Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird

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Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird

In the novel by Harper Lee named, To Kill a Mockingbird, there is one main tragic event that occurs. The feelings and expressions dealt with in the novel are seen through the eyes of the main character, named Scout. In the novel Tom Robinson is a black male accused of rape in Maycomb County. During the same time period as the novel there were many historical events that were almost identical in setting and conclusion. There were many things that happened leading up to the court case that foreshadowed Tom Robinson’s inability to be found innocent of the charges. The Scottsboro case and the case in the novel are similar in many ways, especially in that they ruined the lives of blacks over false accusations.

An event that was very much similar in nature to the novel was the Scottsboro trials. The Scottsboro trials involved nine young black males who were charged with the rape of two white females on a train. The black boys on the train got into a fight with some white males, which was the beginning of their worst nightmare. The two women on the train that made the accusations saw an opportunity to stage a rape claim.

The two women in the Scottsboro case were from poor families living in African-American communities. In the 1920's and 1930s it was not common for white families to live in black communities. Even though there were a few that lived in the black communities, they were not thought highly of. The two women's names were Victoria Price and Ruby Bates. During the court case, “Another witness claimed that he had let Price use a room for prostitution and that she turned down a white man once because it was ‘Negro night’" (Greatest). Ruby Bates’ situation was not much bet...

... middle of paper ...

...onvicted of a crime that he didn’t commit, which eventually led to his death. The town of Maycomb committed a sin, by killing a mockingbird.

Works Cited:

"The Greatest Trials of All Time." The Scottsboro Boys. 1998. Court TV Online. 13 Feb. 2002. <http://www.courttv.com/greatesttrials/scottsboro/players.html>.

Johnson, Claudia Durst. Understanding To Kill A Mockingbird. 1994. Think Quest. 13

Feb 2002. < http://library.thinkquest.org/12111/scottsboro/rubybate.htm>.

Linder, Doug. ""The Scottsboro Boys" Trials ." Biographies. 2002. . . <http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/FTrials/scottsboro/SB_biog.html>.

Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird. New York: Time Warner, 1982.

"Scottsboro An American Tragedy." People & Events. 2000. PBS <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/scottsboro/peopleevents/index.html>.

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