Authors: Charles J. Shields

Mockingbird (48 page)

BOOK: Mockingbird

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.âChura, “Prolepsis and Anachronism.” Parallels worth noting that Chura points out: Emmett Till was killed on August 28, 1955, and his body found on August 31; Tom Robinson's death took place when “August was on the brink of September.” Attorney Gerald Chatham, the prosecutor in the Till case, died a year later. Hearing the news that Robinson had been killed, Alexandra reacts angrily to the town's seeming disregard for her brother's health: “I just want to know when this will ever end.â¦ It tears him to piecesÂ â¦ it tears him to pieces.â¦ They're perfectly willing to let him wreck his health doing what they're afraid to do.” Emmett Till's mother collapsed when she saw her son's body; Helen Robinson, informed that Tom is dead, “just fell down in the dirt. Just fell down in the dirt, like a giant with a big foot just came along and stepped on her.”