Department of English

Spring 2005 High School Edition

The Youth of Maycomb See Adult Society

Chantelle Roberts
Essay (11th-12th)
Third Place/Essay (shared)
Beaver High School
Teacher: Marilee Eyre

Have you ever been told something you didn’t want to know, or been in a situation that you didn’t want to be in? I am sure you have. Many times they are unavoidable, but we have learned to cope with these situations. The Youth in To Kill a Mockingbird see the evil, hypocrisy, and injustice in adult society.

The youth see the evil of adult society by those who suffer because of actions and choices made by the characters. Mrs. Dubose is an irritable old lady, who criticizes the Finch family and other people who walk past her home. When Atticus Finch takes the Tom Robinson Case, Mrs. Dubose criticizes the Finch family even more. She tells Jem and Scout that their father is a nigger-lover and that he should not defend Tom Robinson. Jem and Scout take it for a while, but after so much torture, Jem becomes furious and chops the tops off of her Camilla flowers. His punishment is to read to Mrs. Dubose everyday for a month. While doing this, he finds that Mrs. Dubose is suffering from an addition to morphine, which is an evil way of adult society. Mrs. Dubose is not the only one that is suffering from the evil adult society; Mayella Ewell is suffering from the evil of adult society as well. Mayella is punished from her father’s decisions to drink alcohol instead of supporting his family in the ways that they need. “Do you love your father, Miss Mayella?” “Whatcha mean…” “…Is he good to ya?” “…He is tolerable, ‘cept when” “…except when he is drinking” (Lee 183-84). She tries to do her best to be clean and show beauty by planting geraniums in her yard. Another example of the evil adult society is Mrs. Stephanie, a woman who gossips and knows everything that goes on in Maycomb. Everyone looks to her for the newest information of Maycomb. The children are exposed not one evil but three evils that are among adult society.

The children are exposed to hypocrisy and how adults’ opinions can vary in similar situations. Miss Gates, Jems’ schoolteacher, is an example of a hypocritical adult. “Miss Gates is a nice lady, ain’t she?” “Why sure…” “She hates Hitler a lot…” “What’s wrong with that?” “Well she went on today about how bad it was him treatin’ the Jews like that…well coming out of the courthouse that night Miss Gates was…she was talking with Miss Stephanie Crawford…I head her say it’s time somebody taught ‘em a lesson” (246). Miss Gates was hypocritical by saying it was okay to persecute Tom, but it was not okay that Hitler could persecute the Jews. Dolphus Raymond was a hypocritical man, when he says he is drinking beer, even though there is only coke in the paper bag. He does this to give the community an excuse for his behavior of marrying a Negro woman. Hypocrisy, a part of adult society that the children cannot escape, flourished in the small community of Maycomb.

The young children learn how unjust the adult society can be through events in novel. Tom Robinson, a good black man, was treated unfairly in his trial against Mayella Ewell. Tom, being black, was shameful to the jury and many people in the community thought that Tom had no chance of winning. Even though Atticus did a swell job in defending Tom, the jury didn’t give him a chance at winning the trial. Mr. Ewell was an unjust man. “Mr. Ewell approached him (Atticus), cursed him, spat on him, and threatened to kill him” (217). Mr. Ewell was out of line and didn’t need to threaten Atticus about something he was assigned to do. Mr. Avery, another fine example of injustice, blames the children’s bad behavior for the cold weather and the snowstorm. The children had not done anything to him to make him accuse them of the cold weather. Injustice is a part of adult society that affects the children.

In conclusion, adult society is not always the best. Adults have faults and weaknesses. Many of the parts in adult society affect the children in them. The children have to learn to cope with society and the way that it is, because it is difficult to change society and its ways.