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Discuss The Racial Epithets In 'To Kill A Mockingbird'

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The racial epithets in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee should not be removed for various reasons. The use of such slurs strengthen the impact of the message while making the speech of the characters more accurate, and it also gives the reader an idea of how the people of Maycomb function as a whole in terms of their treatment of African-Americans. To Kill a Mockingbird is an iconic novel that has played a definitive part in the lives of millions of people, whether they read the book with their class or picked it up just for fun. The book focuses on a racist and judgmental town, so the vocabulary used should align with the views of the characters. The use of the n-word is crucial to the plot and sets up the overall image of life in Maycomb, …show more content…

Regularly using the n-word reflects a character’s idea that colored people are less than them. The following statement from a Mic article reflects the prevalence of racism in today’s society: “America is far from having quelled its racism problem. Whether it's treatment by police or susceptibility to poverty, one's skin color can determine a whole range of variables in life”. The use of discriminatory words helps one realize that not only were people prejudicial in Maycomb, but people still share the same qualities nowadays. It can be strange to think that after so many years, we still have not reached the place that we would like to be as a society. It is inevitable that people in Maycomb would use the n-word, and Harper Lee does a good job incorporating the use of the word in a way that helps the reader gain a better understanding of the town’s people. The Washington Post cleverly makes the argument that: “Banning the word, in a sense, is an attempt to exert another degree of power over it.”, which is something that many people can agree with. Removing the n-word completely from the novel only makes the slur more powerful. It creates a bigger buzz and more controversy over the topic all together, which is something that can be avoided by simply keeping the book the

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In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, imagery and diction helped me develop the theme of innocence and how there is always purity in the darkest of things and how the darkest things are humans. One of the many themes Harper Lee wrote about is racism. On page 223 was the start of Tom Robinson’s trial which was one of the scenes from the book about racism. During the trial Bob Ewell yelled at the court when he said “I seen that black n***** yonder ruttin’ on my Mayella” (231) Also when Mayella refers to Tom in the N word.

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Scout’s use of racist language demonstrates the corruptive influence society has had on her. Her use of the racist slur “nigger” is an indication that she thinks the idea of a black snowman is appalling, “I ain’t ever hear of a nigger snowman.” (89) The casual and almost automatic way the slur is used makes it clear that Scout doesn’t recognize how extremely offensive the word is. Scout explains to Atticus that nigger is “what everybody at school says.”

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Racial Issues and How it Affects the Everyday Life Racial issues are brought up constantly in To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. One area that race issues affect is education, and those who are black have harder times in school due to a lot of different factors. In the article How the Stress of Racism Affects Learning, it talks about the life of a 15 year old Zion Agostoni. In his school and his neighborhood, there are cops everywhere and they follow him to school some days to “protect the city” and the cops acts affect his school work.

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It is understandable why people might think that Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, should not be taught in our education system. The use of what one might call The ‘N’ Word would, all in itself, prohibit a teenager from reading Lee’s book. But what this particular group of people, those that are against the book, needs to know is that there is a reason why Lee wrote the novel like she did. It should be taught in schools, and when one looks past the use of inappropriate language and cringe worthy occurrences, they will find that To Kill a Mockingbird is a well written novel, with events and themes that still apply to our society today. There are many qualities to a good piece of literature, and Lee’s novel displays a vast majority

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You may be surprised by how some individuals feel angry and offended at others simply because of the pigment of their skin. These individuals let their hatred of those that are different from them control their actions to the point that they bring harm and malice upon these people. This piece of writing showcases that and also addresses how racism in Maycomb is viewed and how the people in Maycomb feel about those with different skin tones as well. There are those individuals that do not intend to be racist but the way that their society is programmed they unintentionally contribute to the racist population. The racism that occurs in To Kill A Mockingbird is very present and normalized.

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Censorship is an extremely debated topic in America, with people saying it contradicts with what the Bill of Rights has allowed the American people and how it may deny people use the Freedom of Speech. Yet, the censorship of books in American public schools is one of the most controversial topics today because of the use of racial slurs in classic literature, this is the case with To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Opinions on this topic vary, with some of them being: schools should have the right to censor books because they have racial slurs in them, schools should have teachers open up a conversation about race and the use of racial slurs with these books, or schools should not have the right to censor any book. I firmly believe that schools

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It was used in ways of being racist but this is history. I feel as if people want to make a change in the world but want to do so by changing history or leaving history in the past which we can't, knowing our history is how we move forever in making sure history does not happen again. To Kill A Mockingbird is about a white father, defending a black male who was falsely accused of rape way back when blacks and whites were not even close to being on the same level, of course the n-word is going to be used because this is history. People are so bothered by the history and want the children to be innocent from what went on back then, but I feel like through reading this book, you learn a little about the wars the black and whites went through in the most innocent way. Not only does this book show a little bit of history but it also has life lessons in the book such as people cannot be just written off as good or bad because sometimes people show you them in a way they want you to view them.

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Recently the classic To Kill A Mockingbird has been pulled from the curriculum in a the Biloxi School District due to the language making people uncomfortable. But like a reader of the book has said “I think it is one of the most disturbing examples of censorship” the point of the book is to “humanize all people regardless of their social status, education level, intellect, and of course race,” (source 1, paragraph 6). To Kill A Mockingbird uses the language to show that in the past the words that people may think are bad now, used to be a common part of life in the past. It shows a book that is loosely based on actual events the author witnessed. “The plot deals with rape and racial inequality is a small Southern town.

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If racism wasn’t present in Maycomb, the term n*gger wouldn’t be taken so lightly and the black community wouldn’t be scared to even seemingly step out of

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Racism take a big place in the book “To Kill a Mockingbird”. Back in those days black men were not seen as a real person in society as they seen white men are seen. As in the novel Scout is mostly seeking the differences in blacks and whites. In the book there is a scene where Calpurnia takes Scout and Jem to their church and sees many black people separated into a different church than the others which is a big experience for Scout. Later on when the church ends Jem and Scout wanted to see how Calpurnia's house is and ask her if thy can see it, but in the book of course the aunt (Aunt Alexandra) does not allow the children to visit.

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What if the world was still the same as it was back during the great depression. What if this was the truth. In To Kill a Mockingbird readers can see how prejudice affected people of color back then, and how it’s not so different from today. In the novel readers will find unfairness in court, hate crimes, and segregation. Today readers can still find these same issues, but in different forms.

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Though most of the town Maycomb feels negatively and discriminates the African-Americans, characters like Atticus show us how one person can impact his surroundings if he has high morals. Although he couldn’t change the mindset of the other town residents , he made sure that his own children didn’t discriminate people, purely on the basis of their skin colour. Racism can be seen even in the first few chapters of the book. These racist comments by nonracist children typify the culture in which they were growing up.

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