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Christen Hurley

Professor Stone

ENG 252

31 October 2021

Law and Society: To Kill a Mockingbird

To Kill a Mockingbird has been a classic for several years, and each time it is read,

different—but equally essential themes are brought to the surface. The theme of law and society

is central in To Kill a Mockingbird. Specifically, how society interprets and carries out laws.

There are examples of innocent people being seen as guilty and facing consequences. There are

also examples of unlawful things going unpunished. Throughout the novel, the laws were

tweaked, legal proceedings were carried out unfairly, and regulations were neglected. The town

where the story takes place, Macomb, is a close-knit community. Everyone in Macomb is labeled

based on numerous factors and this led to everyone having different standards. Students of poor,

uneducated families would get away with skipping school. African Americans were expected to

separate themselves from everyone else and would face harsh consequences for only being

accused of a crime. Educated families had to keep their image, but people would mostly trust

their judgment. The Finch family is known to be educated but faces problems when Atticus is

hired on the Tom Robinson case as his defendant. The community of Macomb determines the

fate of this case, not the legal system. The code of the community is the law, and there are

several instances throughout To Kill a Mockingbird that portray this concept.

To fully understand how the community affected the course of the legal proceedings and

the verdict of the Tom Robinson case, it is necessary to understand the case itself. Tom was
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accused of rape. Already being a heavily penalized crime, Mr. Robinson was an African

American and the young woman he was accused of raping was white. This was punishable by

death, specifically, lynching. Even with there being evidence proving Tom did not commit the

crime, he was found guilty. There were several community standards that he had broken in the

eyes of the people of Macomb. Outside of the accusations being made against him, during the

legal proceedings, he made a crucial mistake. On page 419 of To Kill a Mockingbird, during the

trial, Tom states, “Ýes, suh. I felt right sorry for her, she seemed to try more’n the rest of ‘em

—”. Him feeling sorry towards a “superior” was not taken in kind regards. This was insulting to

the community, specifically, Miss Mayella. This is one example of the community’s beliefs

coming before the law and evidence. Robert Stevens comments on Atticus’s role between the

conflicting rules. He writes, “Atticus challenges the code with both the law and his conscience.

After being appointed by Judge John Taylor to defend Tom Robinson, Atticus astounds the

community by his intention to defend Tom to the full extent of the law” (Stevens, 223). The

community expected there no be no one to defend Tom; they more than likely did not expect a

trial either. The people of Macomb knowingly put Atticus in the position that he is in. Since he is

a lawyer, it was very frustrating for him for a case to be as biased as it was. Even though Atticus

is a member of the community, his one voice could not outweigh the opinions and beliefs of

many. The way the community viewed people of different races put those groups of people in

dangerous situations if they were accused of committing a crime.

The beliefs that the community of Macomb holds are not only restricted to race. Families

of different economic classes were treated differently. The rumors of Boo-Radley would confirm

that the town often comes to conclusions with evidence. The problem is, the conclusions that

they come to become the truth for the town. The rumors about Boo were so intense that the
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children feared him at certain points. Harper Lee writes, “…and I played that summer with more

than vague anxiety despite Jem’s assurances that Boo Radley was dead and nothing could get

me…” (Lee, 86). The kids were convinced that Boo was crazy and that he could potentially

cause them harm. There was no evidence to back any claims that were made of him, but the

community made him an outcast along with the rest of his family. Rebecca Best writes about the

groups that Jem came up with for the town. She writes, “Jem’s account of the groups of

Maycomb’s society does not provide for Boo Radley or Mr. Dolphus Raymond. Both men are

outcasts in their society, and both rebel in small ways against their society” (Best, 544). By not

even including Boo in the societal groups, it is proven that he thought of us much differently than

the rest of the citizens of Maycomb. No one actually knows why he does not come outside, but

no one bothers to find out either because they already have their minds made up.

Harper Lee’s narrator of To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout, gives the reader a more innocent

perspective to see the community for what it is. It is interesting to follow her through the story

because there are things that the reader may understand, but Scout does not. One example of this

would be the visit she and Jem had at the African American church. Scout did not see anything

wrong with going to that church, but she did notice differences between the churches she has

been to and the one she was presently at. She only realized there was a problem when her Aunt

Alexandria got involved. Lee writes, “Who was the ‘her’ they were talking about? My heart

sank: me. I felt the starched walls of a pink cotton penitentiary closing in on me, and for the

second time in my life I thought of running away. Immediately” (Lee, 289). The sadness she

feels comes from not understanding how society would view her relationship with Calpurnia.

Scout does not see her as someone to be ashamed of, and her Aunt reflecting on it that way
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confused and upset her. We can further see her innocence through other instances. Tadeja

Tement writes, “Since she is narrating from a child’s perspective, the seating arrangement has

great significance to her. She feels inferior and offended, so she wishes to highlight

the meaning of sitting at the big table. In her mind, it is a sort of a graduation” (Tement, 251).

This highlights the level of maturity that Scout is at, but also the understanding she has between

adulthood and childhood. This gives the reader an idea of the voice that is being narrorated.

Every situation throughout the novel is through the perspective of a young girl. This shows the

extent community standards are held to because a child understands how the people of Macomb

are lumped together.

Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird has been studied for a variety of reasons over the

years. Out of the many themes, the idea of society having control over the law and the way

others are perceived is an undeniable one. The community single-handedly had an innocent man

portrayed as guilt just because of the color of his skin. They also led Boo Radley to be an

outcast, and allowed rumors to dictate who he was rather than finding out for themselves. The

narrator being a young girl only makes this theme more clear. If she has a good understanding of

how her community is placing people into boxes, she must also have a good understanding that

the beliefs of Macomb often come before actual evidence.

Works Cited

Best, Rebecca H. “Panopticism and the Use of ‘the Other’ in ‘To Kill a Mockingbird.’” The Mississippi

Quarterly, vol. 62, no. 4, Mississippi State University, 2009, pp. 541–52,

http://www.jstor.org/stable/26477256.

Lee, Harper. “To Kill a Mockingbird.” HarperCollins Publishers Australia Pty. Ltd., 1960. 

Stephens, Robert O. “The Law and the Code in Harper Lee’s ‘To Kill a Mockingbird.’” Southern

Cultures, vol. 1, no. 2, University of North Carolina Press, 1995, pp. 215–27,

http://www.jstor.org/stable/44378647.

Tement, Tadeja. “To Kill a Mockingbird Fifty Years On: Translating Mind Style into Slovene.” B. A. S.:

British and American Studies/Revista de Studii Britanice Și Americane, vol. 23, 2017, pp. 243–

254. EBSCOhost, search-ebscohost-com.ezproxy.loras.edu/login.aspx?

direct=true&db=mlf&AN=2018300753&site=ehost-live.