Examples Of Cruelty In To Kill A Mockingbird

Ever since the humans have been separated into different ethnic groups racism has existed on Earth. The idea of racism has existed since the beginning of time but today racism is not as prominent as it once was but it still lives. Racism is kept alive through microaggressions or the eununciating of an offensive and racist comment. During the Great Depression, racism was in its prime, Harper Lee’s renown novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, brings the ideology of racism to light. Throughout the novel, Lee delivers a powerful message on the topic of racism which is the white community’s racist mindsets about black people has caused colored people to be unjustly tried in court, be dehumanized, and receive unnecessary hostility constantly by the white

How would you react if you were falsely accused of a crime when all of your life you had been a good man. However, the catch was you were African American.  A white man’s word against your own. What would be running through your mind? This is exactly the kind of question that was running through Tom Robinson’s mind in this novel. During the 1930s, discrimination against targeted groups of society was prevalent, but small victories occurred to combat this issue in the novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. From Tom Robinson’s trial, to various stereotypes being broken, and the incidents that took place in Calpurnia’s church for colored people. All of these factors contribute to the purpose behind this novel’s meaning.

To Kill a Mockingbird took place during the 1930s, a period shortly after the American civil war in Maycomb County, Alabama, the deep south where black people suffered from racism and discrimination. In this book, Tom Robinson was accused of raping a white woman, which was something that he’s never done, even though all the evidence proved that he did not violate that white woman, Tom was judged guilty because he was a black man. Racism is presented throughout the entire book especially when Scout got teased by her family about Atticus taking Tom’s case, and the townspeople's perception about Atticus, as well as during the trial of Tom Robinson.

"Cry about the hell white people give coloured folks" (Lee pg 170) stated Mr.Radley to Scout, Jem and Dill. In the book “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee focuses on the main theme of racism. During the 1930’s racism played a huge role in society for African Americans who faced discrimination and segregation. The common occurrence of this theme is expressed throughout relations with individuals, societal discrimination and law injustice for blacks.

The mockingbird also extends to relationships between human beings. Some people are gentle and would never harm anyone, like a mockingbird. Yet, there are people who unjustly see past the kindness and simply see what they want to see or what society tell them to see, this leads to issues about race and sex among others. These people then become prejudice towards certain people and may even ‘kill’ the people who are genuinely kind human beings simply because they are different in their opinions, looks or behaviors’, therefore not diseased like everyone else. Lee reveals the ruthless and cruel views, reactions and opinions that the town hold toward Tom and Boo to illustrate the prejudice relationships that occur between

People in society always find ways to blame other people for problems that occur. The character Boo Radley was unfairly blamed in his society for problems that went wrong in the town. Boo was blamed for bad things that happened in the town, even though no one knew him. “Once the town was terrorized by a series of morbid nocturnal events: people’s chickens and household pets were found mutilated...although the culprit was Crazy Addie…people still looked at the Radley place, unwilling to discard their initial suspicion (Lee 9). No one knows Boo, but these people are creating an unfair image of him. Boo did nothing wrong to anyone, this makes him a mockingbird. In the town, people also made up untrue stories about

In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, the character Scout has the personality trait of being aggressive. Scout also has a character trait of being unladylike. An example of how Scout is aggressive is that after Scout and her brother Jem had gotten there guns for Christmas they were headed to “the Landing”. Before they left their father had said they couldn’t take the guns with, she had already been planning on shooting her cousin. “ He declined to let us take our rifles to the Landing. ( I had already begun to think of shooting Francis)…” (Lee Pg. 106). This is an example of Scout being aggressive because she was thinking about shooting a family member. Shooting someone is considered aggressive behavior because it is purposefully causing

Racism is the belief that characteristics and abilities can be attributed to people simply based on their race and that some racial groups are superior to others. This has been a problem in our world forever. In to Kill a Mockingbird there are so many racist events and it reflects on the society as a whole till this day. The book setting was the 1930’s in a small county of Maycomb, where most people were racist and discriminatory. People think racism has died off, but it is still a huge problem. People choose to raise their children and teach them that racism is okay and that is how there is still racism today. There are so many statistics out there based on skin color that right there is even racist if everyone is equal why are there polls being taken separating people by the color of their skin?

