Examples Of Inequality In To Kill A Mockingbird

Alexandra Stern Mr. Mead Honors World Studies 15 April 2024 Challenging Institutional Inequality Bias, unfortunately, plays a huge factor in the fairness of society and often stands in the way of justice. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee tries to combat racial inequality by writing a story where a defense attorney gives a black man a chance even though the odds are against them. The novel works to teach the reader that inequality in court is a real issue and that everyone deserves a fair chance in the eyes of the law. Lee uses the theme of inequality in the justice system to show that flaws and prejudice are deeply embedded in society. Instead of Lee using her message to try to abolish prejudice, which she knows won’t happen,

“Simply because we were licked a hundred years before we started is no reason for us to not try to win” (Lee 101) Atticus’s stance on prejudice in the courtroom is parallel to Lee’s ideas about equality. Atticus is uniquely determined to stop inequality in court by rejecting social patterns and belief systems that haven’t changed since they were created. Atticus is a character who believes in integrity in the justice system and is sometimes the only one in Maycomb with enough courage to defend his community. When Sheriff Tate can’t kill Tim Johnson and hands the rifle to Atticus, it symbolizes his importance in the novel as he is the hope for Maycomb to restore justice to the town's outdated system. The rifle cracked a hole. Tim Johnson leaped, flopped over, and crumpled on the sidewalk in a brown-and-white heap.” (Lee 127) Lee personifies the rabid dog by giving it a human name and uses its sickness as a metaphor for racism’s similar nature, comparing racism to a rabid disease that cannot be fought by the sheriff but by the town's lawyer. When Atticus shoots Tim in one shot, that foreshadows Atticus’s role later in the novel as someone who will stand against