To Kill a Mockingbird 703often calls Tom to perform various odds and ends
as a pretense so she can talk to him, until one night
she convinces him to come into the house. Mayella
is desperate for the attention of a man, any man, so
long as it is not her father, who has an incestuous
relationship with his daughter. Though incredibly
selfish, Mayella’s action is laden with pathos. She
has been robbed of the opportunity for a normal life
with normal relationships, and in her desperation
she reaches out for a black man, knowing the con-
sequence for Tom should he be caught alone with
her. There is no justice for Tom, who is caught in
an untenable circumstance. If he angers Mayella by
denying her what she wants, she can claim anything
to get him in trouble. If he obeys her, as he does, he
is still accused of violating a white woman.
Atticus tells Scout that he will be unable to win
Tom’s case. When Scout begins to ask how this can
be, Atticus answers, “Simply because we were licked
a hundred years before we started is no reason for
us not to try to win.” Despite already knowing the
outcome is predetermined—an injustice that strikes
against the very purpose of the legal system—Atti-
cus would be doing Tom an injustice himself if he
does not attempt to win his case with every effort
he can possibly muster. As he later tells Jem, “The
one place where a man ought to get a square deal
is in a courtroom, be he any color of the rainbow,
but people have a way of carrying their resentments
right into a jury box.” Tom is later found guilty and
is shot attempting an escape, paralleling the image
of killing a mockingbird. Even the manner of Tom’s
death seems an injustice, for he is shot 17 times.
There is no justice for Mayella’s crime of falsely
accusing Tom, unless, of course, the manner of her
existence is justice itself. The Ewell place has only
one beautiful feature amongst its filth, the six red
geraniums that most of Maycomb believes to be
Mayella’s work. The geranium is often cited as a
flower that symbolizes stupidity or folly and is
therefore apropos for such a character as Mayella.
Her father, Bob Ewell, who is ostensibly respon-
sible for Tom’s death, is stabbed by Boo Radley,
the unseen protector of the Finch children. Ewell
receives justice at the hands of Boo, and Atticus
breaks from legal protocol this once in deciding not
to turn Boo in to the authorities. In fact, it is Sheriff
Heck Tate who delineates the justice of the situa-
tion: “There’s a black boy dead for no reason, and
the man responsible for it’s dead. Let the dead bury
the dead this time, Mr. Finch. Let the dead bury
the dead.”
Scout learns for herself the complex nature of
justice when Atticus labors with how he chooses to
interpret Bob Ewell’s death. Atticus cares less for
how his decision will affect him than how it will
impact Scout and Jem. Morally, he knows leaving
Boo Radley out of the events is the right course of
action. It is only when Scout expresses her under-
standing of what it means to kill a mockingbird that
Atticus is at peace with his decision.
Chris Gonzalezrace in To Kill a Mockingbird
Scout Finch, the narrator of To Kill a Mocking-
bird, recounts the experiences of several summers
of her youth in Maycomb, Alabama, at the height
of the racially segregated South. As a young, pre-
teen girl, Scout’s upbringing does not reflect the
racist attitudes of her community, thanks to her
father, Atticus. His training as a lawyer and his
uncompromising integrity help Atticus instill this
same approach to race in his children, but it is his
employment of Calpurnia as the family cook that
truly allows Scout to appreciate all human beings
regardless of skin color. Calpurnia, whose name
alludes to Julius Caesar’s loyal wife, serves as the
mother figure for the Finch family. While Atticus
deals his lessons to Scout in the erudite manner
of an attorney, Calpurnia often explains things to
Scout in a folksier way. Thus, Scout receives her
true education not from school but from the best
representatives of each community—Atticus, one
of the most highly respected attorneys in Alabama,
and Calpurnia, whom Atticus describes as having
“more education that most colored folks.” When
she speaks of the family, Calpurnia does not seg-
regate herself from the Finches, using pronouns
such as “we” and “us.” And although there is tension
between Scout and Calpurnia, it is never race-based,
but merely the typical resistance a child might have
to a parent or authority figure. Atticus empowers
Calpurnia with the respect and dignity afforded any
person, and consequently his children do not treat