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Theme Of Racism In To Kill A Mockingbird

Decent Essays

During the book, "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee, it conveyed many different themes/points of Racism, Social Injustice, and Bravery. While the reader was progressing throughout the book the characters. and the environment was beginning to expand and grow to a point where a person could connect with the book. The first topic that stood out to the reader would be racism. The first demonstration of racism in the book, Lee was explaining the setting of Maycomb. A small town in Alabama during “The Great Depression.” Lee was vocalizing the point of racism heavily in this book. Harper Lee demonstrates three strong points/themes during the course of the book. Such as, racism, social justice, and bravery, Atticus and the kids battle through those different themes throughout the whole book.

Racism is one of the strongest themes in the book. For instance, how the whites and the blacks are segregated to the point where they shouldn’t even come in contact with each other. It’s to the point where the citizens of Maycomb have separate churches for the white and the blacks.
During the course of one of the chapters Calpurnia takes the children to her church… a black church. As soon as they walked in someone said, “You ain’t got no business bringin’ them white chillun in here-they got their church, we got our’n. It is our church, ain’t it, Cal?(chpt 12, pg45-46)
” As the reader progressed throughout that scene, you got a feel for the segregation in Maycomb County. In fact, this is one of the strongest ways Harper Lee demonstrated segregation and racism during the course of the book.

Social justice is similar to racism, but not as present in the book as it should be. While Atticus and the children were at the Finch Landing, Aunt Alexandra was rambling and ranting about how Jean-Louise (Scout) should act more like a girl her age. For instance when Scout and Jem received their air rifles as a gift, Aunt Alexandra was talking about how she should’ve gotten a dress so she can actually look like a girl. She would often go on about their place in the social hierarchy of maycomb.Aunt Alexandra would also ramble about how the Cunninghams are people the Finches do not associate with. “Because--he--is--trash, that’s why

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