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.

Prejudice is an opinion based on stereotypes and not actual experience and discrimination is unjust treatment of people based on race, sex and age. In “To Kill a Mockingbird” there are multiple cases of discrimination and prejudice. One example is the trial of Tom Robinson. Some might think that prejudice and discrimination lead to positive outcomes in the novel but in fact, it leads to the opposite. Prejudice and discrimination lead to negative outcomes because it provides a way to judge people based on stereotypes and not actually meeting the person, people who did discriminate get angry with people who don’t, and it causes people to lose their innocence.

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.

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.

There are many racism problems in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird. Atticus is a lawyer in the racist state of Alabama and he is trying to defend a man by the name of Tom Robinson after he got accused for raping a white woman. Atticus knows that nobody is going to believe Tom’s side of the story because he is black in the racist state of Alabama. Through Atticus’s morals the reader learns that he feels obligated to help this

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?

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.

The article Racial Segregation is making America Sick, published by The Atlantic magazine, discussed racial segregation in the Unites States of America and the many effects it has on the quality of life of civilians. The topic of the article related to one of the major themes in Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird: Racism. Lee used racism as a major theme throughout the novel and as the main reason for the false accusation and persecution of one of the characters, Tom Robinson. This case heavily affected the Finch family and Tom Robinson's widow Helen. The man defending Tom Robinson, Atticus Finch, was affected by this case because it altered his reputation in the town and put his children's safety at risk. After agreeing to take on the case,

Do you see people for their differences? Do you believe it’s right to think of them differently because the color of their skin is different or even how they think? In the book To Kill a Mockingbird it shows a man being wrongfully tried in a court of law and is not judged on the crime or the evidence that is given but only by the color of his skin. This is seen with Tom Robinson with his skin color, Atticus because he’s trying to treat every human being equally, and Boo Radley is judged because he never comes out of his house.

“The boy worked for me for 8 years and he hasn’t done any trouble.” This is what Link Deas shouted out in court in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. This trial took place in the 1930s in Maycomb county Alabama. This trial was about a girl that claimed she was rapped Mayella Ewell by a black man named Tom Robinson. Atticus was his lawyer that fought hard to win this trial. He has two kids Jem and Scout and their friend Dill came and watched the trial with them up on the balcony with the black people. Although most citizens of Maycomb lived with racists beliefs, there were people in town, other than the Finches, who supported equality for all people, white or black.

Racism is bad now but imagine it in the 1930’s. The novel To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, shows what can happen when racism is involved in the world. A southern town called Maycomb, Alabama is suffering through the Great Depression. A six year old girl, Scout Finch, tells the story about her family and growing up in Maycomb. Her father, Atticus is an attorney trying to prove a black man innocent of raping a white woman, but the trial runs on.

Some people suggest that To Kill a Mockingbird is mainly about racial discrimination but even though racial discrimination is a big part of this novel it isn’t the most important aspect. The reason why racism wasn’t the most important aspect is because things like the moral nature of humans and the prejudice between the social hierarchy of Maycomb. Even though racial discrimination was a pivotal for the book is wasn’t the only important theme and was not consistently important.

The slave mindset of white families and slave-owners continued after the abolishment of slavery in 1865 in the form of segregation which state and local governments enforced through the use of Jim Crow laws. The levels of racism in the 1930s versus the lower levels of racism in the present correspond with the decline of Jim Crow laws beginning in the mid-20th century, which affected the societal status of black people, their economic status, and their continued effect on today’s laws.

In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee shows the readers the different forms of discrimination that infected the South during the 1930s. While reading the book I saw different discriminations that were prominent. The most obvious discriminations I saw in this book were racism, prejudice, and sexism. Racism, prejudice, and sexism back then and in present day have many similarities.