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Effects Of Racism In To Kill A Mockingbird

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Racism affects nearly all the characters named in the book “To Kill a Mockingbird”, a book written by Harper Lee, following the main characters, Jean Louise Finch’s (a.k.a. Scout) life while her father defends a black man in the heavily prejudiced and racist town of Maycomb, Alabama in the 1930’s. Throughout the book, white people are hardly ever the victims of racism as that is usually directed towards the coloured citizens of the town, but as the book goes on, readers become more aware of how nobody is truly safe. While mostly directed towards people of colour in Maycomb, racism is used as a weapon towards people of all present races. Three characters are affected by it more than any others; Scout Finch, who despite being white, is still …show more content…

Outside of the First Purchase church, Lula confronts Calpurnia about bringing white children to a black church, and Calpurnia has to act differently around her so she could be taken seriously. The children grew up accustomed to Calpurnia using a certain tone, and when Lula confronts Calpurnia, she knows that the way she talks around the children will not demand respect from Lula and people like her so when Calpurnia responded, Scout could easily hear that Calpurnia talked “in tones [she] had never heard her use [...] [Scout] thought her voice strange: she was talking like the rest of them.” (158) Calpurnia, who sees the Finch children as her own and feels the need to protect them, and when Lula begins to act hostile towards them because of their race, Calpurnia needed to stop being the children’s mother in order to protect them, scout had “never” heard her use that voice because Calpurnia never wanted the children to see that side of her. Aunt Alexandra disapproves of Calpurnia because of her race and scares her enough to make Calpurnia treat her as if she deserves to be respected and shes treated better than Calpurnia’s god at church. At Aunt Alexandra’s tea party, Calpurnia can be seen wearing “her stiffest starched apron” (305) a sign of respect in the 1930’s as it kept one's clothes clean and wrinkle-free. Calpurnia wears her starchiest apron because she is scared of Aunt Alexandra. Alexandra states in previous chapters that she does not care for Calpurnia’s presence and that Atticus should get rid of her. Calpurnia is aware of Alexandra's true intentions and knows that she can never make her mad or she risks being fired. Calpurnia usually acts tough around the children

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She was hired to be the Finch’s families cook but she had put more into that job then required, she built a close relationship with these kids over the years of her working there, she became a parental figure to them. This was not very common in this time because most families had mom and a dad and if a white family both were white and if it were a black family both were black. Calpurnia was a black worker and was the closest thing the kids had to a mom in the family. During the time of preparation for the trial Atticus was gone a lot and was not able to take the kids to church one Sunday, Calpurnia decided she would take them to her church.

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Aldous Huxley, the author of Brave New World, titled the book in reference to the play The Tempest by William shakespeare. This quote is used by John in chapter 11 to express his opinions on the World State. When John sees the identical Epsilons, Deltas, and Gammas, and the systematical work they do, John is disgusted. He says, “O brave new world that has such people in it” (pg 160), repeating Miranda’s words from The Tempest. In the tempest, a girl named Miranda has been living in an isolated island, and has never seen a man aside from her father.

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(Lee 134)” Calpurnia is a great mother figure, in my opinion Aunt Alexandra is only a good mother figure. She came to live with the Finch’s to help Atticus for when Scout starts growing into a woman. Aunt Alexandra says, “ We decided that it would be best for you to have some feminine influence. (Lee 170)”

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Calpurnia has feared safety for the children. She fears what would happen to Atticus’s children if she sat in the front of Atticus’s car. Mr. Uele already has a close watch on Atticus since Atticus is defending Tom Robinson that was accused of raping, beating, and taking advantage of Mr. Ewell’s daughter Mayella. Calpurnia is afraid of what Mr. Ewell might do if he saw her in the front of Atticus’s car. He would have either gone after her or attacked Atticus’ children for revenge on Atticus for accepting or being open minded with colored people.

