Theme Of Injustice In To Kill A Mockingbird

“Racism and injustice and violence sweep our world, bringing a tragic harvest of heartache and death,” Billy Graham once said. In Harper Lee’s novel “To Kill A Mockingbird Atticus is a father and a lawyer, who lives with his children, Jem and Scout, and their cook, Calpurnia, in a town of Maycomb, Alabama. Maycomb is a town populated with black and white people, where racism is apparent. White people feel they are superior than the black people and treat them poorly. Racism is evident when Tom Robinson lost the trial to Bob Ewell, because he was black, even though he is innocent. People were also being judged on appearance, or being treated improperly, like how people see the kind of person Boo Radley is in the beginning of the story. Harper Lee’s novel “To Kill A Mockingbird” is about injustice.
In Maycomb, white people feel that they are better than the black people living there.
Black people are victims of injustice, just like Tom Robinson. Tom Robinson is a victim of injustice because even though he is innocent, he is found guilty of raping Mayella Ewell. The jury agrees and decides to make the black man guilty of the rape. “I shut my eyes. Judge Taylor was polling the jury: ‘Guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty.’ I peeked at Jem, his hands were white from gripping the balcony rail, and his shoulders jerked as if each “guilty” was a separate stab between them” (Lee 214). Atticus does his best to defend Tom, but it was not enough to win the trial. The jury may have chosen the Ewells to win because Tom Robinson was a negro. Tom Robinson was shot and killed in jail, while trying to escape because he should not have been there in the first
place.
No matter your skin colour, black or white, people in Maycomb are being judged. Boo Radley is another person impacted by injustice, as people only see him as a crazy man, when they have not seen him act that way. When his father decides not to take Boo to court, he instead is locked in his home for years that no one has seen him since. “According to Miss Stephanie, Boo Radley was sitting in the living room cutting some items in the Maycomb Tribune to paste in his scrapbook. His father entered the room. As Mr. Radley passed by, Boo drove the scissors into parent’s leg, pulled it out of his leg, wiped them on his legs and resumed his activities” (Lee 15). Miss Stephanie tells the kids to stay away from the Radley yard. Miss Stephanie has heard about Boo’s behaviour, and just like the rest of the people of Maycomb, she thinks of him as a crazy man, when they have not seen the good side of Boo. Truly he is good when he saves Jem and Scout from Bob Ewell.
In the book, even antagonists can be victims of injustice, just like Bob Ewell. Bob Ewell is a victim of injustice because his death was not taken to trial. When Heck Tate found that he had been stabbed with a knife, he just assumed that he fell on his knife. “Mr Finch”, Mr. Tate said stolidly. “Bob Ewell fell on his knife. He killed himself.” (Lee 276). He just states that without any further investigation, even though he does not really know. He knows that Jem did not do it, so he says that he is sure Bob killed himself. Bob Ewell was trying to harm Jem and Scout, until Boo Radley steps in and saves both of them. Heck Tate’s statement ends the case, when a trial should have been held.
In Maycomb, people are not being treated fairly, which is a form of injustice. People of Maycomb should be treated fairly and equally, but racism gets in the way of that, which causes people being treated unfairly. Throughout the three years the novel takes place in, Jem and Scout see acts of injustice. Scout grows to see what Maycomb is and how racism is present. Racism and injustice are still an ongoing acts, where many innocent people suffer from it. Therefore Harper Lee’s novel, “To Kill A Mockingbird,” is based off the issue of injustice.