Examples Of Racial Prejudice In To Kill A Mockingbird

Racial Prejudice In her fictitious novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee elucidates, through the eyes of the clever six-year-old protagonist, Scout Finch, the severe conflicts which arise in response to the prevalent racial prejudice in Maycomb, Alabama. As racism radiates throughout the town, a black man is sent to court entirely due to skin color and then additionally shot by “seventeen bullets” (315) as he ran from an illegitimate prison sentence led by racism toward black individuals throughout the community. The town of Maycomb is not united as one and evident separation of the townspeople provokes drastic segregation creating four distinct types of individuals; “the ordinary kind like [the Finches]…the Cunninghams out in the woods…the

Within this community, numerous individuals face extreme racial preconceptions. Tom Robinson- an african american husband and father to three children- faces severe racial prejudice when he is accused of raping a young, white girl, Mayella Ewell. He and Atticus Finch, Scout’s father, face racial prejudice as the jury refuses to "decide in favor of a colored man over a white man” (279), notwithstanding evidence of Tom's obvious innocence in the matter. Harper Lee portrays the appalling racist community as Atticus states that racism is “Maycomb’s usual disease” (117); everyone in the society has succumbed to the ubiquitous racism while Atticus desperately attempts to raise Jem and Scout with the hope of protecting them from this societal disease. Unfortunately, as a consequence of the town’s prominent display of racial preconceptions, Atticus has no plausible way to hide his children from racism. As he faces racial prejudice, Atticus remains the only one in town brave enough to stand against it, when the rest of Maycomb leaves nothing but a “deserted, waiting street" (125), instead of projecting equality and standing up against cruel racism. Many individuals within the town place their worth above black people due solely to

The Ewells live in Maycomb, Alabama just beyond the town’s garbage dump. The death of the Ewell mother makes Bob a single father to eight children, including Mayella. Along with her mother's death and abusive father being a drunkard, Mayella is taking care of her siblings. Harper Lee develops them as a poor, ill-educated family living in “what was once a Negro cabin” (227), including “walls [which] were supplemented with sheets of corrugated iron” (227), a roof made from flattened tin cans, and it rested on four lumps of limestone. The Ewells are brutally compared to the trash that they live in. As Harper Lee recounts the Ewell family’s living conditions, the severity of their negative image increases. As people in town treat them poorly and with prejudice, in turn the Ewells are also prejudice towards the town. Lee kindles brutal violence and aggression in Bob Ewell towards black people and the people who defend them. Bob jarringly stops Atticus, spits on his face, and says “[he will] get him if it [takes] the rest of his life” (290) after Atticus embarrasses him at court. As Lee illustrates Atticus’ character, she emphasizes his strong traits of honesty, morality, and kindness. Atticus never speaks harshly of individuals, yet he claims “the Ewells [have] been the disgrace of Maycomb for three generations” (40) and none of them have ever done an