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Calpurnia serves as an amazing role model and mother figure to the children, and yet Aunt Alexandra wants to fire her. She had raised Jem and Scout, and plays an indispensable part of their lives, showering them with discipline, structure, and love. Aunt Alexandra, however, barely existed in the children 's lives up until she moved into the Finch’s home, yet she inflicts great injustice on Calpurnia by failing to recognize the necessitous part of the family that Calpurnia fills. Scout even overhears Aunt Alexandra saying, "...you 've got to do something about her. You 've let things go on too long Atticus, too long.

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In the classic novel To Kill A Mockingbird, author Harper Lee takes on the malignant impact of racism, a deeply rooted problem, from a different perspective and teaches readers what it truly means to be a good person as she brings to life one of the most virtuous characters in American literature-Atticus Finch. Told through the eyes of a young child, readers learn about the heavy prejudice embedded in the people of Maycomb County and the loss of innocence that is brought upon the kids as a racial conflict spurs a series of significant events in their quiet town. Taken place during the early years of the Great Depression, Maycomb must face its biggest problem-racism. Atticus Finch is the lawyer who defends this case and ultimately brings a

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“ ‘I missed you today’, she said.” (38). Calpurnia is revealing that deep down she has a love for Scout and wants the best for her. It also shows that she isn’t just a cook, but a mother as well. To add, Calpurnia also conveys her affection for her “children” when she “bent down and kissed me.

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Dating back to 1619, slavery plays a significant role in American history. Brutal oppression and violations have persisted among millions of enslaved African Americans for centuries, as expressed in many autobiographical slave narratives. Compared to male slaves, who were more likely to endure physical violence, slave women were more likely to undergo sexual violations from their male slave owners. In Harriet Jacobs’ narrative Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, she described her experience as an enslaved black woman and provided insights into the difference in womanhood between black and white women. Although both races share a unified female identity, they were differentiated by the hierarchy of race, which entitled white women to have

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Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel that show the life of a southern state od Alabama during the “black racism” time period, where majority of the people had the mentality that (quote) with the exception of a few. To chosen to portray it from the eyes of Scout Finch, from a child’s point of view. Living in Maycomb, in the midst of a conservative society of the 1930’s and 20’s Southern America Scout Finch is an extra ordinary child.

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The novel “To Kill A Mockingbird” was written in 1960 by Harper Lee in the point of view of a young innocent girl named Scout. One of the main messages that Lee has (need a new word than – indicated or set out) is racism, it plays an important role which strongly impacts many character’s lives unfairly and changes the relationship between two. Harper Lee’s “To Kill A Mockingbird” shows that it is wrong to hurt someone who does no harm to you, for example, black people are innocent but no way did they have as many rights as white people did. Black people lived hard lives because society was judgemental, irrational and most importantly, racist. As Scout and Jem grow older they learn to cope, take responsibility and are introduced to new aspects of life, one of which is racism.

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Race has always been a part of history, from slavery to MLK, to Barack Obama. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee defines race in the south during the 1930’s. Jean “Scout” Finch, is the narrator of the story. Her brother Jeremy “Jem” and her dad, Atticus, are both main characters. Calpurnia is their house cook and helper, she is also black.

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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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She is constantly learning how racism affects the community through different altercations in Maycomb. She realizes that racism shouldn’t exist due to the side effects. In To Kill A Mockingbird Harper Lee conveys that racism causes inequality between people, isolation, and injustice. Racism affects the individuals of maycomb by creating an unfair and non welcoming area for people.

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Racism can be introduced to anyone in a novel titled “To Kill a Mockingbird”. Author of the novel Harper Lee, decides to introduce the problem in her book, taking place in the 1930’s, specifically during the Great Depression. Racism is a social issue in the novel all around, in which no trouble should be caused to acknowledge it. Straight from the start, Harper Lee chooses to introduce Maycomb County, a county in which the blacks and whites have separate communities (Lee).

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One of the main themes of the novel is Racism. During the time of depression, racism and poverty were a common issue. People with a dark skin tone, i.e the African- Americans were seen as derogatory and treated like dirt. Harper Lee depicts it in a very realistic way.

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