Racism and Social Inequality: Text to Text Comparison To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel written in 1960 by Harper Lee. The novel addresses the issue of racism and inequalities in the social structure in the American south during the Great Depression. The novel’s main protagonist is Jean Louise Finch, also known as Scout. Scout’s father, Atticus Finch, is a lawyer and in the novel, he defends a black man accused of raping a white woman. The novel focuses on the racial issues that form around this case. Another, much different, literary work that also deals with similar issues of inequality is the Harry Potter series. The Harry Potter series, written by J.K Rowling, focuses on the inequalities in a fictional world of wizards. Similar …show more content…
However, we learn during the hearing that this is highly unlikely. “his left arm was fully twelve inches shorter than his right, and hung dead at his side” (Lee, 186). As we can see from this quote, Tom Robinson is crippled and he has no use of his left arm, and as Mayella Ewell was beaten mainly on the right side, it is unlikely that the culprit was Tom Robinson. However, despite the lack of substantial evidence, Tom Robinson is accused of raping Mayella Ewell. It is later assumed in the book that Mayella Ewell herself attempted to molest Tom Robinson, “She tempted a Negro” (Lee, 203). Just as Tom Robinson pays for Mayella lustful feelings, a character in the Harry Potter series is targeted for being loved by Merope Gaunt. Merope Gaunt comes from a family very similar to the Ewells; the Gaunts are dirt poor and uneducated. However, like the Ewells they hold themselves in high esteem. The Ewells are proud to be white and the Gaunts are proud to be purebloods and related to Salazar Slytherin, an important historical figure of the wizarding world. Like Mayella, Merope is terrorized by her father and forced to keep house for him. Also like Mayella, who attempts to remain presentable, Merope appears to be cleaner than her brother or father. Merope also attempts to gain the attention of a man her father and brother consider scum. Merope loves a muggle man from the nearby village named Tom Riddle.
To kill a mocking bird is a book written by Harper Lee in 1961 which the story turns around social problems such as prejudice and racism against African American in south of the United States in 1930’s. The protagonist in this story is Atticus Finch as a father for two children, Lawyer in Mayacomb city and a hero in defending an African American accused man against the wave of oppression and racism of the time.Atticus finch characterization by Harper lee let the reader fully emerge in the story which is told by his daughter Scout as a first person narrator.
In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, injustice is a main theme that is reflected towards many characters. To Kill a Mockingbird, is a novel written by Harper Lee and published in the nineteen-sixties. Many characters in the story are treated unfairly in society due to racial or prejudicial attitudes. Overall these characters are innocent victims of injustice. Atticus, Boo Radley, and Tom Robinson are considered to be mockingbirds in the novel. A mockingbird was defined as a bird that did nothing wrong, but sang beautiful music for us to hear. These characters did nothing wrong and were treated unfairly in their town. In this different society, there are many factors that have had an influence on people’s perceptions towards others.
Harper Lee's novel To Kill a Mockingbird was published in the year of 1960, and is one of the few American classic novels awarded the Pulitzer Prize. The racism that is prevalent in many southern American towns in the 1930s is brought to life with profound imagery in To Kill a Mockingbird. There are several characters in the book, yet the true main character is the narrator's father, Atticus Finch. He is a man of great integrity and intelligence. A very heroic figure in more ways than one, Atticus possesses traits like being principled, determined, and, more importantly, he teaches others. When looking at To Kill a Mockingbird, one can see that Lee uses lots of description, dialogue, and actions to portray Atticus as a heroic individual.
The novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, tells the story of Atticus Finch, a white man defending a black man, Tom Robinson, who was accused of rape. Atticus, his children Jem and Scout, live in the small town Maycomb, Alabama during the Great Depression. With this location and time setting, Lee reveals the racial injustice of the south through the characters Tom Robinson, Bob Ewell, and Calpurnia.
To Kill a Mockingbird, author Harper Lee uses memorable characters to illustrate racism in the segregated Southern United States in the 1930s. The novel is told through the eyes of Scout Finch, you learn about Atticus Finch, her father, an attorney who hopelessly perseveres to prove the innocence of a black man cruelly accused of rape.
To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, is a powerful novel that explores the widespread racial discrimination in 1930’s Alabama. Throughout the novel rarely is Alabama’s racism bridged, with the exception of three main protagonists Scout Finch, her brother Jem Finch and their Father Atticus. Lee’s use of symbolism, foreshadowing and irony present the consequences of the loss of innocence and the penalties that racial prejudice can have on a community.
