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To Kill A Mockingbird Analysis

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In the news, you can find many stories about schools that have stopped requiring their students to read To Kill A Mockingbird. But, stopping them from reading about the 1930’s in a book like To Kill A Mockingbird would mean that they would have to throw away the school systems American History books as well. The novel is entirely written based on true events that occured in the 1930’s. This book is about the individual and institutional racism and sexism that happened in the early to mid 20th century. The historical time period is deeply rooted in Harper Lee’s novel, especially in regards to the following characters: Tom Robinson, Dolphus Raymond, and Scout (Jean Louise) Finch. Hiding the knowledge that To Kill A Mockingbird spreads about racism and sexism would mean hiding the past of our nation. One of the main characters with one of the most interesting storylines in To Kill A Mockingbird is Tom Robinson. Tom is an African American man who is blamed for a rape he did not commit only because the woman who accused him, Mayella Ewell, was ashamed that she had feelings for him and was caught by her father kissing a black man. When reading about Tom’s case in this book, many readers may have thought back to a case in the 1930’s about a group of teenagers, identified as the Scottsboro boys, who were accused of raping 2 white women on a train going from Chattanooga, Tennessee to Memphis, Tennessee. There was no evidence that the women had been raped and all of the boys denied

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