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To Kill a Mocking Bird: Simple Hell People Give Other People" in the Novel

Summary:   In "To Kill a Mockingbird", "the simple hell people give other people" is racism and judgementalism.

In the novel "To kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee, one of the main ideas explored is about "the simple hell people give other people." In "To kill a Mockingbird", this idea is explored through a number of characters and their prejudices and how it comes about due to a lack of empathy and understanding between people. This idea is explored by Harper Lee mainly through the characters of Tom Robinson, Arthur Radley and Mayella Ewell.

In "To kill a Mockingbird", "the simple hell people give other people" is an idea that is approached by Mr. Dolphus Raymond. He relates it to himself in the context of racism towards him and his family and identifies it as the result of the white society of Maycomb not realizing that the black society is also human and equal. Throughout the book, the society in Maycomb is shown to be a very racist community, so racist that racism has been integrated into the culture of Maycomb. In this community, the black society is hated, and suppressed by the predominantly white society. Due to this, the black community is prejudiced against and does not ever get the chance to rise in society. As a result, many important cases, such as the one relating to Tom Robinson and Mayella Ewell, are not anymore about right versus wrong, but more towards black versus white. Due to this and the highly prejudiced society of Maycomb, Tom Robinson and his lawyer "Atticus Finch won't win, [they] can't win." This shows that due to his colour, Tom Robinson did not have a chance to win the court case, and thus it shows the height of the prejudice in Maycomb society. Therefore, the "simple hell people give other people" relates to all grievances sparked unintentionally by society due to there being a lack of knowledge or understanding of the personality of the person who was discriminated against or simply a lack of empathy between people.

The context of the line "the simple hell people give other people" is in relation to the way in which Mr. Gilmer treats Tom Robinson in the courtroom during the hearing. Mr. Gilmer addresses Tom Robinson with racism and hatred, and even though he starts by calling him "Mr. Robinson", he eventually addresses Tom Robinson as "boy." Tom Robinson is similarly treated throughout the whole of the court scene, almost as though he is the subject of "a Roman Carnival." This degrades Tom Robinson, not due to any intellectual disability, but purely because of the colour of his skin. Mr. Gilmer is also unable to accept the fact that Tom Robinson is a good man and he does not believe that black people like Tom could be the source of any good deeds. Thus, he reacts in a surprised manner when Tom states that he felt sorry for Mayella Ewell, "You felt sorry for her, you felt sorry for her"" Thus, Mr. Gilmer outwardly expresses his surprise at the fact that Tom Robinson was human enough to feel sorry for a white woman. Therefore, this shows that without even knowing Tom Robinson as a person, Mr. Gilmer degrades him, showing another example of "the simple hell people give other people" in the novel.

Tom Robinson is also affected by the cruel hate he receives from Maycomb residents. Probably the clearest example of this is presented when the lynching mob made up of Maycomb residents come to the jail to find and lynch Tom Robinson. When they come to do their job, the members of the lynch mob know little about the personality of Tom Robinson and the kind of man he is. However, they are prepared to murder him under the false accusations of him raping a white woman. This shows, again the "simple hell people give other people" without even knowing or understanding them. Later on, an example given by Scout reminds the members of the mob of their own lives and makes them leave the scene. This shows that without empathy, Tom Robinson would almost definitely have been lynched that night, however with it, the mob's members are affected enough to feel ashamed of themselves, and "[shuffle] back to their ramshackle cars." However, Scout's rescue would have been something out of course, and in the normal case, Tom Robinson would have died.

Arthur Radley is another individual who suffers greatly due to the "simple hell" given to him through the prejudices of Maycomb society. Among other things, Arthur Radley is wrongly accused of dining on raw animals, having a "long jagged scar that ran across his face", yellow teeth, and having tried to murder his father - the typical image of a monster. Due to these false accusations, he is looked down upon in society and is scared of and hated by the townsfolk and even re-named "Boo" Radley. However, close to the end of the book, Arthur Radley emerges from his house to save Jem and Scout from almost certain death, thus revealing himself to be, as Scout puts it, a "gentleman."

Another occurrence in "To kill a Mockingbird" has a similar effect of giving "the simple hell" to others when Mr. Nathan Radley blocks out the only method of communication there was between Arthur Radley and the children. This method of communication was used by the two parties by passing gifts through a hole in a neighbourhood tree. When this hole was savagely blocked out by Mr. Nathan Radley, there was a profound effect on Jem. This shows that through simply blocking out a hole in a tree, someone managed to give Jem "hell", and without understanding him in any way, caused him damage.

Mayella Ewell is another individual who suffers "the simple hell" from others. She is a member of one of the poorest white families in Maycomb which can be considered to be the bottom of the white community of Maycomb. She is also disliked by the black community due to being white, due to her father, Bob Ewell, who is a highly racist man and due to her own racist attitudes. "Mayella Ewell must have been in the loneliest person in the world...white people wouldn't have anything to do with her because she lived among the pigs; Negroes wouldn't have anything to do with her because she was white." This shows that Mayella Ewell was another individual who suffered "hell" not because people were prejudiced against her or because she was directly hated by people, but simply because no one did anything with her and because she was ignored in society.

One other example of "the simple hell people give other people" is in the case of the person who said these words, Mr. Dolphus Raymond. In his case, racism is at its highest because even though he is white, he is the husband of a black woman, and the father of mixed children. In his case, he receives so much "hell" from the public that he is forced to change his image in public and act as an alcoholic under the influence of whisky so that society would forgive him and blame drink for his choices in life and thus not need to fully understand him or empathize with him. This helps Mr. Raymond to successfully evade what he describes as the "the simple hell" he would otherwise be the centre of and thus be the centre of discrimination in such a prejudiced society as Maycomb. Hence the reason why he chooses to take on such a dilemma.

"The simple hell people give other people" has been defined previously as the grievances caused by society due to a lack of knowledge or understanding of the personality of the people being discriminated against. This can be summed up as simply a lack of empathy, another linked idea explored in the book highlighted by Atticus's advice to Scout, "You never really understand a person...until you climb into their skin and walk around in it." The application of this rule would thus facilitate empathy for others and prevent prejudices in Maycomb. However, in the novel there is a lack of the application of this rule due to which there are prejudices and misunderstandings in society and the existence of "the simple hell."

Thus, in the novel, "To kill a Mockingbird", the idea of "the simple hell people give other people" is explored predominantly through the characters of Tom Robinson, Arthur Radley and Mayella Ewell. Through each, we find out more about the prejudices and the lack of empathy that exists between them and how this affects what happens in the story. We also learn the importance of Atticus's advice and how with its use, a number of problems may have been solved even before they began, thus making these words very important in conveying Harper Lee's ideas through the book.