Henry Rollins once said “weakness is what brings ignorance, cheapness, racism, homophobia, desperation, cruelty, brutality, all these things will keep a society chained to the ground, one foot nailed to the floor.” Throughout the book To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee provides numerous examples of how Tom Robinson wasn’t being cruel or dishonorable but still got treated like he wasn’t human. While Atticus Finch got treated with all the respect in the world, he treated people the way they treated him. Cruelty is the wrong way to treat someone no matter what color they are, what gender they are, or what they look like.

There were 17,250 people dead. This is the amount of people murdered last year in the U.S. alone. Why does this happen? Pure cruelty. There is tight tensions with the U.S. and North Korea that could start a nuclear war and kill most of us. Why is this possible? Cruelty between one another. This is just two examples of the cruelty in our world today and for the passed hundreds of years. In the book To Kill A Mockingbird cruelty plays a big part in the problems that go on in this small town in Alabama. I think if cruelty was eliminated Tom Robinson wouldn’t be dead, Boo Radley wouldn’t hide, and the whole view on equality between blacks and whites would change.

Harper Lee’s novel, “To Kill a Mockingbird,” is set in a small, southern town, Maycomb, Alabama during the Great Depression of the 1930s. The story is told through the eyes of a girl named Scout about her father, Atticus, an attorney who strives to prove the innocence of a black man named Tom Robinson, who was accused of rape and Boo Radley, an enigmatic neighbor who saves Scout and her brother Jem from being killed. Atticus does his job in proving there was no way that Tom Robinson was guilty during his trial, but despite Tom Robinson’s obvious innocence, he is convicted of rape as it is his word against a white woman’s. Believing a “black man’s word” seemed absurd as segregation was a very integrated part of life in the south. The social hierarchy must be maintained at all costs and if something in the system should testify the innocence of a black man against a white woman’s word and win then what might happen next? Along with the prejudice amongst blacks and whites, the story also showed how people could be misunderstood for who they truly are such as Boo Radley. Without ever seeing Boo, Jem and the townsfolk made wild assumptions on what Boo does or looks like. Even so, while “To Kill a Mockingbird” shows the ugliness that can come from judging others, its ultimate message is that great good can result when one defers judgement until considering things from another person’s view. Walter Cunningham, Mrs. Dubose, and Boo Radley are all examples of how looking at things

In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird, characters are used to demonstrate the misjudgement by others in society. Arthur “Boo” Radley is thought of in a very dimensional and untrue way by the children. Dolphus Raymond makes unnoticed compromises in order to live in the community which he does not fit in. Tom Robinson is a kind and humble African American, who is misjudged by society due to the colour of his skin. Lee uses characterisation to show readers how society judges others.

Martin Luther King said, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” Racism is still an issue that can be seen in the twenty-first century. Although, tons of progress has been made over the last century, some still hold on to racist beliefs. The majority of classic American literature demonstrates the racism that was present in the early twentieth century. By looking at the theme of race in the American classic, To Kill a Mockingbird, it is clear that people are quick to judge others based on their own opinions and feelings.

In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, the main characters Boo Radley, Scout, and Jem learn a lesson that some people will kill or hurt a mockingbird. They experiences this empathy when Tom Robinson gets killed and when Bob Ewell’s hurts scout and Jem. Through the pivotal moment when Boo saves Scout and Jem, the reader understands Lee’s larger message of, anyone can hurt or kill a mockingbird.

“Evil begins when you begin to treat people as things”, a powerful quote, said by Terry Pratchett, that can relate to one of the reasons how cruelty functions as a major social factor in To Kill a Mockingbird. Throughout the whole novel, Harper Lee explores the integration of good and evil. It is clear that cruelty experienced by Tom Robinson in the society reveals that people have prejudice toward others. In addition, it highlights people’s courage by illustrating how Tom stood up for his equity with Atticus’s help despite all pressure from the Maycomb community.