Examples Of Racism In To Kill A Mockingbird

Society has progressed throughout the 21st century with prejudice still being a major issue. Despite all measures taken to avoid it, people constantly find reasons to hate. Prejudice comes in different forms, prejudice against gender, race, skin colour or class. Prejudice impacts society greatly because of the emotion it invokes as seen in To Kill a Mockingbird. To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, is about a Maycomb family that grows up during racist times and must overcome difficulties together in their prejudiced world. In To Kill a Mockingbird, three types of prejudice are displayed that affect the character’s actions and emotions, sexism, racism and social inequality.

It is very evident that Maycomb is a small town in which there is much racism, and social status greatly determines what kind of life you will lead. The different types of social inequality are an important theme in the novel, and Harper Lee

Dolphus Raymond has mixed children, which means his children are a mix of black and white ethnicity. The Maycomb community see mixed children as a sin, since there is no racial equality during this time period. Even Scout, influenced by the flowing Maycomb spell, says, “I had a feeling that I shouldn’t be here listening to this sinful man who had mixed children and didn’t care who knew it” (268). But, he “had entrusted [them] with his deepest secret” (269), what makes them different from all the rest of them? The overall significance of Mr. Dolphus Raymond's quote is that he is a person of fake identity. Meaning, he is not true to his surrounding people nor is he true to his character. He knows that he isn’t “much of a drinker” (268) but, he continues to provide this persona so the surrounding people, would judge him otherwise. He takes this “alcoholic cover up” in order to cover up for being different, by having mixed children which is considered a sin at that time. Mr. Dolphus Raymond is not the only one to mask his identity, as people in the 21st century do the

One of the many Maycomb citizens that were affected by racism was Dolphus Raymond. Firstly, "They don't belong anywhere. Colored folks won't have 'em because they're half white, white folks won't have 'em 'cause they're colored, so they're just in-betweens, don't belong anywhere" (Lee 163). This is significant because, Dolphus get's misjudged everyday because of his past and his preference to

In the town of Maycomb, a man who stands up against racism forever changes people’s views on racism. Scout, Jem and Atticus Finch all stand together against racism and prejudice in the tiny town of Maycomb. In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, in the town of Maycomb, prejudice is a disease, but Jem, Scout, and Dill are immune to this illness because of the people who raise them. For example, when Cecil and Francis told Scout that Atticus is a disgrace to defend Tom Robinson, even though Francis is Scout’s cousin. When Scout and Jem hear the verdict of Tom’s case they both cry and are angry about the sentence while the rest of the town is ecstatic. And finally when Scout doesn’t want Walter Cunningham to come over for dinner because

Life is like a thrill ride; one never knows what will be in store for them. Many characters in the story To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee feel the same way about life, having experienced many surprising and unexpected turns of events. This story is about a sleepy southern town filled with prejudice, and a lawyer’s quest, along with his children Scout and Jem, to take steps in ridding the town of its prejudiced attitude. Despite being a white man, a lawyer named Atticus, defends an innocent black man accused of raping a white woman. However, everything does not go as was hoped, and the mindset of the society overpowered Atticus’s fair-minded argument. From this emerges a theme regarding the bigotry and bias overwhelming Maycomb: A

Him acting drunk, saves the town from questioning why he would want to leave their community and join what they thought was an inferior race. If Maycomb knew that Dolphus wasn’t drunk and wanted to be apart of the American American community, they wouldn’t understand why he wanted to be apart of that. They would torment Dolphus Raymond, and probably send a mob after him because he was actually in his right mind and still didn’t want to leave where he

On the day of the trial, Dolphus Raymond was seen up in the negro concentrated area of the courthouse. Jem said ‘He likes em better’n he likes us. I reckon, he lives by himself way down near the county line. He's got colored women and all sorts of mixed children”. Every white person in the town of Maycomb thinks that Mr.Raymond is a mentally unstable folk because he decided to go spend the rest of his life with the negros, in their community.

He can’t help himself. That’s why he lives the way he does,” (Lee 200). Basically Dolphus Raymond here is saying that he uses the excuse of being a drunk to the town so they don’t get mad of him wanting to be with the person he loves. He is living a lie to please everyone around him. The racism in Maycomb doesn’t just affect black people, it affects white people

Mohdia Ibrahim Ibrahim 1 Sr. Aliyah English 9 Honors 12 November 2014 In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, there were many different themes and characteristics shown through the characters.

Imagine living a community where rumors dictate who someone is rather than any prior knowledge about them and the injustice towards your skin color. The people of Maycomb judge one another without realizing who they are really judging. Therefore the injustice in Maycomb creates a picture where citizens are treated unfairly and criticize. Mr. Dolphus Raymond a rich white folk has mixed children and a black mistress. As seen in the Jim Crow laws colored cant be together with white folks.

The people at Maycomb would show hate to anyone that is different and the only people that would not, is Atticus and Calpurnia. They show understanding and sympathy towards others that might be different. Racism and prejudice at Maycomb have affected the lives of Scout and Jem in limitless ways. Scout and Jem have regularly seen racism at Maycomb throughout their life, but one event made them change the way they see the world afterwards.

Dolphus Raymond is different from the other citizens because he is not racist. Jem explains, "He likes 'em better' he likes us, I reckon. Lives by himself way down near the county line. He's got a colored woman and all sorts of mixed chillun." Everyone thinks he is trash because he interacts with African Americans instead of white people. (Lee, 214)

Racism is a topic that was starting to be explored by authors and members of society in the 1960’s. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee published in 1960 became one of the most memorable books to address the topic of racism in the south. The book is written from the point of view of a young tomboy named Scout whose mother died when she was very young. One day at school a kid started calling Scout’s father names because he was defending an African American man named Tom Robinson in a criminal case. Tom Robinson was accused of raping Mayella, a white woman. The book describes the almost impossible task of getting a fair trial for Mr. Robinson because he was an African American. This topic also was written about in a recent article in the CNN Wire titled “Dick Gregory’s Devastating, and Funny Attack on Racism” by describing how an African American comedian from the late 1900’s would tell jokes in the white community that showed how unfairly African Americans were treated in public. Both the book and the article illustrate how people were treated because of skin color.

The majority of the discrimination in this novel is between the Negroes and Whites. A major example of this discrimination in To Kill a Mockingbird is between Mr. Dolphus Raymond and the entire White community. Mr. Raymond belongs to a wealthy white family but married a Black women and lives with her and their kids in a Black neighborhood. All the Whites look down upon him because of these choices. When Mr. Raymond is in public the townspeople often see him drinking something out of a bottle hidden in a paper bag, which they assume is alcohol, but really is just Coca Cola.