Think back to a time when you felt completely helpless. This was the same feeling many African Americans felt in the first half of the 20th century. The period was filled with hatred and ignorance towards minorities, especially in the American South. This is the setting of Harper Lee's novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. Characters like Tom Robinson are subjected to the hatred and arrogance of the community and end up in situations where there is little to no control over their destiny. The central theme, racism, in To Kill a Mockingbird shows that African Americans were not accepted as equals in Maycomb County, the geographic location where the story takes place, children like Jem and Scout Finch left perplexed by inequality and prejudice , and the citizens of the county who accepted racism and did nothing to improve the situation of African Americans. Tom Robinson had no control over his life when he was accused of raping a white girl because African Americans were at the bottom of the social hierarchy in Maycomb County. “As you get older, you will see white men cheating black men every day of your life,” (Lee 295.) African Americans will be doomed in certain situations due to lack of community background and will always find themselves losing games, court cases or whatever what they compete against a white man. African Americans lacked the rights of white Americans, which created unequal chances and opportunities for success. “Until my father explained it to me later, I hadn't understood the subtlety of Tom's situation: he wouldn't dare hit a white woman under any circumstances and expect to live a long time, so he took the first opportunity to run away – a sure sign of guilt,” (Lee 260-261). When she becomes an adult, Scout truly... middle of paper... goes crazy over this statement and accepts Ewell's racism. The entire town takes the Ewell family's side in the court case .The city prefers the Caucasian man over the African American man, even though there is more evidence against Mr. Ewell than there is against Tom Robinson. No one wants to come forward against racism because otherwise he would be looked down upon by the adult population of the county of Maycomb did nothing to improve the treatment of African Americans while their children remained perplexed about the inequality and often shared their parents' views. African Americans were shown hatred despite not having equal rights to other citizens, sometimes leaving them at the mercy of others without any control over their lives. People should appreciate freedom in America today as the constraints of social equality have been eradicated in most of modern society.