There are plenty of destructive forces in the world with the that may destroy our humanity, beat down on our beliefs and criticize our morals: ignorance, anger and greed but none of them as bad as racism. The world's worst kind of prejudice is racism, and as illustrated in "To Kill a Mockingbird," it ruins the lives of those who suffer from it. During the time this book was written, racism was acceptable, but "To Kill a Mockingbird" shows the world a whole different side of the time. Some people were trying to reverse this curse. Like every other situation in life, there is always that one person that doesn't agree. In Maycomb County, Alabama, there were plenty of those. As a part of this magnificent novel written by Harper Lee, she shows how the differences in people can affect the world as a whole, resulting in the unnecessary evil of racism bringing down Tom Robinson, Atticus Finch and Calpurnia. .
The benign force of racism puts a stamp on every part of "To Kill a Mockingbird," but the most apparent victim would be Tom Robinson. Tom Robinson is the black man that was accused of raping a white woman, Mayella Ewell. Falsely accused by Mayella's father, Bob Ewell, Tom was brought in front of a white, prejudice jury. Atticus Finch knows the man is innocent and proves as much as he can, but despite his efforts, the racism in the minds of the jury wins. Tom is sentenced to death after the jury delivers a verdict of guilty. Even though Atticus believes there could be chance for the verdict of not guilty if they appeal the trial, Tom is worried he will be judged by the color of his skin once again, instead by his innocence. Rather than trying to appeal, Tom Robinson decides to take his fate into his own hands and tries to escape from the jail, fails and is filled with seventeen bullets. The Finch family are the only people in town that show Tom sympathy and understanding. Atticus says, "I couldn't in truth say that we had more than a good chance.