Representing Tom Robinson as he is bound up in prison as a criminal.
Tom Robinson is a black man that lives on the outskirts of Macolm. He has been tried for the crime of raping a young white girl. He is the one that Atticus is faced with defending throughout the book. Nobody in Macolm seems to like him, 1. because he is black, 2. because he has been blamed for the crime. Some men even tried to break into the jail to kill him. Tom seems like an honest, innocent man.
"Yes, suh. I felt right sorry for her, she seemed to try more'n the rest of 'em-" -Tom Robinson Tom is trying to testify that he is innocent. That he was simply helping the woman.
"They've gone. Get some sleep, Tom. They won't bother you any more." -Atticus Atticus says this after the mob comes to kill Tom in jail.
"Mr. Finch, I tried. I tried to 'thout bein' ugly to her. I didn't wanta be ugly, I didn't wanta push her or nothin." -Tom Robinson This quote shows that Tom was trying as hard as he could not to make it seem like he was doing anything to her. He still tried to help her even though he knew people might think we was doing something bad.
"To Maycomb, Tom's death was typical. Typical of a nigger to cut and run. Typical of a nigger's mentality to have no plan, no thought for the future, just run blind first chance he saw. Funny thing, Atticus Finch might've got him off scot free, but wait-? Hell no. You know how they are. Easy come, easy go. Just shows you, that Robinson boy was legally married, they say he kept himself clean, went to church and all that, but when it comes down to the line the veneer's mighty thin. Nigger always comes out in 'em." -Narrator (Scout) This quote shows just how poor the perspectives are of the people in Macolm. They literally hate blacks and think all of them are alike. This tells us why Tom was found guilty, because the people just can't let a negro slide.
“I guess Tom was tired of white men's chances and preferred to take his own” -Atticus This was said after Tom made a break for it and got shot. Atticus is explaining how Tom probably just was to broken spirited and too sick of the opression of white men that he just wanted it all to end.