Harper Lee's novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, is an excellent book for all young people to read. It teaches us all a lesson of prejudice against colored people in the South. To fully understand the issue, Harper Lee uses terms that people would use derogatorily towards black people. Early in the novel, Harper Lee introduces Atticus as a lawyer, who defends Negroes to the best of his abilities. As the novel progresses she touches on how Negroes are hated in Maycomb and finally in the end, she shows just how far a town can go against a Negro man.
             Atticus is one of Maycomb's primary lawyers and he "derived a reasonable income from the law (p 5)." He went to "Montgomery to read law (p. 4)" and his first two clients were the last two people hung in the Maycomb County jail. Many people throughout Maycomb dub him "nigger-lover" because he usually defended Negroes.
             "A Negro would not pass the Radley Place at night, he would cut across to the sidewalk opposite and whistle as he walked(p 9)." Although, the Negroes of Maycomb would always try to keep their peace with the white people, they were still persecuted. Arthur Radley, the insane man of Maycomb, wasn't locked in with the Negroes when he was caught drunk in the town square. When the townsfolk realized something was wrong with Arthur they wouldn't lock him in either, "The sheriff hadn't the heart to put him in jail alongside Negroes (p 11)." This proves the oppression of Negroes in the South, a problem that was very big a few decades ago.
             Maycomb is a southern town, with mostly no sympathy for blacks. When a black goes on trial, he would have no chance of being proven not guilty even if he weren't the convict. The main plot of To Kill a Mockingbird, is the trial of Tom Robinson. Tom had been accused of
             raping Mayella Ewell. "...she was bunged up on the right side of her face
             ...