To Kill a Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee in the mid-1950s, has become an all-time
favourite classic and Lee’s most successful book. To Kill a Mockingbird is about the narrator
(Scout) and her life in Maycomb County, Alabama, where racism was the usual disease.
Scout’s father, Atticus, an attorney, was made to defend Tom Robinson, a Negro man. Tom
was accused of raping Mayella Ewell. The trial scene in To Kill a Mockingbird plays a
significant role in the story. It is a great presentation of the two major themes in the novel:
Bildungsroman and Search for Justice.
To Kill a Mockingbird is a coming-of-age story. Not only does it revolve around Scout’s
journey to maturity, but also the others. The trial marked the significant development of many
characters. Throughout the novel, Lee showed readers the immature Scout, Dill, and Jem and
the trial is a challenge to them, where they saw how unjust the court was. The court, where all
humans should be treated equally, had prejudices. As Atticus remarked, the cour t would not be
biased if the judge was not biased, and the judge would not be biased if the jury was not
biased. However, the jury was made up of humans; humans are emotional and prejudiced
beings. After Tom Robinson had been found guilty regardless of all the evidence against the
Ewells, Jem and Dill both cried for different reasons, Scout, on the other hand, still did not
shed a tear. This means that Scout has not matured yet since she did not understand why Dill
and Jem were upset. Nonetheless, there is no doubt that the trial scene contributes greatly to
Scout’s character development.
The people who were indecisive on whether they should stand up for Tom Robinson and the
truth eventually fight for the truth at the trial. One of them was the Cunningham in the jury,
the only one who voted to acquit Tom Robinson. It is important to note that, Walter
Cunningham and his Old Sarum mob wanted to lynch Tom Robinson shortly before the trial.
Under Scout’s affection, they realized that Tom’s innocent and Atticus was trying to protect
the truth. Mr. Link Deas, in the first place, knew that racism was wrong but he did not
advocate against racism. He also expressed his concerns for Atticus about him defending a
Negro. At the trial, he finally spoke on behalf of Tom Robinson, saying he had not gotten a
speck of trouble out of him. Readers can tell Atticus was hesitant about accusing the Ewells at
first. After coming to a decision, he tried to prove Tom’s innocence to everybody at the court.
Without a doubt, the trial scene is one of the most important scenes in To Kill a Mockingbird.
It brings together two major themes of the novel. Scout was stepping steadily toward maturity.
Atticus, Link Deas, and the Cunningham in the jury all made a choice to speak up for the
marginalized, which in this case was Tom Robinson.