Examples Of Discrimination In To Kill A Mockingbird

Cozette Rinde #14156
Mrs. Moore
English 1, Period 4
13 February 2023
Division by Discrimination “It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences” (Audre Lourde). Institutional racism has been persistent throughout history, whether it be the recent murder of George Floyd, a victim of police brutality, in 2020 or the Scottsboro Boys in 1931. In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill A Mockingbird, directly inspired by the Scottsboro Trials, a combination of individuals' bigotry and the flaws of the court system (systematic racism) is presented. Set in the South, discrimination runs amok. It is an infectious “disease” that the majority of its citizens possess, each generation inheriting

The Jim Crow Laws that dictated the South and legalized segregation made it “unthinkable” for many of the citizens to give Tom Robinson’s guilty verdict a sliver of doubt. When Atticus willingly took on the duty of being Robinson’s lawyer, he hoped to restrict this prejudice. However, many community members continued to classify him as “No better than the n****** and trash he works for!” (117). When questioned by Scout, his daughter and the protagonist, about why he accepted the “morally dubious” assignment, he contended that “If I didn’t I couldn’t hold my head up in town, I couldn’t represent this country in legislature, I couldn’t even tell you or Jem not to do something again” (86). Atticus could not turn down a plea for assistance and chastise his own children for incivility or wrongdoing, especially since other lawyers would produce weak defense and lack of respect for the accused. Anticipating incredulous amounts of negativity towards his family on the account of his defending a Black man, he requested the trial's postponement until summer, looking out for his children who would undergo hostility during the school year. When the drunken mob of townspeople appeared outside of Tom Robinson’s cell the day before the trial, he hadn’t brought a gun as a defense; just his voice, faith in humanity, and hope for peace. He reminded his son Jem that “A mob’s always made up of people, no matter

Atticus asserted that ‘The state has not produced one iota of medical evidence…that the crime Tom Robinson is charged with ever took place. It has relied upon the testimony of two witnesses whose evidence has not only been called into serious question on cross-examination, but has been flatly contradicted by the defendant. The defendant is not guilty” (231). Atticus presented undeniable facts concerning the innocence of Tom Robinson, proving that the sole reason for his guilty sentence was blatant racism from an all-white panel. Atticus’ character is powerful and his words carry weight; he’d established that all of Bob and Mayella Ewell’s (the accusers) claims about the proclaimed rape were faulty and misleading, eliminating the credibility of the residents of the dump. If Tom Robinson’s ethnicity had differed, the outcome of the situation would have as well. He wouldn’t have even been brought to trial and the Ewell’s claims would be labeled bogus. Without Atticus, the jury’s acquittal would not have been longly drawn out, signifying that the defense provided resonated enough with the counsel to be further reflected upon despite the fact that the case had been predetermined as a victory for the Ewell family. He also sought to connect the people under one unanimous idea; each individual has their differences. The only