Atticus Finch once said, “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view-until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” (Lee, 39) In the book To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee used factual events as an inspiration for her novel. There are links to the Jim Crow laws, Mob Mentality, and racism. The first connection to America’s history is the presence of Jim Crow laws in the novel. The Jim Crow laws were a set of strict anti-Black laws that became a way of life, mostly in the South, between 1877 and the mid-1960’s. The laws were used to keep Blacks at the bottom of the racial hierarchy. Blacks and Whites could not eat together. Blacks were introduced to Whites but Whites were not introduced to Blacks. Whites were considered superior to Blacks in every way. (Pilgram) The Jim Crow laws can be seen in the novel. During the trial, the Black people had to wait for the …show more content…
Racism intensified during the Great Depression because there were few job available, and Black and White groups competed for them. (Johnson) There are several reasons why people are racist. Some indeviduals with low self esteem use discrimminitory behavior to gain feelings of self-worth. Others fear changes that occur with increasing numbers of minority populations and diversity in the work place. The belief that one race is superior to others is another reasoon racism exists. (Routedge) During the Scottsborro Trials, two white women accused African-American men of rape in order to avoid being arrested themselves. (Johnson) The case of Tom Robinson has similaritis to the Scottsborro Trials. Both trials take place during the Great Depression in Alabama. The defendents in both cases were African-American men accused of rape by white women. The men were found guilty in both cases despite the evidence showing otherwise.
History can be a great influence in fictional stories and events. The character Tom Robinson from the book To Kill a Mockingbird has a very close resemblance with the real life event of the Scottsboro trial seeing as Tom Robinson was falsely accused of raping a white woman and the Scottsboro boys where a group of black teenagers who were also falsely accused of raping two white girls. There are many similarities as well as differences between these stories, but they both show the reality that is racism in the legal system. Many comparisons can be made between the two trials of Tom Robinson and the Scottsboro Boys. One comparison could be the fact that both Tom Robinson and the Scottsboro boys had everything they needed to be pronounced innocent,
In the Novel To kill a Mockingbird Author Harper Lee uses Literary Elements to develop the theme of Racism. He uses these elements to also help the reader understand the characters. For example everybody thinks that the book is about racism but it’s mostly about Coming of age. When Scout ask Atticus ‘’Do all the lawyers defend negroes’’and he answers “Of course they do scout”. This quote was one of the most important ones because the reader can see that Atticus is not a racist person.
One of the most important cases in the history of the judicial system is little known in the modern world. The case of the Scottsboro Boys made headlines in early 1931 when nine African-American men were charged with the gang rape of two white females on a freight train from Chattanooga to Memphis. Since the time of the trial, it has become widely accepted that the allegation was false and that no rape actually occurred. However, the case represents an issue greater than itself, one that is explored similarly in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee through the case of Tom Robinson. The issue of large scale racism and discrimination has been a problem plaguing American culture for a very long time, finally becoming an issue of the
Social injustice has flooded the world and will continue to flood the world until someone stops all this evil. In Maycomb, Alabama, during the Great Depression, there is poverty and racism ruling over the South. Scout Finch has yet to realize all the evil surrounding her and her family. The evil that takes over Maycomb is the racism that lives in the hearts of its citizens. In To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, readers see a view of social injustices caused by racism through the Maycomb citizens who see the world through a veil of hypocrisy, which is shown by their actions in the way they talk down to Tom, and the truths of Maycomb’s society.
The Scottsboro Trial and the trial of Tom Robinson are almost identical in the forms of bias shown and the accusers that were persecuted. The bias is obvious and is shown throughout both cases, which took place in the same time period. Common parallels are seen through the time period that both trials have taken place in and those who were persecuted and why they were persecuted in the first place. The thought of "All blacks were liars, and all blacks are wrongdoers," was a major part of all of these trails. A white person's word was automatically the truth when it was held up to the credibility of someone whom was black. Both trials were perfect examples of how the people of Alabama were above the law and could do whatever they
In the book To Kill a Mockingbird, many minor themes are present such as gender and age. However, the largest and therefore major theme of the book is racism. All of the events and themes in the book had only one purpose, to support the theme of racism.
Discrimination, it has been part of human nature for a long time, especially relevant subject in literature such as To Kill a Mockingbird. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, the main character of Scout Finch was exposed to different types of discrimination as she grows up. Discrimination affected the lives of characters in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mocking Bird because of society’s prejudicial views of race, gender, and class.
In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird a major theme is the loss of innocence. Whether from emotional abuse, racial prejudice or learning, Boo, Tom, and Scout all lose their innocence in one sense or another. The prejudice that each character endures leads to their loss. Through the responses of Boo, Tom, and Scout, Harper Lee shows how each character responded differently to their loss of innocence.
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee depicts racism in the 1930’s and shows the characters had to overcome challenges because of it. The 1930’s was a difficult time to live in because of racism against African Americans and the depression, where thousands of people lost their jobs. The idea “an extraordinary challenge can sometimes make an ordinary person into a hero” shows that anyone in To Kill a Mockingbird could have been a hero, even in a time of hardships. Scout Finch, Arthur “Boo” Radley, and Atticus Finch overcame challenges in the story in order to become great heroes.
Our nation is supposed to symbolize freedom, happiness and social equality . However, manny still fall victim to the social injustice brought upon our society. The novel, “To Kill A Mockingbird”. Portrays these social injustices despite being published many years ago.
“Nigger”, “Colored-folks”, “Dinge”, racial slurs used in the South in the 1900s-1960s. The disgusting souls who discriminated, judged, hated, and segregated blacks. “White men rule”. Women, their voices, barely able to say as much as a sentence. The blacks, their voices, unable to say as much as even a word, and the children, innocent and curious, saw nothing and said nothing. Harper Lee represented the horrendous acts and judgments of racism in To Kill a Mockingbird. Maycomb, Alabama, 1930s, a small town with a big story. Tom Robinson, discriminated and unequal, was seen as “just another nigger” in Maycomb. “Nigger”, “Chocolate”, “Colored”, racial slurs that began long ago, and are still used to this day. The White
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.
To Kill a Mockingbird written by Harper Lee is a Pulitzer Prize winning novel, that offers a view of life through a young girl’s eyes. The novel is focused on two main themes which are racism and discrimination.
thing during and following slavery. In the novel, a man named Bob Ewell despises black people and calls out Atticus by saying, “too proud to fight, you nigger lovin bastard?” (Lee, 291). What that quote is saying is how Bob is getting upset with atticus just because he is Tom Robinson's lawyer and Bob Ewell doesn’t like black people. Another example of racism occurs in chapter 11. This happens when the kids are walking by Mrs.Dubose’s home, and she starts yelling out racist comments about Atticus. She yells out to Jem and says, “your father is no better than the niggers and trash he works for!” (Lee, 105) She attacks their father for doing his job, but even more so attacks Jem and Scout by Yelling furiously about their father. These two ways are clearly shown in To Kill A Mockingbird and there are many other ways throughout the novel.
In the novel To kill a Mockingbird the black community is rather idealized but is not unrealistic or unbelievable. To point out, Harper Lee always emphasizes life from the black community's perspective and their good qualities.However,she also points out the bad qualities of the black community from a white person's perspective. In Maycomb, the black community is segregated from the white community. They are thought to be very less and poor in Maycomb. The author uses many derogatory words against the black community to express the hatred the whites had towards the blacks.