To Kill a Mockingbird, a southern-gothic story, shows the view of life in the 1930’s. This story is told in the eyes of Jem and Scout and how their views changed as they grew up in the town of Maycomb. Scout is a young girl who is growing up surrounding the contentions of her father’s lawsuit. Her father, Atticus Finch, is a lawyer who is defending a black man in charge of a white girl’s rape. This essay will show how the lives of the people in Maycomb are affected by discrimination and prejudice in Tom Robinson’s case, Calpurnia’s church and the Verdict. Tom Robinson was one of the main characters of the story. His case in which he was blamed for rape was the main frame of the story. Since he was an African American, his witness and truth were biased because of his race. At that time, black man’s word was worth nothing. One of the examples that shows this is,” Reverend Sykes leaned across me and whispered to Jem. “He got it caught in a cotton gin, caught it in Mr. Dolphus Raymond’s cotton gin when he was a boy... like to bled to death... tore all the muscles …show more content…
Once when Atticus was called by the State Legislature and had to leave Jem and Scout with Calpurnia in Maycomb, Calpurnia took the kids to the African American church. At the time the book was wrote under, African American’s had a different church than the white people. The kids were victims of prejudice by Lula. One of the examples is, “You ain’t got no business bringin‘ white chillun here —they got their church, we got our’n. It is our church, ain’t it, Miss Cal?”. This shows that Jem and scout were not permitted in the church by her because they were white and they were in a African American church. This also shows prejudice because they were not allowing people other races in the church. The Verdict of Tom Robinson’s case was an important event in Maycomb because it could change the future of Tom Robinson and all of
The coming-of-age novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee is set in the fictional town of Maycomb County, Alabama around the 1930s. Vile racial discrimination in Maycomb is what lead to the trial of Tom Robinson, a black man accused of raping Mayella Ewell, a white woman. Atticus, the father of Scout, was assigned to defend Robinson in court. Atticus organized his argument to be successful by using rhetorical devices- ethos, pathos, and logos.
Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird was an influential study of race relations in America in the mid 20th century. The development of the main character, Scout, is closely tied to what she learns from Atticus, her father, and what she learns from watching the unjust treatment of Tom Robinson, who is a black gentleman accused of rape that Atticus decides to defend in a court case. As Scout grows up, she is forced to deal with prejudice that every person living in Maycomb, Alabama seems to demonstrate in their everyday life. When Atticus agreed to represent Tom Robinson, he likely knew that many town people would resent any attempt to prove Tom Robinson was innocent. In this novel, Scout learns that there are right and wrong times when one should
Imagine a place where the verdict of a rape trial stems from racial prejudice rather than the proper evaluation of proven evidence. This is Maycomb, Alabama, the strange, Southern town where Scout and Jem Finch grow up during the 1930s in the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee. In short, the novel travels a thin line between a light-hearted narrative of the siblings’ childhood with their single father, a defense attorney named Atticus Finch, and the injustices that arise within their close-knit community. The complexities include extreme racism, a peculiar social hierarchy, and general misunderstandings of certain people within the small town. These are all seen as “Maycomb ways”, almost as if they are considered facts. Through her writing, Lee conveys an important message that an essential part of a child’s education often takes place in a home or community rather than a classroom by utilizing the characters, Atticus Finch and Tom Robinson, a black man accused of rape whom Atticus is defending.
Being at the top of the social hierarchy has been a must for every American of past generations, but can lead to fatal damages for some trying to obtain that goal and a cause to ruin people’s lives. In a remarkably triumphant story on compassion, Harper Lee explored the horrors of racial prejudice in the novel “To Kill a Mockingbird.” Set in the 1930’s, the poor town of Maycomb, Alabama has been hit by the depression hard, which created a vast, complex social pyramid, with distinct families and lifestyles. At the Finch household, composed of a little nine year old girl, Scout, a twelve year old boy Jem, and their father Atticus, proceed through a whirlwind of events throughout the next few years. Atticus, a lawyer who is a hardworking, honest man at the top of the social hierarchy of Maycomb, has to defend a colored man by the name of Tom Robinson. This happened to be very unusual for the time period, as the family has to transcend through the struggles in a racial prejudice town and learn the raw nature of the worst in humans, thus trying to overcome these events through compassion. The author utilizes metaphor, characterization, and mood to describe the situation of Maycomb, it soon then becomes very clear that the dangers of ruining innocence can lead to a vast road of horrors and evils.
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
According to an ancient proverb, “the owl of ignorance lays the egg of pride.” Meaning that no human being should feel superior due their color of their skin, their ethnicity, religious backgrounds or education. The surroundings and situations people face impacts and shapes the way in which people see the world. In the novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee, the author expresses prejudice through the story by using Tom Robinson as his protagonist as well as Mayella Ewell. The author shows how Tom Robinson combats with everyday life situations and how unjust his life is towards him but from dilemma to dilemma he doesn't give up. Harper Lee also illustrates Mayella Ewell as a character that is “drift blown” meaning that when someone says something she goes with it or a follower due to the poor education. Scout’s point of view describes what happens when social equality and the true meaning of democracy is forgotten. Once the people of Macomb county begin to ignore the humanity and
what a bad father he is and why his family have been given a bad name.
Discrimination based on race is a huge part of this story, particularly based on skin color. Tom Robinson is the main point of this type of discrimination as he was a black man who had been accused of raping Mayella Ewell, a white woman. Atticus explains to Jem how the jury was unfair by saying "There's something
Prejudice and discrimination are present in the world today. In western countries, women are often paid less than men although they work the same job, and the same hours. This is an example of sexism in the real world. In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, prejudice and discrimination affects all main characters usually in a negative way in Maycomb County. The trial of Tom Robinson would not have happened if it were not for the topic of racism. Ageism, sexism, and racism are continuously occurring in TKAM. Ageism generally happens to Scout, the narrator. Many people treat Scout differently than adults because they think she does not understand anything they are saying but she understands a lot more than they think. Sexism affects
In today’s world we are very well aware of racial discrimination which remains an issue in our country. Racial discrimination is present everywhere we see it in our everyday lives, yet we choose to ignore. The book To Kill A Mockingbird presents a topic of racial discrimination depicting it in a character called Tom Robinson. Tom Robinson reminds us of the dark past of racial discrimination which shows us the power of simply being a different color. Race dictates the way you live, act, and are treated upon.
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.
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
Many of the events happening in this story are still happening today. Racism is a major topic in this novel and all around the world in our current day. Although our society has developed from the time in Maycomb County, it still has not stopped. One example of this is
Discuss Harper Lee’s Presentation of Maycomb Society in to Kill a Mockingbird Maycomb is described as a “tired old town” where the inhabitants had “nowhere to go”. Maycomb is very similar to any small southern town in the 1930’s, sexism, racism and other prejudices are at a peak, and old traditions are carried out regularly. To Kill a Mockingbird revolves solely around family, community and society, the focus point of the book, the rape trial, would not have occurred if society had not looked down upon the black community.
Today’s society is damaged with the results of people doing terrible things to each other. Peoples actions can make or break lives.The novel To Kill A Mockingbird, is about a little girl, her Brother, their Dad, and the negro they all fight to defend. The main character scout and her older brother Jem, get into all sorts of dilemmas in the small town of Maycomb, Alabama. As they learn new valuable lessons about life, they also pick up that the small town they grow up in is not as clean and safe as it seems. The father, Atticus Finch is a kind hearted soul who was given the case of Tom Robinson, a negro accused of Raping a white woman. As soon as Atticus was given the case he aimed to defend Tom but a faulty jury made sure it did not happen.To