Edited sentence: Atticus shoots the dog dead before it reaches Scout and Jem, showing that he is protecting them from the racism that Tim Johnson represents.He also represents racism in that many of the black people of Maycomb have only a first name, yet this man's pet has a first and last name.He is a liver-coloured dog.He represents racism, first of all, and is known as Maycomb's Pet (representing Maycomb), and the fact that he has rabies (representing the contagious disease of racism in Maycomb County)supports this.This shows that white people put a dog above black people in the book.Tim Johnson being portrayed as racism is an important point on Scout's behalf, because Scout has not yet fully been introduced to racism.Tim Johnson(Dog) A very important figure in representing racism in Maycomb County