To_Kill_a_Mockingbird__Coexistence_of_Good_and_Evil

To Kill a Mockingbird: Coexistence of Good and Evil Evil men are always interfering with a good man’s dream. In “To Kill a Mockingbird”, there were many different signs of good and evil. However, the meanest of them all was Bob Ewell and his daughter, Mayella Ewell: I got somethin’ to say an’ then I ain’t gonna say no more. That nigger yonder took advantage of me an’ if you fine fancy gentlemen don’t wanta do nothin’ about it then your all yellow stinkin’ cowards, stinkin’ cowards, the lot of you. (Lee 251) Mayella was testifying against Tom Robinson and those were the words she spoke. Bob and Mayella Ewell were evil because they were falsely accusing Tom Robinson, a Negro farmhand, of raping her. Considering the fact of this taking place in the 1930’s, Tom was called a liar when he denied even looking at her in any sexual way. He was immediately put on trial, resulting in Atticus Finch becoming his lawyer. Atticus Finch is the peace maker who teaches his children how to avoid social inequality (House). If you can learn a simple trick, Scout, you’ll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view. (Lee 39) Tom and Atticus are two of the men I would consider good men in this novel. They both have dreams they would like to accomplish and obstacles they knew they would have to face. As the trial goes on, Bob and Mayella are both very loud and antsy. They make up one lie after another to get an innocent man killed. Meanwhile, Tom is remaining calm and truthful as he answers the questions being thrown in his face. When he’s asked a question concerning why he helped Mayella if he never wanted to have any sexual relations with her, he replies, “I felt right sorry for her, she seemed to try more’n the rest of ‘em” (Lee 264). Just by this one quote you can see that Tom has a huge heart and would never even think about doing such a thing to Mayella. However in the end, the judge declares Tom Robinson guilty and sends him away to a work prison. But before Atticus could get Tom out of prison, he tried to escape, but got shot and killed in the process. I see this as ruining any dreams Tom had and putting a halt to any dreams Atticus had. Bob and Mayella Ewell interfered with Tom Robinson and Atticus Finch’s dreams simply by making up a story that was believable and picking a target that was weak in the eyes of society. “Tom Robinson and Boo Radley are not prepared for the evil that they encounter, and, as a result, they are destroyed” (SparkNotes Editors). Works Cited House, Melinda. Class Lecture. English III Honors. Wakulla High School, Crawfordville, Fl. 12 Jan 2010 Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird. New York: Harper Lee, 1960. SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNote on To Kill a Mockingbird.” < SparkNotes.com. > SparkNotes LLC. 2002. Web. 1 Feb. 2010.