chapter 16 and 17. The trial case review

In chapter 16 we learn a lot about the building of 'The court house' We firstly know that it was a very warn down old building which has crumbling pillars standing which were left over from when 'the original court-house burned in 1865'.The building was although in the style of the Victorian era, has a very Greek twist as the use of large pillars is used inside the building. In the court house, the black people sat upstairs along the balcony wall-to-wall, while the white people sat downstairs, keeping the two races apart.

Before the court case begins, we hear some comments from the men at the court from about their opinions on Atticus's lawyer skills and says 'He reads all right, that's all he does' Although there is debates about whether people dislike Atticus as a lawyer for his skills or whether it’s because Atticus is defending a 'nigger'. During chapter 16 we find that one of the men waiting to enter the court room doesn’t like Atticus because 'Atticus aims to defend him' this is because a lot of the people in Maycomb think it is wrong that Atticus is defending a 'nigger' and that he was a disgrace to the family as people looked at him with 'firm disapproval'

 As the court case begins, we learn about the true extent of the seriousness of the trial and what crime Tom Robbinson had supposedly of committed. When Mr Tate stands up to the podium, he tells us that he witnessed a girl 'lying on the floor in the middle of the front room' , one on the right as you go in' during 'the night of November twenty-first' the then goes on to explain that 'She was pretty well beat up' and that he 'asked who hurt her and she said it was Tom Robinson' Mr Tate said that Tom 'took advantage of her' and 'she was beaten around the head' and by the time he arrived 'There was already bruises comin' on her arms' 30 minutes after the attack. When Atticus asked Mr Tate about the attack he unconvincingly says that Tom had given her a black eye on the right side of her face, but the readers were unsure as to why Atticus was so interested in this fact, and why he was determined to ask the question so many times.