Discrimination In To Kill A Mockingbird And The Help

Discrimination: a noun that is defined as, “the unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories of people or things, especially on the grounds of race, age, or sex”. There are many types of discrimination in To Kill a Mockingbird. To Kill a Mockingbird is a story that is taken place during the Great Depression . Scout is the main character and her father Atticus is defending a man named Tom Robinson, who is a Negro. There are three main topics that are discriminated in To Kill a Mockingbird. The three main topics that are discriminated are socioeconomics, gender, and most importantly, racism.

Discrimination is prevalent in the story “To Kill a Mockingbird”, the most obvious being the excessive amount of racism (Lee). Racism is the easiest to see but there are more forms of discrimination (Lee). Boo Radley is ostracized from the community when truly nobody really knows him (Lee). People discriminate Scout for being a tomboy not a lady (Lee). The last one that no one ever thinks about is how reverse racism is seen when people threaten Atticus for defending Tom Robinson in court (Lee). Discrimination in any form is a controversial topic but everyone knows that it is not right to discriminate against people.

In this essay, both texts, “To kill a Mockingbird” and “The Help”, will be looked at in depth, and the range of literary devices and techniques used in order to portray the theme of racism will be analyzed. The emotional attachment between protagonists, and the positive perspectives shared by characters portray the overall theme of racism and how this is oppressive for all people involved.

Discrimination and stereotypes are still involved in today's ever-growing society. People are judged by their race, gender, and, wealth; people are expected to act a certain way because of these things. In To Kill A Mockingbird it tells the readers about a small town, Maycomb, that faces many challenges because of how individuals are judged and treated. If someone were African American he/she would thought to be less of a person and were treated as if they were trash. If someone were to be a woman they were thought to be weak, emotional, and dramatic. If someone were poor he/she were thought to be dirty, rude and were treated like trash. In To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee uses stereotypes related to racism, gender, and wealth to teach her audience about how individuals were treated during the Great Depression.

Scout is only a young child, therefore she has a hard time understanding discrimination. However, as an adult, she reflects on how unfair and pointless the affair is. For example, Scout had just begun the first grade, and she was being taught by Miss Caroline. New to teaching and to Maycomb, she was not quite sure what she was doing. She gets angry at Scout for knowing how to read and write, and tries to force her to reform to the norm of the first grade curriculum, even though she’s actually much farther ahead. Later that day, she complains to Jem- “If I didn’t have to stay I’d leave Jem, that damn lady says Atticus’s been teaching me to read and for him to stop it.” (Lee 23). Scout comments on how if she didn’t have to get an education, she

When the mob appears in front of the courthouse a “ burly man,” (152) as Scout describes, says that he will send her brother Jem home, and then proceeds to grab Jem roughly by the collar, nearly yanking Jem off of his feet. Scout sees these actions and hits the man: ““Don’t you touch him!” I kicked the man swiftly. Barefooted, I was surprised to see him fall back in real pain” (153). Scout knew that in that moment she needed to stand up to the man that was hurting Jem. Another instance when Scout stood up for herself is when her cousin, Francis, called her and her dad a name she was unacceptable: “‘Nigger-lover…’ This time I split my knuckle to the bone of his front teeth. My left impaired, I sailed in with my right” (84). Even though Scout did not exactly know what this comment meant at the time, she knew it was not right. Scout asks Atticus what the slur means on page 108, and once he tells Scout, it confirms her feeling that the slur is unacceptable. Scout and her father were being insulted by someone in her family, she had every right to stand up to him and show him what he said was wrong. These events allowed Scout to realise that there are times when one must stand up for what is right. In these instances, Scout shows that some things, big or small, are worth fighting

In the book “To Kill a Mockingbird”, Harper Lee shows that people can easily discriminate others based on information that they have obtained from others. This story takes place during the Great Depression in a small town named Maycomb where Scout and Jem, two youngsters, grow up and learn how the world around them contrasts with what they previously believed. As life goes on they start to notice the way people are treated and how in some cases, some are unfair, as shown when their father takes up a case that is centered more towards the race of the people involved than the actual case. As in this world, discrimination takes place every day, preventing people from becoming equal to each other and creating a rift between people getting along

