Examples Of Racial Discrimination In To Kill A Mockingbird

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?

Prejudice should not exist in this world. But unfortunately, it does and it always will somehow. The book, To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, is an inspiring book and brings out hard truths about how the world used to be, about the great depression, and in some aspects how it still is today. It follows a girl named Scout and her family through three years of her childhood. Her father, Atticus Finch, took on a very big challenge to defend a negro for raping a girl. The book sort of revolves around this event. Prejudice is in many different forms of discrimination. Throughout the book it is demonstrated by race, class, and gender.

Discrimination is prejudicial treatment towards different kinds of people based on any differentiating criteria, such as their race, behavior, or sex. Throughout Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, various forms of discrimination are shown. Racism is an obvious form that is shown in the story with characters such as Tom Robinson and Calpurnia being the targets. However, there are also signs of prejudice and sexism in the story with characters such as Boo Radley and Scout Finch.. The forms of discrimination shown in To Kill a Mockingbird are racism, prejudice, and sexism

Prejudice, a main theme of To Kill a Mockingbird, is another representation of injustice in the novel. Racism is the most obvious type of prejudice, and this is shown through the trial and the outcome of it. "Well, coming out of the court-house that night Miss Gates was - she was goin' down the steps in front of us, you musta not seen her - she was talking to Miss Stephanie Crawford. I heard her say that it's time somebody taught 'em a lesson, they were getting way above themselves, an' the next thing they think they can do is marry us. Jem, how can you hate Hitler so bad an' then turn around and be ugly about folks right at home - ?" (Scout, pg272). In the 1930's, being racist was seen as normal. Atticus, for example, was seen as unusual because he thought that whites weren't above blacks. "'Cry about the simple hell people give other people - without even thinking. Cry about the hell white people give coloured folks, without even stopping to think that they're people too.'" (Dolphus Raymond, pg222). The prejudice of racism is shown throughout the book, and because of Atticus' views, Scout begins to see it as unfair and unjust. Another type of prejudice that is briefly touched upon is that of sexual discrimination. "For one thing, Miss Maudie can't serve on a jury because she's a woman.' 'You mean women in Alabama can't - ?' I was indignant." (Atticus and Scout, pg244). Like racism,

In the novel, a rape case took place between a white woman and black man. Even with mountains of evidence that should have changed the course of the case, Tom Robinson, the accused, was found guilty. Race is clearly shown in the quote, “ In our courts, when it’s a white man’s word against a black man’s, the white man always wins,” (220). Despite evidence pointing to his innocence, race won in the trial. When race is taken into account, it can blind people of the truth. A following example of how race was used to discriminate is when two main white characters were taken to a mostly black church by their black housekeeper. In this situation, the two white children were judged and not wanted by some of the people attending the church because of their race. Individual’s will be judged based on external characteristics instead of who they are as a person. Discriminating by a person’s race can bring out the worst in an individual and blind people of true

My definition of prejudice is to have an opinion on something that is unfair and that is made before you can make a realistic assumption. In the novel, "I Heard The Owl Call My Name", there were many examples of prejudice against the Indians, but there was also prejudice against Mark, the white Vicar. Three major examples of prejudice stood out to me, including getting special permission to move a dead body, when the Indians were finally allowed to buy liquor, and when Mrs. Hudson assumed that her granddaughter would not be able to survive in the white world.

Huck and Scout find themselves in the center of two societies that are welcoming to racism. Huck’s world takes place during a time before slavery was illegal and looked down upon. Slaves were everywhere in his home of the south and was seen as a part of life. He was surrounded by adults who owned slaves, accepted slavery, and were racist. His own father had been a racist man who looked down on African Americans as worthless trash. Because of the adults in his life had treated and viewed them in this way, Huck thought this was how it is. He viewed slaves as property and not much more than this. However, when Huck met Jim after running away from his abusive father, he seemed to have not been fully influenced from the racist adults he spent his

A fact about the 1930s is “The number of lynchings of blacks in the United States during the Great Depression peaks at twenty-eight” (Black 1). Also showing how mistreated different colored people were back then is another fact shown “Approximately 40 percent of black workers in the nation in the 1930s were farm laborers, sharecroppers, and tenant farmers” (Black 1). All of the colored people had the hard jobs that were difficult to do. In To Kill A Mockingbird discrimination is shown throughout the whole book with different characters. This was in the time frame of 1930s. Discrimination was relevant in this time period. The Blacks were not treated fairly as a normal human being only because of their skin color and other people were not looked

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

Racism, as in a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial difference produce an inherent superiority of a particular race as well as racial prejudice or discrimination is prevalent in our country . Racism in America is a societal monster of our past that is still haunting us in our modern society as revealed in media, societal stereotypes, societal misconceptions, and the legal system. “With the election of Barack Obama as President many believed we were entering into a post-racial America, a color-blind society where racism could begin to be healed if not totally dismissed. However, a recent Associated Press poll has shown that this is not the case (AP, 2012). In fact, racial prejudice has increased slightly since 2008”, (Ponds 3), Many Americans think that we as a whole are past racial prejudice however it is not the truth.

The book “To Kill a Mockingbird” By Harper Lee, takes place during the Civil Rights Movement. Alabama has many colored and mixed skin toned people during this time period. All through the progress of the Civil Rights these people are still treated differently. In Maycomb there is a big segregation between skin color and the lower and higher class of jobs. Women are also treated as lower class people but, not as much as colored people. To Kill a Mockingbird, racism, classism, and sexism are a big factor and major key in the town of Maycomb.

Imagine what it would be like to be black in the time of change in the United States. People are always thinking that you came to steal their jobs just because you need to make a living in order to live. Harper Lee used historical references to write her book. The Great Depression was a time of great change for Americans. People were moving places and finding jobs in order to live and make it through the time period. Times were hard for blacks because the whites were totally unwilling to let them join society. Riots, mobs and conflicts were happening all over because people could not help but get the fact that other people needed jobs besides themselves. They just could not take the change that was happening and that is when racism

The difference between a good person and a bad person is how they take the bad events that happen to them. A person can take whatever tragedies they have and shape themselves into a better person, or they can suffer within these tragedies and never try to rise up. Harper Lee uses the ideas of discrimination and unfairness all throughout her book To Kill a Mockingbird to prove this point. Most of the good characters in this book seem to have something bad happen to them at some extent. Which is the definition of a “mockingbird”.

Several factors affect the feminization of poverty, and these factors place women at high risk of poverty. According to the article “The Long History of Discrimination against Women” by No Bullying, “Discrimination is something that women face in every country around the world. In the United States, four in every ten women have faced or will face discrimination personally. Often this discrimination presents itself in the workplace, as women face barriers that center on childbearing and family obligations that many men do not.” From the story To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee the character Atticus informs Scout and Jem that poverty affects everyone.

Harper Lee uses prejudices in To Kill A Mockingbird to show the evil in life. She shows this through women not being allowed to take part of the jury, people being judged on their social class or their different lifestyle but the most prominent is racism since the jury convicts Tom for a crime he didn't commit just because he was black.