Theme Of Racism In To Kill A Mockingbird

Racism is both an ideology and a system of domination. To be racist is not just a misuse of derogatory slurs and whatnot. Only certain communities have the power and the privilege to be racist. In Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird racism was one of the most recurring themes. Communities as well as specific characters were impacted by racism. Tom Robinson, Calpurnia, Bob Ewell and Dolphus Raymond were characters that suffered from Racism.

Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel that takes place in Alabama during the Great Depression. It is narrated by the main character who is a little girl named Jean Louise Finch aka “Scout”. Scout has a father named Atticus who is a lawyer and an older brother. The Finch’s are a white family and when Atticus goes to defend a black man, the whole town is shocked.This novel has tons of racism. Racism is an issue that is still current. Large amounts of racism are expressed in the novel still happens today through racial profiling, police brutality, and segregation.

In the story “To Kill A Mockingbird” by Harper Lee, the main character Scout realizes the town she lives in is full of bias and prejudice toward negros. Scout, the only daughter of lawyer Atticus Finch, is faced with the activism that follows this prejudice when her father decides to defend a negro, Tom Robinson, in the court of law. She is constantly harassed and tormented by the residence of their small town, Maycom. What Lee is trying to show through these events is that people are always going to have prejudices, and sometimes these prejudices come from the people you least expect it form. In the story, neighbors, friends, and family all show their prejudices about the defendant Tom Robinson to Scout, who finally realize the world isn’t perfect but is, in fact, full of flaws and prejudices.

The setting of the book To Kill A Mockingbird has a huge role on the conflicts, outcome of the trial, and Jem and Scout’s development. The book takes place in Maycomb county Alabama, in the 1930’s during the Great Depression. Since Alabama is in the south, and was before the Civil Rights Movement, most of the white residents in the town were racist. In the book, the town of Maycomb is almost like a character on its own. It is a small town that had lots of farmers who were struck hard by the Great Depression. Scout, who is the narrator of the book describes it by saying, “Maycomb was a tired old town, but it was a tired old town when I first knew it. In rainy weather the streets turned to red slop; grass grew on the sidewalks, the courthouse sagged in the square”(Lee 6). Scout even goes on to say, “People moved slowly then. They ambled across the square, shuffled in and out of the stores around it, took their time about everything”(Lee 6). In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the conflict of racism is shown through the trial, Atticus, and Jem and Scout’s uprising in a non-racist home but in a prejudice town.

Imagine being persecuted your entire life. Having to constantly respect someone even though they were rude to you. This is what many African-Americans had to go through during the 1930’s. Racism is a major aspect in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird. The main character, Scout, has to deal with this problem everyday. Bob Ewell, Mr. Cunningham, and other characters are very racist, and don’t approve of Atticus defending a “Negroe”. This causes Scout to be bullied in school and even attacked by Mr. Ewell. Also, characters such as Tom Robinson are negatively affected by racism in Maycomb. Tom is killed just because of his skin color. In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee’s use of point-of-view, irony, and symbolism help to develop

Decades ago, in the 1930s, people of color were not treated fairly. Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird took place in the 1930s in the fictional place of Macomb County, Alabama. It was narrated through a young girl named Scout Finch. Throughout the novel, Scout, her older brother, Jem, and their good friend Dill discover realities of society. Scout and Jem’s father, Atticus, was appointed to be the attorney of a black man. Because of the time period, the case was almost hopeless, but Atticus fought anyway. Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird displays universal themes such as racial intolerance and innocence of youth.

There are many themes shown throughout the book To Kill a Mockingbird. The author, Harper Lee made the novel take place in the 1930s and in a fictional town called Maycomb County in Alabama. The narrator was a young girl in the novel names Scout Finch. Throughout the book Scout, her older brother Jem, and her best friend Dill discover new things and become more mature. Then towards the end of the book Atticus, the father of Jem and Scout, agrees to defend a black man named Tom Robinson, who is accused of raping a white girl. In the book To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, racial intolerance and courage are two of the many themes demonstrated throughout the novel.

