The Finch family are not exempt from prejudice. We see this when Francis taunts Scout, repeating Aunt Alexandra’s words:
“Grandma says its bad enough he lets you all run wild, but now he’s turned out anigger-lover we’ll never be able to walk the streets of Maycomb again. He’s ruinin’ the family, that’s what he’s doin’.” Atticus, in contrast, condemns racial prejudice:
“before I can live with other folks I’ve got to live with myself.”
and,
“But do you think I could face my children otherwise?…
I hope and pray I can get Jem and Scout through it without bitterness, and most of all, without catching Maycomb’s usual disease. Why reasonable people go stark raving mad when anything involving a Negro comes up, is something I don’t pretend to understand.”
Atticus acts as a voice of conscience in the novel and we can see this through his words. He would not be able to hold his head up in his own home, let alone Maycomb, if he didn’t take the trial on.We learn thatMaycomb is “a tired old town”, where, “People moved slowly”. As we find out later in the novel, people’s attitudes move particularly slowly.
The layout of the town demonstrates that the white and Negro populations are segregated:
“A dirt road ran from the highway past the dump, down to a small Negro settlement… most people turned around in the Negroe’s front yards”.
The Negroes are isolated in an unpleasant part of town. The fact that the townsfolk use their front yards as a shortcut to turn their cars in demonstrates a lack of respect towards them and their homes. It is implied that Maycomb has a history of organised prejudice:
“Way back about nineteen-twenty there was a Klan”.
The setting of the town further demonstrates the inherent prejudice of the townsfolk.
Lula’s treatment of the children reveals another aspect of the prejudice prevalent in the community. She says to Calpurnia:
“You ain’t got no business bringin’ white chillum here. They got their church, and we got our’n” Maycomb’s use of the First Purchase Church further emphasises the lack of respect shown towards the black population of the town. The Church was paid for from the earnings of freed slaves; however:
“white men gambled in it on weekdays”.
This inappropriate use of a place of worship conveys the lack of respect granted towards the Negro population of Maycomb. This key incident in the novel exposes both the prejudice prevalent in Maycomb and the important role the children of the novel play. A mob of men want to kill Tom Robinson prior to the case even coming to trial. Because he is black, they have decided he is guilty: “You know what we want…Get aside from the door, Mr Finch”. The arrival of the children angers the men. Scout recognises Mr Cunningham, Walter’s father, and, blissfully unaware of the tension of the situation, innocently asks him about Walter: “Tell him hey for me, won’t you?” Scout’s question brings Mr C. back to his senses: “So it took an eight-year-old child to bring ‘em to their senses, didn’t it?…Hmp, maybe we need a police force of children…you children last night made Walter Cunningham stand in my shoes for a minute. That was enough.”
The Finch family are not exempt from prejudice. We see this when Francis taunts Scout, repeating Aunt Alexandra’s words:
“Grandma says its bad enough he lets you all run wild, but now he’s turned out a nigger-lover we’ll never be able to walk the streets of Maycomb again. He’s ruinin’ the family, that’s what he’s doin’.”
Atticus, in contrast, condemns racial prejudice:
“before I can live with other folks I’ve got to live with myself.”
and,
“But do you think I could face my children otherwise?…
I hope and pray I can get Jem and Scout through it without bitterness, and most of all, without catching Maycomb’s usual disease. Why reasonable people go stark raving mad when anything involving a Negro comes up, is something I don’t pretend to understand.”
Atticus acts as a voice of conscience in the novel and we can see this through his words. He would not be able to hold his head up in his own home, let alone Maycomb, if he didn’t take the trial on. We learn that Maycomb is “a tired old town”, where, “People moved slowly”. As we find out later in the novel, people’s attitudes move particularly slowly.
The layout of the town demonstrates that the white and Negro populations are segregated:
“A dirt road ran from the highway past the dump, down to a small Negro settlement… most people turned around in the Negroe’s front yards”.
The Negroes are isolated in an unpleasant part of town. The fact that the townsfolk use their front yards as a shortcut to turn their cars in demonstrates a lack of respect towards them and their homes.
It is implied that Maycomb has a history of organised prejudice:
“Way back about nineteen-twenty there was a Klan”.
The setting of the town further demonstrates the inherent prejudice of the townsfolk.
Lula’s treatment of the children reveals another aspect of the prejudice prevalent in the community. She says to Calpurnia:
“You ain’t got no business bringin’ white chillum here. They got their church, and we got our’n”
Maycomb’s use of the First Purchase Church further emphasises the lack of respect shown towards the black population of the town. The Church was paid for from the earnings of freed slaves; however:
“white men gambled in it on weekdays”.
This inappropriate use of a place of worship conveys the lack of respect granted towards the Negro population of Maycomb.
This key incident in the novel exposes both the prejudice prevalent in Maycomb and the important role the children of the novel play. A mob of men want to kill Tom Robinson prior to the case even coming to trial. Because he is black, they have decided he is guilty:
“You know what we want…Get aside from the door, Mr Finch”.
The arrival of the children angers the men. Scout recognises Mr Cunningham, Walter’s father, and, blissfully unaware of the tension of the situation, innocently asks him about Walter:
“Tell him hey for me, won’t you?”
Scout’s question brings Mr C. back to his senses:
“So it took an eight-year-old child to bring ‘em to their senses, didn’t it?…Hmp, maybe we need a police force of children…you children last night made Walter Cunningham stand in my shoes for a minute. That was enough.”