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Examples Of Racism In To Kill A Mockingbird

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To Kill a Mockingbird takes place in a small Alabama town during the depression era, and it is narrated by a young girl named Jean Louise ‘’Scout’’ Finch. Her father Atticus Finch, is a prominent lawyer in the town with very high moral standards. Scout also has a brother named Jem who is very concerned with a mysterious man named Boo Radley who lives in the town. Throughout To Kill a Mockingbird there is also parts of the story that have to do with racism and civil rights. To Kill a Mockingbird in many different ways compares racism, discrimination, and civil rights and shows how it is still relevant in today’s society. Racism was a huge part of the society back in the early 1900s. Most of the colored people during this time were looked down upon just because of the color of their skin. …show more content…

Racism can be defined as discrimination, prejudice, and antagonism against a certain person of a different race based on what their beliefs are. Racism in To Kill a Mockingbird is a major theme that is very important between whites and blacks throughout the story. Many of the characters throughout To Kill A Mockingbird including Calpurnia, Scout, Tom Robinson, and a few more that have a role in the story were highly affected by racial discrimination. Racism throughout the story is a constant problem, because of the many instances and incidents that help support the theme. One of the first instances of racism in To Kill a Mockingbird, is the housekeeper Calpurnia who is a black lady who works for the Finches. The Finches are a white family and Calpurnia is a black lady, this is supposed to show how blacks were in the lower class of society. One day Calpurnia takes Scout and Jem to her all black church, and this showed how during this time blacks and whites were not seen in public together. Another instance during the story is when Aunt Alexandria would not let Scout and Jem go to Calpurnia’s home, showing racism and stating that

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Calpurnia’s Indirect Statements about Racism in “To Kill a Mockingbird”. In the 1960 literary classic “To Kill a Mockingbird”, one of the many themes explored is racism, through the central storyline about the trial of an innocent black man convicted of rape and the casual usage of racial slurs within the town of Maycomb. Through word choice and syntax, this theme is displayed when Calpurnia explained to Scout and Jem why she spoke differently in front of her black friends and at the Finch household (Lee 167). First, Calpurnia’s different ways of speaking is a symbol for the public perception of the black community, since she spoke “properly” at the Finch household to avoid being criticized by the townspeople.

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748 Words | 3 Pages

What racisms in US at that period was influenced “Tom Robinson trial” in the novel To kill a mockingbird? The aspects and backgrounds of racism in US influenced the novel “To kill the mockingbird” The content of the book called To kill the mockingbird by Harper Lee is including racism of black people, such as Tom Robinson trial. Middle of the Great Depression, this book was published by Harper Lee’s background since he was young.

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468 Words | 2 Pages

The novel To Kill a Mockingbird brings a look into the life of Southern America in the 1930’s. The view is mostly seen through the eyes of Scout and Jem Finch, two children who grow up around the controversy of their father Atticus and the case he participates in. Atticus is a lawyer who represents Tom Robinson, a black who is accused of raping a white girl. The lives of all the characters are changed by the case and the racism that comes with it.

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895 Words | 4 Pages

The way of life in the 1930’s was affected by discrimination between skin color. Racism affected people’s ability to trust each other. generally, whites didn’t trust blacks because they saw them as inferior. Blacks, being subjected to discrimination, usually didn’t trust whites because of the way they were treated.

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325 Words | 2 Pages

To Kill a Mockingbird highlights that racism is unjust. Providing that, they treated people wrongly just because they thought their race was superior to the others. Racism is stereotypical, destructive and more importantly unhair. Overall, racism is hurting our world and has been for a long time. First off, racism is full of stereotypes.

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359 Words | 2 Pages

One of the many, many themes in To Kill a Mockingbird is Race. Imagine a world where everyone with blue or green eyes could boss and push everyone with brown eyes around. Everyone with the blue eyes got the better education, better clothes, better housing. Rasism was one of the major topics in the novel, and the following paragraphs will further explain and go into detail.

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1914 Words | 8 Pages

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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860 Words | 4 Pages

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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There is also a black community in this story which we see at the court scenes supporting Tom. This story is located in a very racist time where black people weren't looked at the same as white people. All though some black people had it better then others it seemed. In this story Calpurnia is a maid for the Finch family, she was very respected despite some of Scout’s moments. Calpurnia also very much cares about the children too.

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857 Words | 4 Pages

Essay In the novel ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ by Harper Lee, there are many important messages shown throughout the book. However the primary focus was set on racial prejudice that existed in the 1930s-1940’s in the fictional town of Maycomb County. The racism in the novel was very much a reality in 1930s-1940s America. A very good example of the racial prejudice that existed was in the courtroom during Tom Robinson’s trial, an innocent Negro man held against his will for a crime he did not commit.

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The presence of cannibals in Native American tribes is debatable; their descendants claim it is a myth, nonetheless factual data was discovered to oppose that. Archaeologists identified “butchered human bones, stone cutting tools stained with human blood, a ceramic cooking pot holding residues of human tissues, and finally the most telling evidence found in the actual human feces: traces of digested human muscle and protein” (Wilford). This solid proof was discovered from the site of an ancient Anasazi settlement in southwestern Colorado. The researchers think that this proof dates back to A.D. 900 to 1150 but as these traces are fairly rare, it is most likely that these instances occurred in times of desperation among the community, like starvation. This evidence almost certainly proves cannibalism amongst the Anasazi and yet only proves it to be within this tribe.

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1074 Words | 5 Pages

This was a time where prejudice was around and how white´s were ignorant to others. How white´s were racist and rude, especially to colored people. Black´s were scared of white people because of all the criticizing and crucialness. Even though white people were ranked higher than everyone else, both white and black people had hard times trying to maintain their families. Civil rights was also a part of the 1930´s like how colored people tried to gain equal rights for everyone.

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611 Words | 3 Pages

One themes of To Kill A Mockingbird is that racism doesn’t die over time. Throughout the entire time of the book we’ve heard and been told about the racism during that time period. It shows how racist people were back when it was “common” to be like that. It has never truly stopped over the time, it has just been quietly done but now it is wrongful to be racist. In the book characters were racist and it showed how bad it was.

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995 Words | 4 Pages

Calpurnia and the Finch family have formed an important bond that provides a bridge between the white world and black world to the children. Racist events throughout the novel, such as the assumption that ‘all negroes lie’ and ‘all negroes are immoral beings’ (Harper Lee, 1960, page 225, chapter 20), give Scout a bigger understanding of the world around her, and I believe this is why it is important that using Scout as the narrator is used to give a greater understanding of themes. Through these events, Scout is slowly getting the idea of black slavery and racism towards to African-Americans is common throughout those days. Using Scout to see these racist events, is important to know that children have more of an influence on events happening around them, and can also evaluate the pros and cons and she does a few times. I believe this is the main theme of the novel (black slavery), where this theme can be commonly seen from Scout where events and words as mentioned above show the lifestyle of the black community and the varied problems from the white community they are faced

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449 Words | 2 Pages

In America, it is written in the first amendment that every American citizen has freedom of speech. I feel this civil liberty is most important because it allows Americas to express their opinions verbally. If the people in America never stated their opinions, there would never be an opposing view or side on any topic? Is not having an opposing side a negative thing? I think that it is healthy to have several different opinions on a subject because it promotes changes in environment.

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