America’s Racist Society Exposed in To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee

The act of prejudice is one that everyone experiences. Whether it be, a person who is distributing hate, or a person who is receiving hate, everyone has contact with it. Although it is present all over the globe, it is prominent in the United States. Both in the present and the past, endless acts of discrimination have taken place and left a monumental impact on the country. The effect that it leaves can be seen in the novel “To Kill A Mockingbird” by Harper Lee. In this story, sexism, racism, and isolation, are demonstrated in the small Southern town of Maycomb, Alabama during the 1930’s. As the story progresses, Lee compares these concepts to one another and uses them to make a statement about the problematic nature in America.

Racism was an everyday thing for people during the Great Depression and for the town of Maycomb in the 1930’s. This is seen in the book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Bob Ewell is a very trashy, alcoholic man who nobody in Maycomb respects. Bob Ewell and his seven children live in poverty close to the black people’s houses. Throughout the trial it shows the power of a white man. To Kill a Mockingbird reveals that despite the character traits, race is always a winning factor through the character of Bob Ewell.

During the 1930’s depression, there was a great divide between black and white America. There were many communities and groups who had been exposed to the same treatment and persecution as the Negroes in To Kill a Mockingbird. Harper Lee has used a small town setting, such as that in To Kill a Mockingbird, to illustrate America’s views on white supremacy and the inferiority of the black race. The author has illustrated view that are expressed world-wide through her characters in Maycomb county.

In Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, prejudice and racism are embedded in the regional psyche of Maycomb, a miniscule town in Alabama. The narrator interpolates injustice and racism in Alabama during the 1930s, largely through the eyes of Scout, who was a child during this time, however, the adult Scout occasionally interjects with some adult observations. Furthermore, the citizens of Maycomb are stereotyped pervasively throughout the book. In Harper Lee’s To Kill Mockingbird, examples of racism, sexism, and social class are used to demonstrate how prejudice can corrupt a community.

Racism has been a big part of the human race ever since people were born. In To Kill a Mockingbird, the townspeople of Maycomb, Alabama misjudge the African-Americans of their town. They treat them like trash, and some people even think they are just filthy beings. Clearly, then, racism has had many ubiquitous effects on many of Maycomb's citizens.

“But now he’s turned out a nigger-lover we’ll never be able to walk the streets of Maycomb again. He’s ruining’ the family, that’s what he’s doing’.” (Lee 110). The power of hatred is one so strong, that it imprisons the Finches and African Americans of Maycomb County. In Alabama of 1920 to 1930, segregation is an established action of the Southerners, it’s a lifestyle. The slurs passed from the mouths of white Southerners and ending with the shooting of a black man, the ways of Maycomb County are ones seen as either shocking or common in today’s eyes. To Kill A Mockingbird is an eminent novel by Harper Lee that illustrates the aspects of discrimination and prejudice, tolerance and courage during a time in America where racial inequality

Unfair treatment makes discrimination evident. Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird takes place when The Great Depression occurred during the 1930’s in an Alabama small town called “Maycomb”. To Kill a Mockingbird is written in the perspective of a little girl by the name of Jean Louise Finch (Scout finch) who is a stubborn, impulsive and outspoken little girl who throughout the novel gains maturity, becomes more observant, and understanding through life alongside her father. Harper Lee’s award winning novel is focused around the social, gender, and racial discrimination and, the affect it has on the people of Maycomb.

Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird shows us how one small, peaceful, southern town during the Great Depression can be engulfed in hatred, racism, and prejudice unseen by the outside world. In this seemingly quiet town in the middle of Alabama, people are forced to live by racist ideals that their families have carried on for generations. Although the citizens of Maycomb believe they are right and just, their prejudices overtake their human conscious when the time comes for them ‘to do the right thing.’ They truly believe that they are a kind community of Christians who live by the words of the Bible. While Maycomb includes all folks who think the same way as they do, they ban those who think differently or are from an ‘inferior’ race. Therefore, Boo Radley, Dolphus Raymond, and Mayella Ewell stand outside the structure of respectable Maycomb society, in some cases as the result of their own doing and in some, as the result of being forced out by others.

