In the novel "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee, it conveys the idea that the characters are a product of their environment. Throughout the book it is continually described that African Americans are part of the lowest class of society. This is mainly shown in Robert Ewell's trial against Tom Robinson, as he wants to cover up the fact that his daughter wants to have a sexual relationship with Tom. Scout and Jem are members of the Finch family, which is about halfway up the social status pyramid. Jem and Scout Finch disagree with the mistreatment of African Americans and follow in their father's footsteps, as he provides protection to all his clients, in the form of a lawyer. Atticus Finch is a lawyer who treats everyone equally, regardless of their position in the social pyramid. Calpurnia is the African-American slave of the Finch family and seems to enjoy working for them. When she goes to church, she changes her attitude and personality to fit in with people who are different from her. These are just a few examples of how Harper Lee demonstrates that characters are a product of their environment. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The trial of Mayella Ewell against Tom Robinson is a great example of characters who are a product of their environment. Tom Robinson is an African American who often passes the Ewell home on his way to work. Mayella Ewell is the daughter of Robert Ewell, who is a drunkard and beats his sons and daughters when he is in a bad mood. He leads a trial against Tom Robinson when his father returns to the property and finds Mayella on top of Tom Robinson, then Tom flees the property as African Americans can be arrested by a person who does not want them to be on their property. They were so detested at the time that a fair court case was difficult to manage without racism influencing the outcome. “I saw that black nigger over there on my Mayella” (ch. 17), Robert said. In this quote, he attempts to shift the blame onto Tom, even though he saw his daughter, Mayella, on top of Tom. Many whites will easily take this as solid evidence, but African Americans are still not sure, even though they know they cannot take part in it. “It is only when he sees that Tom Robinson has a withered left arm and could never have inflicted the bruises suffered by Mayella that Bob Ewell understands how Atticus has cleverly discredited his testimony” (ch. 17). This shows that Bob has no hard evidence that Tom had not committed the "crime", yet he still came to court hoping that his made-up story would be enough to land Tom in prison, which turned out to be enough. , since it was an extremely partial era. Harper Lee easily manages to convey that the characters are a product of their environment, as people know that this happened in the past, and gives us similar circumstances to what could have happened in this era. Scout and Jem Finch follow in their father's footsteps as they disagree with society and their views on African Americans, just because they appear different from others. They cannot see a reason to classify African American people as different from them. “No, Jem, I think there's only one kind of people. People” (P. 250). In this quote, it shows Scout saying what she believes to be true, but society does not agree with her point of view and believes that African American people should still be discriminated against and be kept as the lowest class. “Miss Jean Louise, stand up. Your father is dead” (To Kill a Mockingbird, 1962) (see * at the bottom of the page). Reverend Sykes said this quote and he is an African American. This proves that,..