Class Structure in To Kill a Mockingbird The rigid class structure and social stratification of Maycomb County had a profound effect on the events of the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. The impact of this class structure and underlying prejudice was especially evident in the trial of Tom Robinson, a black man from Maycomb. Due to Maycomb County's rigid class system and the city's extreme prejudices, Tom Robinson was wrongly convicted and sentenced to death for a crime he did not commit. The Maycomb County Society had a definitive structure containing four classes. The first upper class consisted of white-collar Caucasians who were considered "rich" in the post-Depression years. Characters falling into this class were Atticus Finch, a wealthy and respected lawyer and citizen of the city, and Judge Taylor, a Maycomb County judge and the judge who presided over the Robinson trial. Other characters who belonged to this upper class were Miss Maudie Attkinson, a kind and open-minded woman, and Miss Stephanie Crawford, the famous town gossip. The second class in Maycomb County included blue collar, white workers and mostly farmers struggling to make ends meet. The Cunninghams, Dolphus Raymond, and the mysterious Radley family represented this group. Maycomb County's third class was "white trash." The Ewells, who lived on the dump and relied on welfare to survive, were members of this group. It is important to note that the difference between the second and third classes was not a difference. the financial one. Both were "poor". The difference, however, was in how they interacted in society. The Cunninghams, unlike the Ewells, refused to accept charity and paid their debts with what little they had. The Cunninghams were also different from the Ewells in that they did not take advantage of black men. Maycomb's fourth and lowest class was best described as a "caste" because it was impossible to escape from it. All blacks were included in this group. Prejudice was entrenched in Maycomb County. Although there were different social levels within the black community, a black person was always in the lowest class of society at large. Therefore, blacks lived separately from whites in their part of the city and seemed to have a separate society from whites. The strong prejudice of Maycomb County and the negative effects of its social strata were demonstrated by the trial of Tom Robinson. Tom was a hard-working, kind-hearted black man who went out of his way to be kind and helpful to some poor white trash. He helped Miss Mayella because he felt sorry for her. His main flaw was the fact that he was black. Bob Ewell, a white drunk, who was an eyesore and a problem in the town, accused Robinson of raping his daughter Mayella. Atticus Finch, Tom Robinson's attorney, made it extremely clear to the jury that Tom was innocent. In reality it was Mayella who made sexual advances towards Tom, and as a result she was beaten by her father for kissing a black man. However, despite the obvious and undeniable facts of the case, the all-white jury ruled in favor of the Ewells and sentenced Tom Robinson to death. Tom eventually died when he was shot while trying to escape from prison. Examining the case, one can see how Maycomb's four classes were involved to varying degrees. The first two classes were represented at the trial by the president of the court, lawyers and numerous jurors. He was responsible for all of these.