The characters Bob Ewell, Miss Gate’s, and Miss Dubose demonstrate the tragedies and horrors associated with racism and prejudice behaviors through the utilization of their actions, beliefs, opinions, and thoughts throughout the novel To Kill A Mockingbird. Bob Ewell demonstrates the tragedies and horrors associated with racism and prejudice behaviors through his arrogant attitude towards the African American society of Maycomb, his treatment and harassment of everyone after the trial to avenge his high pride in himself, and the consequences associated with his racist and prejudice behaviors throughout the novel. Bob Ewell looks down on the African American society of Maycomb and feels as if he can take full advantage of them since he is of

American racism has been a topic of discussion for 240 years. Recently it’s been in the spotlight a lot more and it’s been captured evermore so more by handheld technology. The unequal treatment of people based on race goes back to the ancient peoples. The book To Kill A MockingBird demonstrates it well. In the book there's a trial in which a black man named Tom Robinson is being accused of rape by a white women and her father (Mayella and Bob Ewells). There was no evidence against Tom but he was still convicted. This shows how unfair the justice system was and may even still be.

The way one’s age, social class, and race played into the treatment and prejudice of people in the 1930s reflects some of the deep-rooted practices regarding these issues as well as others in today’s culture. The 1930s was a time period in which people of color were valued in society significantly less than white people. They had fewer opportunities in fields such as employment as a result of the prejudice and discrimination directed at them. In addition, it was often difficult for young people and people who lived in poverty to have access to certain opportunities that were, at the time, almost solely available to working-class white men. To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, takes place in this time period and displays some of these issues throughout

Atticus is an example of a character that tries to bring equality to Maycomb, while Bob Ewell and Aunt Alexandra are two characters that think Maycomb is fine the way it is now. Atticus believes that all people should be equal, in the court at least. He says "But there is one way in this country in which all men are created equal--there is one human institution that makes a pauper the equal of a Rockefeller, the stupid man the equal of an Einstein, and the ignorant man the equal of any college president. That institution, gentlemen, is a court. . . Our courts have their faults, as does any human institution, but in this country our courts are the great levelers, and in our courts all men are created equal" (205). Bob Ewell is a man that does not think everyone is equal and thinks that Maycomb is fine the way that it is now. It can be seen through this quote he says; “Why, I run for Tate quick as I could. I knowed who it was, all right, lived down yonder in that nigger-nest, passed the house every day. Jedge, I’ve asked this county for fifteen years to clean out that nest down yonder, they’re dangerous to live around ‘sides devaluin’ my property” (177). Aunt Alexandra is similar to Bob Ewell, but hides it more. This can be seen through this quote; “Grandma says it's bad enough he lets you all run wild, but now he's turned out a nigger-lover we'll never be able to walk the streets of Maycomb agin. He's ruinin' the family, that's what he's doin'" (85). Through these characters, Harper Lee shows the racial stereotypes in Maycomb and how they affect the

Maycomb. This is an early sign that Jem is growing up and able to see

In To Kill a Mockingbird, racism is an ominous presence everywhere in Maycomb. It is present in the way some people think and speak,”You got no business bringin’ white chillun here- they got their church, we got our’n”(Lee 158). During this time, segregation and bias towards a person’s color was still there.

Ever wondered how life could have been in the time of To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, in the 1930s? Though much has changed, there is still an underlying sameness of most things in this world. The world of the 1930s was filled with racial discord and segregation. The world of To Kill a Mockingbird is filled with the racism apparent in the past. This novel sheds light on a particularly uncomfortable time in America’s history. All though it may appear that racism from the 1930s has completely disappeared, there may be some residual effects that resemble the past racial relationships.