The atmosphere in the town on the day of Tom’s trial reveals an astounding lack of respect towards this man. His life is on trial yet, because he is black, this has become something to gawp at: “It was like Saturday” and “It was a gala occasion.” Miss Maudie voices her disapproval by stating: “Look at all those folks, it’s like a Roman carnival.” The attitudes of the townsfolk towards Atticus further exposes their prejudice towards Negroes:
“Yeah but Atticus aims to defend him. That’s what I don’t like about it.”
The narrative stance is important here. Scout adds:
“The court appointed Atticus to defend him. Atticus aimed to defend him. That’s what they didn’t like about it. It was confusing.”
Harper Lee exploits Scout’s innocence here to highlight how irrational prejudice is in general. The layout of the courthouse itself is also representative of the prejudice that prevails in Maycomb. Naturally, white people enter first:
“The Negroes, having waited for the white people to go upstairs, began to come in.”
Negroes, however, are not allowed to sit downstairs, they must use the balcony:
“the black people surged upstairs”.
Dill is upset by Gilmer’s questioning of Tom and is comforted by Dolphus. Scout had believed that Dolphus was an alcoholic, and sipped whisky out of a paper bag. The children discover it is actually coca cola and Dolphus reveals why he has deliberately created such a negative reputation:
“they could never understand that I live like I do because that’s the way I want to live.” This reveals the narrow-mindedness of Maycomb’s citizens, they cannot understand why a white man of noble descent would choose to live with a black woman unless he was a drunkard. His children are treated as outcasts in Maycomb because they are half-caste:
“They don’t belong here. Coloured folks won’t have em because they’re half white – white folks won’t have them because they’re coloured.” Pg 177
Dolphus is despondent about the treatment Negroes receive from white people just because of their skin colour:
“Cry about the hell white people give coloured folks, without even stopping to think that they’re people too”.
Tom makes a crucial error during Gilmer’s questioning. He admits that he felt sorry for Mayella, and this is why he carried out odd jobs for her:
“You felt sorry for her, you felt sorry for her?”
To Gilmer, and the people of Maycomb, it is unthinkable that a coloured man could feel sorry for a white woman. As a coloured man, he is deemed to be of an inferior class to a white woman. The italics place emphasis on Gilmer’s words, revealing how incredulous he finds Tom’s admission.
Gilmer’s tone when speaking to Tom is both condescending and patronising. He calls Tom, a man, ‘boy’:
“Then you say she’s lying, boy?” and
“Are you being impudent to me, boy?”
The atmosphere in the town on the day of Tom’s trial reveals an astounding lack of respect towards this man. His life is on trial yet, because he is black, this has become something to gawp at:
“It was like Saturday” and “It was a gala occasion.”
Miss Maudie voices her disapproval by stating:
“Look at all those folks, it’s like a Roman carnival.”
The attitudes of the townsfolk towards Atticus further exposes their prejudice towards Negroes:
“Yeah but Atticus aims to defend him. That’s what I don’t like about it.”
The narrative stance is important here. Scout adds:
“The court appointed Atticus to defend him. Atticus aimed to defend him. That’s what they didn’t like about it. It was confusing.”
Harper Lee exploits Scout’s innocence here to highlight how irrational prejudice is in general.
The layout of the courthouse itself is also representative of the prejudice that prevails in Maycomb. Naturally, white people enter first:
“The Negroes, having waited for the white people to go upstairs, began to come in.”
Negroes, however, are not allowed to sit downstairs, they must use the balcony:
“the black people surged upstairs”.
Dill is upset by Gilmer’s questioning of Tom and is comforted by Dolphus. Scout had believed that Dolphus was an alcoholic, and sipped whisky out of a paper bag. The children discover it is actually coca cola and Dolphus reveals why he has deliberately created such a negative reputation:
“they could never understand that I live like I do because that’s the way I want to live.” This reveals the narrow-mindedness of Maycomb’s citizens, they cannot understand why a white man of noble descent would choose to live with a black woman unless he was a drunkard. His children are treated as outcasts in Maycomb because they are half-caste:
“They don’t belong here. Coloured folks won’t have em because they’re half white – white folks won’t have them because they’re coloured.” Pg 177
Dolphus is despondent about the treatment Negroes receive from white people just because of their skin colour:
“Cry about the hell white people give coloured folks, without even stopping to think that they’re people too”.
Tom makes a crucial error during Gilmer’s questioning. He admits that he felt sorry for Mayella, and this is why he carried out odd jobs for her:
“You felt sorry for her, you felt sorry for her?”
To Gilmer, and the people of Maycomb, it is unthinkable that a coloured man could feel sorry for a white woman. As a coloured man, he is deemed to be of an inferior class to a white woman. The italics place emphasis on Gilmer’s words, revealing how incredulous he finds Tom’s admission.
Gilmer’s tone when speaking to Tom is both condescending and patronising. He calls Tom, a man, ‘boy’:
“Then you say she’s lying, boy?” and
“Are you being impudent to me, boy?”