Racial Disparities In To Kill A Mockingbird

‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ is a novel written by Harper Lee. It is set during the early 20th Century in the fictional town of Maycomb. Lee has decided to write the novel from a child’s point of view because a child is innocent but as the novel progresses the narrator, Scout, loses her innocence as she deals with the complications of her father being a lawyer. The novel revolves around racism and Scout sees discrimination wherever she goes whether it is racial or social prejudice. The town’s people agree with the idea that whites are superior to blacks. An example of this is when Atticus, Scout’s father, has to defend a black man who is accused of raping Bob Ewell’s daughter.

In To Kill a Mockingbird, and in the world today there is racial and social inequality going on all around us. I am sure that there will never be true racial and social equality, but I think that it will get dramatically better. Just like it has gotten better since the 1930’s, which is the time that To Kill a Mockingbird is set in.

Is Stereotyping and racism truly wrong? In the book To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee six year old Scout Finch, and her older brother Jem, live with their father in cozy Maycomb, Alabama. They love to spend time with their close friend Dill, and also spy on their mysterious and reclusive neighbor, Boo Radley. Later Atticus, there widowed father, defends a black man named Tom Robinson against fabricated rape charges from the Ewell family, exposing the children to the evil of stereotyping and racism in the South. Throughout the trial Atticus taught his children to respect others, no matter what action they were accused of committing. Atticus lived by the theme respect others, protect the innocent, and always take a moral stance.

In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird, she reveals that society enforces strong racial boundaries, and when one is only associated with another of a different race they are labelled as strange and regarded as an outsider. In the story, young Scout Finch learns life lessons from her father Atticus, a lawyer in their small town, Maycomb. Throughout the novel many people disapprove of Atticus for his job since he defends black people and for the way he raises his children to accept everyone no matter their skin color. Scout is often taunted and picked on for her dad’s profession at school and even by relatives; at Christmas time, their cousin, Francis, humiliates Scout for having “a [negro]-lover” as a dad and describes how it “[mortifies]

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.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, published in July 11, 1960, shows the discrimination throughout the small town of Maycomb. Scout, the daughter of a white lawyer named Atticus, tells what she saw while she was growing up. Harper Lee uses foreshadowing throughout the entire story. When Atticus defends Tom Robinson in an alleged rape case. The people of Maycomb automatically start calling him, Scout, and Jem “nigger-lovers” for defending a black man.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee takes place in the 1930’s. The story stretches over a span of three years through the duration of the Great Depression. The Jim Crow laws “was a system of segregation and discrimination that barred black Americans from a status equal to that of white Americans,” as described by Tsahai Tafari (1). In To Kill a Mockingbird, Jean Louise “Scout” Finch occasionally acknowledges the social separation between African Americans and Caucasians in Maycomb. The institutional racism justified by the Jim Crow laws included the location of residency separation between white families and black families. Not only were colored people separated from white people in residential areas, but also within public areas such as

Racial injustice has been a problem since the beginning of America. We can see this through literature, such as in To Kill a Mockingbird, and Just Mercy. To Kill a Mockingbird is about the Finch’s, their life in Maycomb, AL, and their struggles with being open minded in a closed minded place. The novel takes place in the 1930’s when racial injustice was still a very common sight. Just Mercy is about Bryan Stevenson, a lawyer, and his issues with trying to improve the criminal justice system. He sees the amount of racial injustice in our courts, and deals with cases of injustice. It is still a problem today, even with our advancement. Racial injustice has been shown throughout To Kill a Mockingbird, Just Mercy, and modern day society.

Racism is something that most people would claim they do not believe in or support; however, as clearly shown in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, racism is a disease that spreads through a region and worsens as time goes on. Racism is an issue that is still prevalent in the American society today, and Harper Lee’s timeless novel continues to teach the lesson that one needs to look beyond the color of another man’s skin and see them for who they truly are. Mr. Raymond’s conversation with Dill after Tom Robinson’s testimony initially shows that racism is better comprehended with age. He says, “Let him get a little older and he won’t get sick and cry… Cry about the hell white people give to colored folks, without even stopping to think that they’re people too” (Lee, 1960, p. 269). Here, it becomes clear that children can be naive to racism and the evil in the world, but as they continue to grow up in an area that feels so strongly about white supremacy, they become immune to the injustice and prejudice. Further, Mr. Raymond’s words allow the reader to better understand the severity of the racism in Maycomb and the entirety of the country. It also unveils a crucial theme in the novel, namely that one must consider a person of color to be no different from oneself, as all humans are equal. Additionally, racism is repeatedly referred to as a disease in the novel, which is explained when Atticus is talking to Uncle Jack about the trial and he says “‘... I hope and pray I can get

names’s Tom Robinson”. Discuss the effects of racism on Maycomb citizens such as Tom and Helen Robinson,

In Harper Lee’s timeless classic, “To Kill a Mockingbird,” a young girl and her brother are caught -up in their fathers’ fruitless case to defend a black man charged with the rape of a white girl. Lee’s novel can be split into two distinct sections that both revolve around the theme of southern life and racial injustice during the 1930’s: the first half of the novel follows Jean-Louis (Scout) Finch and her brother Jeremy (Jem) as they explore their small southern Alabama town with special fascination in their mysterious reclusive neighbor Arthur “Boo” Radley. Lee deploys in-depth description of Scout and Jem’s life as they explore their neighborhood and interact with their neighbors. The second half of the novel documents the darker side of

In To Kill A Mockingbird, the novel presents many racial differences. It even goes to the extent that the main problem is of this black man named Tom Robinson. Ways of racial difference is that black people that are in the court building have to sit in an area reserved on a second floor. This is just one of the many things. This is called segregation. I will be writing about the Jim Crow Laws. The segregation of the courtroom is due to a set of laws named the Jim Crow Laws. The Jim Crow laws were a set of rules/ laws because white people were scared the blacks would take over. But by passing these laws, the blacks and the whites were separated.

To kill a mockingbird is a novel about a family in the 1930’s in maycomb county. The Finches are normal family for the most part, but when the father of 2 children has to defend a black man in trial, things seem different. A black man is accused of raping a white woman, and is tried in court. Atticus does his best to defend him, but there is no hope. Many people would have thought Atticus won. In this time period, it was almost impossible for a black man to lose to a white man.

Harper Lee wrote the story to show the racial injustice and what truly defines a person. Other stories about racism and inequality are allegorical while To Kill A Mockingbird is upfront about the issue. Harper Lee’s novel was brave as it faced criticism in the 1960s into 2018. Some may say the novel is controversial but Harper Lee isn't trying to obscure history into children and instead is honest regardless of vile and upsetting the court outcome is. Though the story of the book is not all jubilant it is truthful and fit the current at the time Civil Rights Movement. The novel shined a light on what was truly going on.

The novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is filled with many themes. One of those themes is racism. In this story there was a black man who was accused of rape by a white woman. It was set in the 1930's in Alabama, so most people in this time were harsh towards those of color. This was also the time of the Great Depression so people were stressed about making a living.