How Does Harper Lee Use Anti Discrimination In To Kill A Mockingbird

Racism is something that most people would claim they do not believe in or support; however, as clearly shown in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, racism is a disease that spreads through a region and worsens as time goes on. Racism is an issue that is still prevalent in the American society today, and Harper Lee’s timeless novel continues to teach the lesson that one needs to look beyond the color of another man’s skin and see them for who they truly are. Mr. Raymond’s conversation with Dill after Tom Robinson’s testimony initially shows that racism is better comprehended with age. He says, “Let him get a little older and he won’t get sick and cry… Cry about the hell white people give to colored folks, without even stopping to think that they’re people too” (Lee, 1960, p. 269). Here, it becomes clear that children can be naive to racism and the evil in the world, but as they continue to grow up in an area that feels so strongly about white supremacy, they become immune to the injustice and prejudice. Further, Mr. Raymond’s words allow the reader to better understand the severity of the racism in Maycomb and the entirety of the country. It also unveils a crucial theme in the novel, namely that one must consider a person of color to be no different from oneself, as all humans are equal. Additionally, racism is repeatedly referred to as a disease in the novel, which is explained when Atticus is talking to Uncle Jack about the trial and he says “‘... I hope and pray I can get

the real case of Emmett Till, in which an innocent man was persecuted simply because the color of skin was not favored with the all white jury. A case very similar to this can be seen within To Kill a Mockingbird, a novel used to bring up the topic of racism. Harper Lee uses her book To Kill a Mockingbird to bring awareness to racism by demonstrating how it can bring despair to a community. Although, people who fight against racism can bring hope to those who have been effected.

In Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, prejudice and racism are embedded in the regional psyche of Maycomb, a miniscule town in Alabama. The narrator interpolates injustice and racism in Alabama during the 1930s, largely through the eyes of Scout, who was a child during this time, however, the adult Scout occasionally interjects with some adult observations. Furthermore, the citizens of Maycomb are stereotyped pervasively throughout the book. In Harper Lee’s To Kill Mockingbird, examples of racism, sexism, and social class are used to demonstrate how prejudice can corrupt a community.

“But now he’s turned out a nigger-lover we’ll never be able to walk the streets of Maycomb again. He’s ruining’ the family, that’s what he’s doing’.” (Lee 110). The power of hatred is one so strong, that it imprisons the Finches and African Americans of Maycomb County. In Alabama of 1920 to 1930, segregation is an established action of the Southerners, it’s a lifestyle. The slurs passed from the mouths of white Southerners and ending with the shooting of a black man, the ways of Maycomb County are ones seen as either shocking or common in today’s eyes. To Kill A Mockingbird is an eminent novel by Harper Lee that illustrates the aspects of discrimination and prejudice, tolerance and courage during a time in America where racial inequality

Harper lee conveys to the reader through Dill that just because Tom is black does not make him a bad person. Scout and Dill have a very different view on Tom Robinson. During Tom Robinson's court case, “For some reason Dill started crying and couldn’t stop; quietly at first, then his sobs were heard by several people in the balcony” (264). Dill crying is Harper Lee relaying to the reader that the prejudice against Tom is wrong and it hurts people. Most people see Tom as a rapist because they are not taking the facts into consideration, all they see is his skin color but this is not what Dill sees. Dill sees how innocent Tom is despite his skin color and it pains him to see how everyone attacks Tom in the courtroom and how they are not treating him fairly even though he is getting a so called “fair trial”. Later Dill and scout have a conversation where Scout says, “Well, Dill he's just a negro.’ ‘I don’t care one speck,’ Dill says. ‘It ain’t right, somehow it ain’t right to do’em that way. Hasn’t anybody got any business talkin’ like that-it makes me sick”’ (266). Even though Scout is saying that Tom is just a negro and that he

Discrimination and stereotypes are still involved in today's ever-growing society. People are judged by their race, gender, and, wealth; people are expected to act a certain way because of these things. In To Kill A Mockingbird it tells the readers about a small town, Maycomb, that faces many challenges because of how individuals are judged and treated. If someone were African American he/she would thought to be less of a person and were treated as if they were trash. If someone were to be a woman they were thought to be weak, emotional, and dramatic. If someone were poor he/she were thought to be dirty, rude and were treated like trash. In To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee uses stereotypes related to racism, gender, and wealth to teach her audience about how individuals were treated during the Great Depression.