The novel To Kill a Mockingbird is a timeless American classic that has been appreciated and loved by readers for decades. Harper Lee explores the story of a lawyer and his family in the deep parts of the South who is given the task of defending a black man accused with the rape of an adolescent white girl. Atticus Finch, the father of the protagonist and narrator Scout Finch, represents an elite group of minds that see beyond the invisible lines of race and wish to treat everyone with respect and equality. Atticus faces a series of external and internal struggles that brings meaning to the novel and reveals the overarching themes of the novel. Through several
In the 1962 novel, To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee, shows how racism can impact a society in a negative way through character construction because it is a reoccurring problem. In chapter 15; while Tom Robinson awaits his trial, he is transferred to the Maycomb jail. At ten o’clock pm, Atticus is on his way to the jailhouse; Scout, Jem, and Dill follow secretively. When Atticus got to the jail, he sat outside the doors and read; meanwhile the kids are hiding and spying on him. In the middle of Atticus is reading, four cars pull up, a group of men get out of the cars and tell Atticus to move away from the jailhouse doors. The men want Tom Robinson to get released; so that they can severely beat him and possibly murder him, simply because of the color of his skin. The characters in To Kill a Mockingbird are all constructed differently. Some characters are constructed to be extremely closed-mindedly prejudice, while others are constructed to be open-minded and accepting of differences. Although the book is set in an earlier generation, concepts of the book are extremely relevant today.
To Kill a Mockingbird was written by Harper Lee, the novel was published in 1960. The novel was written in a time of racial inequality in the United States. To Kill a Mockingbird is told in the perspective of a young girl named Scout, in the late 1920s and early 1930s, who is naïve and innocent. Scout matures throughout the novel through her father, Atticus, and she becomes more aware of the prejudice in Maycomb County. When Atticus loses his case, Scout and her brother, Jem, learn that blacks cannot have a fair trial, but their new found maturity has taught them not assume someone’s character without knowing them first, such as with Boo Radley. Scout says, “‘…Atticus, he was real nice…’” (Lee 376), Atticus replied, “‘most people are, when
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is not only an edifying book about the immorality of racism and prejudice but also a coming-of-age novel. Over the course of the novel, Scout Finch, the protagonist, matures from a critical, disparaging child, to a considerate, respectful lady. She learns to look beyond the common preconceptions about others and realize that everyone is human and therefore deserves a basic level of respect. Through her experiences with Walter Cunningham and Arthur “Boo” Radley, Scout learns that instead of judging others, she should respect them as human beings.
"I was born good but had grown progressively worse every year” (Lee 107). A novel, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee was about civil rights and racism in America based in the 1930s. Scout Finch is a young curious girl who is very helpful and tries to inform others about information that she thinks that she knows. Her father, Atticus, is an attorney who tries to prove that this black man did not rape Miss Ewell. Scouts bravery is shown when someone tries to kill her and her brother Jem and she gets away.
“To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee is an inspirational, moving book full of valuable lessons. The novel allows readers to follow a young white Christian girl, Scout, through life in the 1930s. Her father, Atticus is a courageous lawyer who has wonderful morals. Atticus is appointed to defend Tom Robinson, a black man accused of rape by Mayella Ewells, a white female, in court. Racism in this novel affects the events in the plot by not only offending the characters, but the reader also.
Suzy Kassem,a philosopher, once said, “ Stand up for what is right even if it means standing alone.” To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee is a fiction novel about racism and prejudice that took a position in Maycomb, Alabama during the Great Depression. Atticus Finch, who is a single parent of Jem and Scout teaches his kids about morality. As an attorney, he is designated to be the public defender for Tom Robinson. Tom Robinson, an African American is accused of raping Mayella Ewell, a white woman.
To Kill A Mockingbird is a classic story of growing up, racial discrimination, and symbolism. Harper Lee has written a story that has gone down in history and will never be forgotten. In To Kill A Mockingbird, a six-year-old girl Jean Louise Finch, better known as Scout, narrates a story about her young life in sleepy Maycomb, Alabama. Her brother Jem Finch and friend Dill try to meet the secluded and mysterious neighbor. Meanwhile, her father, Atticus Finch is a lawyer that takes on a case in hopes of claiming the innocence of a young black man accused of rape. In To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee uses symbolism as a literary device to compare Tom Robinson and Boo Radley to a Mockingbird.
To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee is a beautiful story depicting a family living in the South of the 1930’s, and their struggle against the prejudice which was common to that time. The book centers on Atticus Finch, the father of the family as well as a lawyer, and his fight against prejudice. We see the story unfold through the innocent eyes of his young daughter, Scout, who is free from prejudice and not yet jaded. By viewing events as Scout sees them, the author shows us how to overcome prejudices, and gain tolerance.