Editor's Choice
Where is the following quote found in To Kill a Mockingbird?
"'She has merely broken a rigid and time-honored code of our society, a code so severe that whoever breaks it is hounded from our midst as unfit to live with. . . . What did she do? She tempted a Negro.'"
Quick answer:
The quote is found on page 207 of the 1988 renewed McIntosh and Otis, Inc. online edition of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird. It occurs during Atticus Finch's closing argument, where he explains Mayella Ewell's motivation for accusing Tom Robinson of rape. Atticus argues that Mayella broke a societal taboo by tempting a black man, leading her to falsely accuse Tom to cover her shame. Despite Atticus's argument, Tom is unjustly convicted.
On page 207 of the 1988 renewed McIntosh and Otis, Inc. online edition of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus is giving his closing arguments and says,
"She [Mayella] has committed no crime, she has merely broken a rigid and time-honored code of our society, a code so severe that whoever breaks it is hounded from our midst as unfit to live with...What did she do? She tempted a Negro" (Lee, 207).
This lengthy quote describes Mayella's motivation for falsely accusing Tom Robinson of assaulting and raping her. Atticus believes that Mayella felt ashamed and embarrassed after her father witnessed her kissing Tom Robinson and decided to "destroy the evidence of her offense" because she broke society's "time-honored code," which forbids interracial relations. Atticus proceeds to describe the "time-honored code" and encourages the jurors not to subscribe to the "evil assumption" that all black men are immoral beings. Unfortunately, Atticus cannot sway the racist jurors and Tom Robinson becomes a victim of racial injustice.
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