Our minds are the single most powerful tool in the body. Thought enables us to function, to decide, and to reason. Equally so, an idea is a powerful thing. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee presents us with a story of a town who let its preconceived ideas get in the way of logic, sense, and proof. The prevailing idea that causes so much turmoil in Maycomb is that people who are different are wrong, and should be stopped. This notion permeates the actions of the town, causing them to disregard all rational thought, hold illogical personal opinions as fact, and act unfairly towards others. The theme of injustice appears numerous times in the book through the assumptions made against Boo, Scout’s experience at school, and the unfair conviction of Tom Robinson.
Racism in Maycomb is an example of an injustice that manifests itself in the example of Tom Robinson’s court case. Racism founds itself on the thought that black people are inferior to white people. It causes people to disregard every ounce of common sense and judge based on preconceived notions that the place a person is from dictates who they are. This is exactly what happens in the courts of Maycomb; the jury decides that Tom is guilty despite a large amount of evidence to the contrary. Tom says in court that he was scared that he would “hafta face up to what I didn't do” (198).
…show more content…
Whether by the way they act, the things they know, or the way they look; Boo, Scout, and Tom are not the same as the others in Maycomb. All three are wrongly treated because of pre-formed ideas about who they are or how they should be. To Kill a Mockingbird shows us, in many examples, how the ideas someone holds must be examined for truth. It illustrates the point that we hold our opinions as fact, and let them cloud our judgment, so that we act on feelings and ignore reason and evidence. It is because of such unfounded beliefs that truth becomes scarce and injustice
In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the trial in the novel is one of the most important incidents that takes place in the text. It is very important to our understanding of the text as a whole as it shows the racial discrimination in that time period of the 1920 – 1930’s and how society in the 20th century has improved and has become more accepting of different races throughout the world as a whole. The topics that will be discussed in this essay are the trial and how it represented a prejudiced society, what happened after the trial and the effects that the trial had on the children.
Discrimination is prevalent in the story “To Kill a Mockingbird”, the most obvious being the excessive amount of racism (Lee). Racism is the easiest to see but there are more forms of discrimination (Lee). Boo Radley is ostracized from the community when truly nobody really knows him (Lee). People discriminate Scout for being a tomboy not a lady (Lee). The last one that no one ever thinks about is how reverse racism is seen when people threaten Atticus for defending Tom Robinson in court (Lee). Discrimination in any form is a controversial topic but everyone knows that it is not right to discriminate against people.
We can see this has happened in Maycomb as the Ewell’s, who are lower class and generally unlikable people, are able to manipulate a bad situation by blaming a black man, the only people that are lower than them. Also, the trial of Tom shows the pre-conceived ideas of Maycomb on show. Even when presented with the most obvious evidence, the jury still convicted Tom guilty of all charges. The jury shows here that the pre-conceived ideas about black people and the lack of knowledge of other’s opinions apart from their own biases them to thinking Tom is guilty anyway, without taking into account he evidence.
Our nation is supposed to symbolize freedom, happiness and social equality . However, manny still fall victim to the social injustice brought upon our society. The novel, “To Kill A Mockingbird”. Portrays these social injustices despite being published many years ago.
Injustice and judgments are well known in the world. With so many people who get out of what they deserve or are punished for nothing at all. People who are judged by how they appear or seem, and how cruel it can all be. The concept of injustice and judgments is written out in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Injustice and judgments is the theme of To Kill a Mockingbird with certain symbols that help convey it, certain examples are Mr. Raymond’s “liquor” bottle, the snowman Scout and Jem made, and the gifts from Boo Radley.
Comment: through the use of the mockingbird metaphor Lee carefully portrays the inequality in maycomb. Through the innocent, unfiltered eyes of scout, boo and tom are portrayed as the personifications of good who were destroyed by evil. The intention of this stylist feature was to expose the nature of mankind to be stereotypical and show prejudice towards others, rather than empathetic and understanding. Lee also highlights how misunderstanding
“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”. Discuss this quote from Atticus in relation to 3 characters from the novel.
Social injustice has flooded the world and will continue to flood the world until someone stops all this evil. In Maycomb, Alabama, during the Great Depression, there is poverty and racism ruling over the South. Scout Finch has yet to realize all the evil surrounding her and her family. The evil that takes over Maycomb is the racism that lives in the hearts of its citizens. In To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, readers see a view of social injustices caused by racism through the Maycomb citizens who see the world through a veil of hypocrisy, which is shown by their actions in the way they talk down to Tom, and the truths of Maycomb’s society.
In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird a major theme is the loss of innocence. Whether from emotional abuse, racial prejudice or learning, Boo, Tom, and Scout all lose their innocence in one sense or another. The prejudice that each character endures leads to their loss. Through the responses of Boo, Tom, and Scout, Harper Lee shows how each character responded differently to their loss of innocence.
One of the themes in ' To Kill a Mockingbird' is injustice. I am going
Injustice: The Unfortunate Consequences of Racial Prejudice Nelle Harper Lee was born on April 28, 1926, in Monroeville, Alabama. Her father, Amasa Lee, became the basis for Atticus Finch, Scout`s father and main protagonists within the story. (Baxter 1).
With the looming threat of global warming, overpopulation, and world war III we do not often find ourselves in a position to change the world around us. But what do we do when the situation presents itself? What is our response to injustice? Sometimes nothing. In first world countries it is easy to discuss an issue without taking action because people often feel too minimal to make an impact. However, history shows some of the largest social and political movements were sparked by the actions of a single individual with the audacity to stand up. The truth is power in the hands of an individual has the magnitude to create equal amounts of good as it does bad, but the power for change does not only lie in the hands of powerful, it can be found in the hearts of any individual, no matter their status or origin.
Social injustice is a huge issue that is depicted in Harper Lee’s novel. Social injustice is seen throughout the world. Where racism and social inequality exist social injustice prevails. Social injustice has a role in society to give an excuse to treat people rudely and poorly. The effects that social injustice has is violence.
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
In the story to kill a mockingbird by Harper Lee the aspect of rational injustice is very present in the text throughout the whole story. In the story the main character is a young girl named scout who lives in Maycomb county Alabama with her father Atticus and older brother Jem. They live in a small town that believes at white people and black people were still not equal. This idea keeps getting passed down through generations and even to youngest of children are taught to think this way. Scouts family also has a very nice kind colored women who works for them but is almost a mother figure to scout since she lost her mother at a very young age. In the story there are many statements made showing how white people think about black people. The main example of this in the story is when scout's father atticus who is a lawyer was given a job to defend a black man who was accused of raping a white women. The time that this story takes place there was no hope that a black man would being to be not guilty because has was black and he was accused by a white women even though he didn’t do it that was a ton of evidence that he wasn’t guilty. People shouldn’t always assume something about a person just because of there color even if they were taught that growing up and are expected to act like that from the people around them.