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

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Prejudice is one of the world’s greatest struggles. It does not only hold society back, but is harmful to the people who do good .In Harper Lee’s book To Kill A Mockingbird, Scout and Jem live through and witness prejudice and racism in the small town of Maycomb. They see someone wrongly accused of a crime because of his race. Scout and Jem also witness and take part in prejudice against a man no one knows anything about. In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird Harper Lee uses characterization to show the negative effects of prejudice and racism.

Atticus said, “They’ve done it befor and they did it tonight and they’ll do it again and when they do it-seems that only children weep”(Lee 285). To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel written by Harper Lee. It is about two siblings , Jem and Scout, who live in a small town called Maycomb. Their father Atticus, is a well known lawyer, who is defending an African American that was accused of raping a white women. Throughout the novel, Jem and Scout are introduced to discrimination and learn that it’s an everlasting problem. Prejudice and discrimination are important themes in To Kill a Mockingbird because of racism, sexism, and ageism.

To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, is a complex literary work exploring several aspects of the human condition. Lee’s story is one based in the 1930’s, shortly before the Civil Rights Movement. Her novel ventures into the societal issues, such as racism and gender stereotyping, in their fictional town, Maycomb. One recurring theme throughout the narrative is the social adjustment of the citizens of Maycomb and the human race as a whole. Lee showcases the progress in social justice matters by using symbolism and motifs.

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.

'Democracy,' she said. 'Does anybody have a definition?' ... 'Equal rights for all, special privileges for none' (Lee 248).

The novel “To kill a mockingbird” demonstrates the theme of racism through the various situations that occur within the book. Atticus’s decision to defend Tom Robinson begins to have a deep effect on the Finch family. This is demonstrated by the Finch family receiving many racist comments from various people. The next example of racism is demonstrated when Calpurnia, Scout, and Jem go to a church where only “black” people attend, and the Finch family gets discriminated. Later, when Calpurnia, Scout and Jem got home, Scout asked Atticus if she could go to Calpurnia’s house, but Scout’s aunt said “no”. This is because Calpurnia’s neighborhood has too many “black people” which is a “bad influence” on Scout. Through these situations, it is clear

Racism was very “popular” as you should say back in the 1930’s . Whites had all the power while blacks and other minorities were suppose to fear them. In Maycomb , Alabama racism was around and had effects on citizens. Segregating whites from blacks is a horrid thing. It’s inhuman to say you're better than someone else because of their skin color. We as humans are equal some may be more wealthy than others but when it all comes down to it we will all go in the same box in the same ground. Racism was and still is a horrible thing and it affected a lot people.

Racism was a very large part of society in the south during the 1930’s. Many colored people were thought of as less than their peers. Whites were considered better than African Americans were, and almost every white person accepted the unjust judgment. Racial discrimination hit hard in the south. Many of the characters in To Kill a Mockingbird were impacted by racial discrimination, including Calpurnia, Scout, and Tom Robinson and his family.

As the United States “progresses” in economic, educational and technological advancements we still are fighting for racial equality. With more than 50 years since the brown vs. board of education case there is still incidents like Ferguson, Baton Rouge, and Phiando Castile where many questions are still unanswered. However, Harper Lee dealt with these same problems in 1960 when she wrote To Kill a Mockingbird. Lee created an emotionally confronting story. Lee writes through the eyes of “Scout” a lawyer’s daughter in a small sleepy town of Maycomb in Alabama during the great depression. Throughout the book “Scout” learns coming of age lessons from Atticus and her own experiences. But when Atticus takes on a case defending a black man (Tom Robinson) convicted for rapping a white woman (Mayella Ewell) and is found guilty. “Scout” her brother Jem begin to understand the effects of the prejudices in society. Therefore, Lee applies the literary concepts of diction and tone to revel the truth that prejudices in society negatively affect the way people treat each other in To Kill a Mocking Bird.

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

In the riveting coming-of-age novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, the author Harper Lee projects the idea of acceptance of all people, through the eyes of a child. Harper Lee combats the prejudice of social standing when she proves that some of the poorest people have the best of character traits. While racism of African Americans is first and foremost in this novel, the acceptance of white people into the African American community shows racism can be beaten from both point of views. Finally, the disabilities that Arthur Radley portrays, is forgotten, when his actions help him soar above the bigotry of the people of Maycomb County. The most obvious topic is the overt racism based on a person's skin color, however, Harper Lee takes us beneath the skin to show that discrimination occurs in other ways.

"The ultimate ignorance is the rejection of something you know nothing about yet refuse to investigate" -Dr. Wayne Dyer. During the 1930s, the period of the Great Depression displays various forms of discrimination in TKaM, a historical novel written by Harper Lee. Coming out of the Civil War, the 19th Amendment, and the Roaring Twenties people living in this poor Alabama county can not fix their racist and intransigent mindset. Racism towers over all prejudice in the tiny Maycomb County. Interaction with a black person to them is an interaction with a devil on earth. Besides the profound racism, the novel shows bigotry which affects the majority of citizens in the large society of straight-minded people. Having divorced parents, being exceptionally poor, and being a woman are just three examples of kinds of differentiation characters endure shame for. The most obvious form of discrimination in the novel is racism; however, there are other types of prejudice and

Harper Lee's ‘To kill a Mockingbird’ explores the prejudicial issues which plague over the town Maycomb. Harper Lee uses the trial of Tom Robinson a black man accused of rape on a young white girl, Mayella as a central theme to portray the prominence of racial discrimination in Maycomb. The racial prejudice is also widely shown through the characterisation of Atticus. Having Scout as the narrator allows Harper Lee to highlight the gender inequity through a youthful unbiased perspective. The chauvinistic attitudes and prejudiced views of most of the town’s folk leaves Maycombs social hierarchy in an unfair order, victimising many of the town’s people due to their socially non-conforming habits some ‘socially unaccepted people’ including Boo