Examples Of Racism In To Kill A Mockingbird

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.

Harper Lee wrote To Kill A Mockingbird during a time where racism was prevalent. The book highlights many different ways racism occurred. It also shows what growing up as a child, in this case specifically a young girl, is like in the south during the time of the great depression.

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?

Not much has changed in almost a century. Minorities are still being treated poorly. Harper Lee shows this many times throughout To Kill a Mockingbird. In her novel Lee portrays racial prejudice by showing the relationship between whites and blacks.

In To Kill a Mockingbird, and in the world today there is racial and social inequality going on all around us. I am sure that there will never be true racial and social equality, but I think that it will get dramatically better. Just like it has gotten better since the 1930’s, which is the time that To Kill a Mockingbird is set in.

The novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, tells the story of Atticus Finch, a white man defending a black man, Tom Robinson, who was accused of rape. Atticus, his children Jem and Scout, live in the small town Maycomb, Alabama during the Great Depression. With this location and time setting, Lee reveals the racial injustice of the south through the characters Tom Robinson, Bob Ewell, and Calpurnia.

Racism was a big issue in the town of maycomb. One big way racism represents itself is with Tom Robinson, a maycomb black man. He was convicted of raping a young female. She had proclaimed that Tom had went into her house, raped her, and beat her. Her dad states he heard screaming, ran to the house and tom was running away while his daughter was on the floor. Everyone believes her because well, he's black. No one cared about his side of the story, except for Atticus. He

How different people in Maycomb view the issue of race affects how those people treat others.

In the 1962 novel, To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee, shows how racism can impact a society in a negative way through character construction because it is a reoccurring problem. In chapter 15; while Tom Robinson awaits his trial, he is transferred to the Maycomb jail. At ten o’clock pm, Atticus is on his way to the jailhouse; Scout, Jem, and Dill follow secretively. When Atticus got to the jail, he sat outside the doors and read; meanwhile the kids are hiding and spying on him. In the middle of Atticus is reading, four cars pull up, a group of men get out of the cars and tell Atticus to move away from the jailhouse doors. The men want Tom Robinson to get released; so that they can severely beat him and possibly murder him, simply because of the color of his skin.  The characters in To Kill a Mockingbird are all constructed differently. Some characters are constructed to be extremely closed-mindedly prejudice, while others are constructed to be open-minded and accepting of differences. Although the book is set in an earlier generation, concepts of the book are extremely relevant today.

The insightful novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, gives a window into the past of cruel race relations. The novel uses Tom Robinson’s court case, the most prominent example, along with others. Atticus, Scout’s father and lawyer, is defending an African American in court against the charge of rape of a white woman (Lee 100). He makes a cogent case demonstrating his innocence. The single reason Atticus loses his case and Tom goes to jail is due to the terrible tension between whites and blacks. In this setting of white supremacy, blacks are wrong in every aspect of life, and are always put less than second. When the character Aunt Alexandra pays visitation to Scout, Atticus and Jem she aims to dismiss Calpurnia, the black maid; the only motherly figure the two children have and love because Alexandra seems it be best to have them to be raised by a white woman. Atticus shoots down her intentions by saying she’s an integral member of their family and

How would you feel if you were treated less than, by humanity because of a difference in your appearance? Where you are considered ⅖ of a person. And people search and look for your sorrow and pain to lower you more? Where in corts you are guilty from the second you stand. And all of this because of your race. The theme in to Kill a Mockingbird, is racism.

In Maycomb black people are accused of crimes all the time and the cases always go the same way. The man or women gets convicted and either does their time or is put to death. However, this case is different and that makes the people of Maycomb scared. This case is being handled by Atticus Finch, an accomplished lawyer who everyone respects. This scares Maycomb because they know with Atticus representing him Tom Robinson will actually have a legitimate chance at winning.

Firstly, characters in the black community are constantly put down and criticised by others. Calpurnia is a housekeeper who is loved and adored by Jem and Scout but is racially discriminated and judged by Aunt Alexandra. When Aunt Alexandra is waiting for Scout, Jem and Cal to return home she immediately greet them by saying “‘Put my bag in the front bedroom, Calpurnia’ was the first thing Aunt Alexandra said” (Lee 127). Aunt Alexandra judges Calpurnia as a slave because of her skin colour. When discriminating against Calpurnia, it gives the sense that it is okay to do so to Scout and jem and continue the the Maycomb ‘disease’ of discrimination and racism. The judgments are spreading throughout Maycomb and is ending hope for Maycomb to change.

In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird racism is a big theme and is relevant between whites and blacks throughout the story. Racism is a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race, according to Merriam-Webster. But not just in the novel is racism present. Also the United States had and still has a problem with racism. And America will never achieve racial, but also social, equality.