r To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, was a novel filled with many racial controversies, prejudices, and racism. All of which took place during the 1960s in Maycomb County, Alabama. Regardless of the many racists there were a handful of people that could care less about the colour of someone’s skin. One person who fits in with this small handful of people is the Maycomb judge, Mr. John Taylor. Judge Taylor looked like the stereotypical judge from that time period, “amiable, white-haired, slightly ruddy-faced, he was a man who ran his court with an alarming informality,” (Lee, 165). Much like a main character in the novel, Atticus, Judge Taylor believes in equality, his focus is on the truth as well as the law. He was the man that appointed …show more content…
If Judge Taylor were to have had a say in whether or not Tom Robinson was guilty, Tom would have never gone to jail, and would most likely still be alive. Judge Taylor focuses on the facts, and the proof, so when Tom was declared guilty, although he knew it was going to happen from the beginning, it probably still stung a little to him. With each ‘guilty’ added to the poll, the reality of the trial sunk in, and it was hard to believe the society in with he was a part of. Like Atticus said, “this case is not a difficult one, it requires no minute sifting of complicated facts, but it does require you to be sure beyond all reasonable doubt as to the guilt of the defendant,”(203). John Taylor was the reason Atticus had to defend a black man, Mr. Taylor not only supported Atticus, but he supported Tom Robinson as well, he knew Tom was a good guy, with the unfortunate luck to get caught up in the trial. John Taylor is one of the most influential people in the book, he might only be mentioned in several chapters, but John Taylor had one of the biggest impacts on the story, and the lives of many characters, including the Finch and Robinson