To Kill a Mocking Bird

The Pulitzer Prize winning novel, To kill a mocking Bird explores many aspects of a township in the 1920’s. Throughout the novel the characters emerge from situations as either victors or victims. Even though Maycomb is shown to be a quiet peaceful town, there is much hidden conflict that was commonly accepted by society in this era. This conflict occurs when characters cross social boundaries and break societies unwritten laws.

A victor can be defined as the winner or conqueror over an opponent or situation. The opposite of this is a victim, which means someone who loses or is disadvantaged by a situation or a person with selfish aims. However, in the book these titles are not earned in a competition, but largely by a persons social status. Atticus Finch, Dolphus Raymond, Tom Robinson and Mayella Ewell are characters that represent victor or victim.

Obviously a victor, Atticus Finch is a tolerant and accepting man who looks to the good will of all people and recognises everyone for who they are. He is moralistic and passes this trait onto his children, Scout and Jem. Despite the social structure of the time, Atticus strongly believed in equality throughout the human race. An example of this would be his passion in the Tom

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Even though he was an innocent man, Tom was convicted of a crime he did not commit. On one occasion he was assisting her with housework when she made advances on him. Dolphus Raymond stood up for what he believed in, making him a stronger person, and therefore a victor. Although Mayella triumphed the court case legally she had to live with knowing she put an innocent man to his death. Despite his innocence Tom was convicted against and in the end was killed, this punishment was incomparable to the guilt that Mayella had to live with for the rest of her life knowing she had put an innocent man to his death. Because she was mistreated as a child, Mayella grew up unaware of anything but the abusive foundations of her childhood. He choses to live his life a way that is looked down upon by Maycomb society. This attitude is evident when he said to Scout, “This case, Tom Robinson’s case, is something that goes to the essence of a mans conscience – Scout, I couldn’t go to church and worship God if I didn’t try to help that man.

Tom Robinson was a victim of societies bias standards. Throughout the novel Atticus showed many more acts of an unbiased nature, he is a true victor.

Racial inequality was so common in the 1920’s that it was looked down upon to accept black people and to treat them in a fair manner. Mayella was potentially a good person, unfortunately her upbringing had a great impact on her attitude to life.

Even though Tom Robinson’s and Mayella Ewells lives differed in circumstance and outcome they were both victims of Maycombs’ social order.

Approximate Word count = 1037
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

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