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Mr. Link Deas is a well-off member of the Maycomb community, owning a substantial amount of land as well as a store. This status gives him an influential position in the town’s social sphere, but it also means that he can wield significant power over the Black men and women whom he employs. Tom Robinson is one of his employees, and as a result, Mr. Deas has a more personal stake in the trial than many of his neighbors do. While Lee does not spend a considerable amount of time developing Mr. Deas as a character in the first half of the novel, Scout and Jem’s brief interactions with him suggest that he is a generally kind man who looks out for his neighbors. He is a part of the group, for example, that comes to the Finch house to express their concerns about the Robinson case. The fact that Mr. Deas tells Atticus that “[he’s] got everything to lose” from defending Robinson suggests, in this moment at least, that his primary focus is protecting his friend’s reputation. Unfortunately, this preoccupation implies that he is less concerned with the threat to his employee’s life. Maintaining order seems to be the first thing on his mind.
By the time the trial gets underway, however, Lee reveals an even more compassionate, boundary-breaking version of Mr. Deas. He boldly asserts to everyone present in the courtroom that in the eight years he has employed Tom, he has never caused any trouble. While Judge Taylor throws Mr. Deas out of the courtroom for speaking out of turn, his statement nevertheless has a significant impact on the mood of the trial. He goes against social expectations and publicly defends a Black man, an act which reflects his overall commitment to truth. This attitude continues after the trial as Mr. Deas hires Helen Robinson and seeks to protect her from the Ewells’ harassment.
