Atticus tells Scout that cheating a black man is ten times worse than cheating a white man, and he considers it one of the worst things a person can do. Atticus is a proponent of equality and stresses the importance of protecting innocent beings throughout the novel. In Maycomb's racist...
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society, black people are considered second-class citizens and suffer from racial discrimination and injustice, which is something Atticus finds repulsive and unfair.
Mockingbirds symbolically represent innocent, defenseless beings in the story, and Atticus informs his children that it is considered a sin to kill a mockingbird in chapter ten. If one were to metaphorically interpret Atticus's lesson regarding mockingbirds, he is essentially telling his children that it is imperative to protect innocent, vulnerable people. In Maycomb's prejudiced society, which enforces racist Jim Crow laws, black citizens are symbolic mockingbirds. Therefore, Atticus's statement about cheating black people coincides with his stance on protecting innocent, defenseless beings. Most notably, Tom Robinson is a black man (and a symbolic mockingbird) who is falsely accused of assaulting and raping Mayella Ewell. Atticus understands that Tom is vulnerable to Maycomb's racist justice system but tries his best to protect him by valiantly defending Tom in court. Tragically, the racist jury wrongly convicts Tom Robinson, who becomes the unfortunate victim of racial injustice.
Mockingbirds are absolutely innocent. There are other bird that may actually deserve to be killed for the pests that they become to humans. They steal seeds from fields and poop all over things. Mockingbirds, however, innocently sing and create pleasant sound for us.
The black man in this day and age did nothing but try to create pleasantries for the white man. They took their unfortunate place in society and tried to earn a decent wage by working for white men.
Atticus noticed that many white men cheated colored men because they knew the courts would find white men innocent even though they cheated black men. Courts were indeed affected by color. Atticus taught his children this principle and let it also ooze into his closing argument. It is not right to treat a colored man as any less of a man, Atticus thought. Atticus wanted to see innocence prevail no matter who the victim was. In this case, we are talking about Tom Robinson.