Essay On Tom Robinson In To Kill A Mockingbird

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Pages: 3

In the book To Kill a Mockingbird Tom Robinson is presented as a misunderstood black character who has been accused of rape of a nineteen-year-old girl named Mayella Ewell. In this novel a trial is later put into play. The setting in this book takes place in Maycomb Alabama in the 1930s. During this time blacks were not appreciated. Tom Robinson is described in this book as hardworking, compassionate, and frightened. In this novel Tom is very hardworking. He has a wife and kids to take care of and goes to his job every day. In the midst of all this he had a lame arm which he could do nothing but drag around.” His left arm was fully twelve inches shorter than his right, and hung dead at his side. (186) If that isn’t enough he was also black which held a whole new array of burdens. When the whole society looks down on you it can be hard to persevere, but Tom did even though he was black. Tom's boss states in court, “I just want the whole lot of you to know one thing right now. That boy's worked for me eight years an' I ain't had a speck o'trouble outa him. Not a speck” (195) This also helps prove the fact that he is hardworking.
Tom is also very compassionate. Tom
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In To Kill a Mockingbird, Tom shows fear several times throughout the novel. The first time we see Tom’s fear is when Mayella keeps stopping him on his way home from work with silly requests and conversations. During the story, Tom chops up wood and does other household chores for Mayella out of kindness. When Mayella asks Tom to come in the house and help her get a box off the top of a large dresser, he is especially nervous and afraid. He is risking his life by helping her. He tries to get out of it, but Mayella insists on luring Tom into the house where she sexually attacks him. It is then that Tom gets scared and runs out of the house. This is a instance where he is afraid. Also when the men come to his jail cell he is afraid, but Atticus and his children were there for