Group Dynamics In To Kill A Mockingbird

Maycomb County is the main setting of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird and hosts are range of events displaying prejudice, including an innocent man’s death. Tom Robinson was wrongfully convicted for rape based on race due to the time frame of the 1930’s and the prejudices surrounding it. Mayella Ewell contributes to the death of Tom Robinson but is not solely responsible with contributions from many other characters. Prejudice comes from actions without any or little prior knowledge including judgement and false information and is constantly shown throughout the novel. Power of the individual contributes to Tom’s death as multiple people stand up for themselves, and show what one can do to another using false accusations. Group dynamics …show more content…
Group dynamics had a big impact on the case as the groups involved included the jury and the Ewell’s, both of which had very similar values and could determine Tom’s fate. The jury for the case had the biggest impact once the testimonies had ended as they essentially convicted Tom due to the social situation effects it would have had as well as the stereotypes of race. Black people are liars and not trustworthy to the Southern society, therefore making biased contributions from an all-white panel. “When it’s a white man’s word against a black man’s, the white man always wins” and the juries are the only people who can change this, choosing not to do so in this situation. The group dynamics of the jury had Tom Robinson convicted through the similarities of the morals which they shared. The Ewell’s also used group dynamics to convict Tom, by sharing the same story and not creating in equalities in the testimonies, where Mayella or Bob could have easily broken away and told the truth. They worked together to convict Tom to protect themselves and maintain their family’s integrity. Group dynamics worked to convict Tom through the morals of the jury as well as the extent the Ewell family will go to protect …show more content…
During the 1930’s racism and prejudice against black people was common and it can be seen throughout the novel including in the courthouse and testimonies. The jury in the courthouse showed this prejudice after they convicted Tom for a crime which he never committed purely based on race rather than evidence, as ample evidence was supplied by Atticus of who really committed the crime. In the society that Tom lived in “white men cheat black men every day” and colour is a key determinant for the conviction. The wider community of Maycomb would not have disagreed with the sentence because it was all that most of them knew, black people could not be trusted. Had there been no the prejudice in the community there would have also been no case because the Ewell’s power as a group and as individuals would have been redundant with the little evidence they supplied compared to that of the offence, putting Tom at little to no risk of harm or

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