to have a casting vote, so some people on the jury were beginning to ignore their racial prejudices and actually took into account all the information that was given to them. This is evidence that the prejudice is breaking down towards the end of the novel. Perhaps inevitably, despite the large amount of evidence proving that Tom was innocent, the jury find him guilty of the Rape of Mayella Ewell. "'Guilty…guilty…guilty…guilty…'" If Tom had been white, and a higher class than Bob Ewell, Atticus would surely have won his case. This evidently shows the enormous amount of prejudices held by most of the townsfolk, virtually living in a 'cast' social system. Nevertheless, people on the jury started to the evidence and not the fact that he was a Negro. Another point to back this up was when Atticus tells Jem about the jury’s’ verdict. He says, “……the o...