The novel “To Kill a Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee demonstrates the effects of racism in southern America. Throughout this appealing novel, there are many characters who illustrate different personalities. Personally, I would compare Scout Finch to myself. After analyzing the character Scout Finch in relation to myself, while Scout portrayed more of a complex personality, I am easier to get along with, hence demonstrating how personality is the best method of establishing allies. Mine and Scouts personalities differ as Scout depicted more of a tomboy personality and solved a variety of problems by fighting, due to the aggressive personality she demonstrates.

The theme I chose to write was racism in “To Kill a Mockingbird”. Racism is the belief in which ethnic groups account for differences in human character or ability and that a particular race is superior to others. This belief has been a part of the human race ever since people are born, racism is slowly fading, but people cannot that say all do not express it. There are still some who believe one's ethnicity and appearance change everything in that particular person. In Harper Lee's novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, the town's people of Maycomb misjudge African-Americans. They treat them like trash, and through some people's eyes, African-Americans are just filthy beings. In this novel, Lee expresses one's ethnicity and appearance change other's opinions about a certain character, without knowing the character's personality and beliefs. “Harper Lee is against racism in To Kill a Mockingbird.”

The central idea of the book, “To Kill a Mockingbird” is how the author, Harper Lee(Scout), explains the idiocracy of racism. One it should not exist and two racism is a reality. These two explanations are the exact definition of the famous quote “Do not judge a book by its cover.” Harper Lee made this book to prevent future racism from developing and then eventually ceasing it from existence. Racism develops in a way that Scout, Dill and Jem does not see it coming especially when the trial of two individuals of different color becomes in session.

In To Kill a Mockingbird, author Harper Lee uses memorable characters to explore Civil Rights and racism in the segregated southern United States in the 1930s. In the novel, Jean-Louise's disposition is influenced by her community. My question is, “what about people who grew up without a community”? When I was younger, I didn't have a home outside my parents. My family and I moved a lot for my father's occupation. I never had a community to grow up in, to develop in, and to be part of. My community was reduced to two people: my mother and my father. Due to this, my character development rested solely with my parents. They raised me to be kind, intelligent, and open-minded. My parents taught me to never have prejudice and to be open to new concepts.

Racism can be heard from different races from different countries. In the novel, “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee tells the readers that racism can exist without knowing that it does exists. Different types of races should have the same opportunity as other races.

In Harper Lee’s ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’, there are enormous conflicts within the deep south. Set in the fictional town of Maycomb, Alabama, Harper Lee tells the story of characters’ experiences with racism and injustice, largely stemming from false charges of rape by a poor white woman against an innocent black man named Tom Robinson. Tom Robinson’s attorney is Atticus Finch, a single father of two children, Jem and Scout, who appears as a moral compass for a town plagued by inequality. There are many strong, racially charged feelings and horrible consequences surrounding the case and those around it. Racism is a dangerous problem throughout Maycomb County in ‘To Kill Mockingbird’. Some effects of racism in the story would be Tom Robinson, Calpurnia, The Church, Segregation, and the Finches.

This essay will be covering the book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Specifically, it will be talking about a certain theme that shows up quite a bit throughout the book. The theme that will be discussed is racism. Racism shows up quite a bit throughout the book in many different ways.

Ideally, the Constitution of the United States of America, the founding document of the nation, ensures life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for all. Ironically, the South of the 1930s was the exact antithesis of the statement. Those truths that were held to be self-evident to all men were only used for the pleasure of those with the “correct” complexion and sex, that being the white male. The minorities in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee were denied of those truths, due to the common element of the corrupt Southern white male that was favored to be in a position of power in the time period. To that end, it is the Southern white men in positions of power that create the conflict and ruin the “mockingbirds” throughout this bildungsroman that Harper Lee presents the reader, which is one of oppression, hatred, and denial.