Discrimination has definitely been a problem in the world, and sadly, is still lingering in some people today. This is something clearly shown throughout the novel To Kill A Mockingbird. Three characters who are victims of discrimination is Dolphus Raymond, Tom

Discrimination has various forms that can be used against someone, such as a person's class, race, gender, or age. Discrimination has been used by people who feel they are better than others and who like to put others down. In Harper Lee’s, To Kill a Mockingbird, racism, sexism, and classism shape how Scout sees Maycomb by the end of the novel. Racism is the belief that a certain race is superior to any other race, and it is the most used form of discrimination in To Kill a Mockingbird. It is used multiple times throughout the novel and it is the form that Scout sees the most.

Discrimination can be exhibited in many forms. In Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, we see numerous examples of prejudice that have a large impact on society. We come to realize that no form stands alone. In the novel, there are three main forms of discrimination, racism, sexism, and classism.

Discrimination, prejudice, verbal and physical assault. To Kill a Mockingbird is written by Lee,Harper. It will show how the community of Maycomb Alabama will react and behave to racism during a court case. This book is narrated by a young girl nicknamed Scout, real name Jean Louise Finch. This book takes place in Maycomb Alabama around the 1930’s. In To Kill a Mockingbird it will show how racism affects black people in Maycomb Alabama.

For instance, take Tom Robinson. He was an average hard working southern black man, except he was crippled. Mayella Ewell accused him of raping her and was sentenced to court for trial. Tom was wrongly convicted of a crime even though there was “not...one iota of medical evidence”(203). This displays how people on the jury at the time convicted Tom of a crime they knew he didn’t commit and the only reason he wasn’t a free man was because he was black. Some people might think that the jury was not racist when convicting Tom and did so of their own collective opinion on the case. But when you consider that there was not one black man on the jury and that Mayella Ewell’s story didn’t match up with the Sheriff’s and Tom’s, you can infer that she was lying about it the whole time to cover up her guilt of “tempt[ing] a Negro”(203). Similarly, after Tom was convicted and sentenced to prison, he was shot soon afterward. We see how the Maycomb community thinks that “Tom’s death was typical. Typical of a nigger to cut and run. Typical of a nigger’s mentality to have no plan, no thought for the future”(240). This is a clear example of discrimination on blacks in the book, they even use a racial slur to describe Tom running away which further proves the point. As a result of the examples above, we see multiple times how people in Mockingbird discriminate based on whether the color of your skin is darker than

In “To Kill A Mockingbird,” the author includes many forms of discrimination in different ways. In that time of history, it was known to the world that blacks were lower than them on every level on life. Also in that point in history, gender was also discriminated. People in the classroom and even how much money you owned was also discriminated against people. In “To Kill a Mockingbird,” all these forms of discrimination are used in different ways.

Harper Lee's To kill a Mockingbird addresses many forms of discrimination. Scouts father, Atticus is a lawyer defending the whites and blacks in his community. People discriminate by gender, race, religion, sexual preferences, social class, wealth class, and by disabilities. Many and if not all are shown is this book. Racism, sexism, and social class are the most significant form of discrimination in the book and the most actively used form. According to Rezazade blacks have been “considered as the inferior creatures who are socially, politically, and culturally deprived of their rights as human beings” (1). This is completely true and is shown in To kill a Mockingbird.

In my opinion, I feel as if Skeeter made the best choice possible to raise awareness of this matter. After the book was published, it seemed as if the book was flying off shelves everywhere, raising even more publicity than expected by Skeeter and the maids. All my life I have despised all acts of racism and do not stand for any of this, although many people were raised to treat African Americans this way, I’m glad to see there were people like Skeeter and Celia that were able to see past this. If I had been involved in this event, I would have done the same thing Skeeter Phelan did to make a difference.