Although many people will deny it, racism is still very much existent, even since the 1930’s that Lee writes about. Insults like “n- lovin’ bastard” (Lee 217) are hurled at Atticus for defending a black man. Racism is so prevalent in the community that even children are heard making racist comments: “He’s nothing but a n- lover” (Lee 83). Furthermore, the jury’s decision to find Tom Robinson guilty, even though all evidence proved the opposite, shows that Maycomb’s citizens are willing to prosecute an innocent man solely because of his skin color. Interestingly enough, Lee also writes a scene where Jem and Scout experience racism from a black person. Upon seeing white people in the First Purchase Church, Lula says to Calpurnia, “You ain’t got no business bringin’ white chillum here” (Lee 119). Racism still occurs currently. Many people are treated unjustly because of the color of their skins and racial slurring is the subject of many common jokes. Comparing, the racial prejudice in Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird to today’s society shows that even over such a long period of time, racism is present even now and will continue to be present for a long time to

According to an updated article in the New York Times, only 4 of the 53 police officers were black in Ferguson, at town where an unarmed black teenager was shot by a white police officer. This article pulls up old issues about racial inequality, which Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird also explores. The main character, Scout’s prejudice against African Americans is created by the influence of other people, such as classmates and neighborhood adults, and is overcome by the reprimanding of Atticus, Scout’s father.

What does it mean to have racial segregation or discrimination in a town or community? It means that people of a different color, in most cases African Americans, cannot go to the same places as white people, do the same things, or even walk on the same side of the street. This was very prominent in many southern states back in the early 1900’s. In the book, To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, the quiet town of Maycomb, Alabama was a great example of southern racism in the 1930’s.

In today’s society, people are not treated equally. Many people push for equality, but the problem is still occurring today. In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird, she uses racism to prove how people’s views on African American’s have not changed. Through the use of symbolism and diction, Harper Lee shows the idea of social injustice against blacks. Lee uses symbolism to show how innocent people are sometimes treated unfairly.

Discrimination, this is a word that is heard today and was seen especially in the southern U.S. in the early 1900’s. In Harper Lee’s To kill a Mockingbird discrimination is seen with the life of Tom Robinson and what he experiences throughout the whole case. In another instance Calpurnia is discriminated upon throughout the whole book just because she is of a different color skin. In the same way Woman in general are constantly discriminated against whether through the way they dress, act, or just the fact that they can not be in a jury.

“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view […] until you climb into his skin and walk around in it," said Atticus Finch (Lee, 22). Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, details a life of people in the South who grew up in a period of racial injustice. Racism is defined as “prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one's own race is superior.” Many of the characters were impacted by the racial discrimination that occurred. They had to overcome the many challenges they had to face because of the color of their skin. In To Kill A Mockingbird, racism was depicted through Tom Robinson’s trial, Mrs. Dubose’s comments, and how Mr. Raymond is treated.

Discrimination in the school environment was a controversial issue in the 1960’s. Over this specific time period, the view of Black citizens in school was extremely different compared to that of the White citizens. The school institution, which being founded for an educational purpose, had prime examples of how there was a separation between the schools of Black’s and White’s. The differing views between Blacks and Whites in schools was a reoccurring theme through the 1960s and in Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, there are apparent signs of White school systems still having a more segregated view on discrimination.

One of the pressing issues that To Kill A Mockingbird addresses is discrimination, prejudice, and the racism of people of the opposite color and class. And though the novel was written and published back in 1961, it is because of these themes and issues the novel explores that it still resonates with our world today, because it’s still happening today. Amazing, but it does make sense considering how Harper Lee, the author of said acclaimed novel, was born in 1926 in Alabama. She grew up in a community that was both suffering from the outcomes of the Great Depression (starting in 1929), and the high acts racism in those Southern parts. Using her own life experiences, she wrote the novel as a way of letting out steam, writing about the unfair

In 2009, Harper Lee’s bestselling novel To Kill a Mockingbird was banned in St. Edmund Campion Secondary School in Brampton, Ontario after a parent complained about the use of inappropriate language in the novel (Javed 2009). To Kill A Mockingbird, considered one of the best novels of the 20th century, is also one of the most controversial. According to the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom, it is one of the most challenged and banned classic novels (Downs 2016). Although this novel has been banned in many schools and school boards across Canada and the United States because of “inappropriate racial and sexual content”, To Kill a Mockingbird thoroughly bespeaks the absurdity of the inequality and discrimination