Ignorance In To Kill A Mockingbird Free Essay Sample

In To Kill a Mockingbird, a novel written by Harper Lee, readers are exposed to an angry mob, fueled by ignorance and self-righteousness sworn outside of Tom Robinson's cell. This angry mob intends to kill Tom Robinson despite him not being proven guilty, this idea is due to ignorance, ignorance meaning the lack of knowledge, the mob thinks that since Tom Robinson is black, he is automatically guilty of raping the white girl. This angry mob is fueled with ignorance because as described by Scout, “There was a smell of stale whiskey and pigpen about,” (Lee 203), in this description Scout adds to the fact that the mob had a stench of whiskey and may be under the influence, making the mob not too intellectual and ignorant at the moment. This fuels the mob because if the group of people wasn’t drunk, the mob would not have formed or been there at the jail. Along with ignorance, this mob is also fueled by self-righteousness, this is also caused by racism, the mob group being white, thinks that they are of higher superiority than Tom Robinson, which results in them wanting to kill Tom Robinson due to him being black. Racism such as this was a common disease in Maycomb, says Atticus (Lee 117), this is because Maycomb takes place in the South where racism was highly common. This fuels the mob because the reason the mob is there is to kill Tom Robinson since he is black, and the mob is white, thus making the mob think they are more righteous. In conclusion, Maycomb experienced pervasive racism, as Atticus put it, that left the angry mob self-righteous. This is because the mob thinks they are in the right more than Tom Robinson due to him being black. Due to the mob being drunk from whiskey as noted by Scout, the mob is also fueled by ignorance due to its low intelligence at the moment.