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Racism and discrimination in to kill a mockingbird
To kill a mockingbird essay on atticus finch
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Atticus was a white male lawyer who took the case of a African American man named Tom Robinson while today that would be normal but in the 1930’s it was not. Despite it not being normal in that time period Mr. Atticus Finch took the Tom Robinson case and tried his best to defend him. At the end of court the jury voted the defendant Tom Robinson guilty later Tom Robinson was shot 17 times because he tried to “run away”. The prosecutor Bob Ewell was mad at Atticus for defending an African American man and threatened him and his family, later he attacked Jem and scout, Atticus’s children, only to be saved by a mysterious Mr. Arthur Radley. The real question is was Atticus Finch wise to defend Tom Robinson even though the drawbacks for his children.
In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee conveys that prejudice divides communities and that persecution of innocent people is evil; furthermore; these two minor themes reinforce the major thematic idea that a simple assumption can divide people. When Tom Robinson is put on trial for supposedly raped Mayella Ewell, the racism in Maycomb surfaces and creates conflict. In the novel, a stranger says, “You know what we want,” ‘another man said.’ “Get aside from the door, Mr. Finch.”(172). Some drunken men want to harm Tom Robinson for the wrong that he did.
The Great Depression lasted from 1929 to 1939 and was a defining period in American history marked by widespread economic hardship and social dislocation. It was a particularly difficult time for immigrants in the United States, as they faced a unique set of challenges stemming from their status as outsiders in a society that was already struggling with high levels of unemployment and poverty. The film "The Grapes of Wrath," adapted from a book by John Steinbeck in 1939, as well as the photographs taken by Dorothea Lange, a documentary photographer who documented the life of migrant laborers throughout the Great Depression, offer insight into this period. Both provide compelling viewpoints and thought-provoking on the trials and problems
Goats Come In Black and White In the book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee it shows the use of using a black person as a scapegoat for crimes someone else did. White people should be against using black people as scapegoats because they get pinned for the crimes they did not commit, the person who did the crime gets away with it, and it also affects the community that the person who is used as the scapegoat was involved in. In the book Tom Robinson is used as the scapegoat for a rapeing a white girl the cops are called and the father of the girl says that it was Tom Robinson. Tom is then sent to court and Atticus, father of Jem and Scout is assigned to the case to defend Tom.
Atticus is asked to defend an African American man named Tom Robinson who is accused of raping a white woman. While Atticus knows it’d be impossible to win he is willing to fight to the end knowing Tom is innocent. During all of this ordeal, Atticus is up against his white folks, who disguises him. Atticus is not the only one who is affected, but his kids too, “Which, gentlemen, we know is in itself a lie as black as Tom Robinson’s skin, a lie i do not have to point out to you. You know the truth, and the truth is this: some Negroes lie, some Negroes are immoral…
Harper Lee is famous for writing the American classic To Kill a Mockingbird, a book about racism during the Great Depression and how it affects young Jean Louise “Scout” Finch and the entire town of Maycomb, Alabama. It is not difficult to realize how several historical incidents could have influenced the writing of her book. These are the Jim Crow laws, mob mentality, and the Scottsboro trials. To start, the Jim Crow laws are sets of rigid anti-
Atticus Finch is a well respected lawyer in Maycomb County. However, many individuals in the community turn their back on Atticus when he plans to defend an African American man, Tom Robinson, in court. Taking place in Alabama during the 1930s, “To Kill A Mockingbird” accurately portrays the hostile environment for
“The climax of terror is reached when the police state begins to devour its own children when yesterday’s executioner becomes today's victim.” This goes with Victoria and Ruby. Ruby and Victoria are the two girls in the Scottsboro trial. Which both of them are accusers and victims of society. It’s also like Mayella, which is a fictional character, who is also a victim and an accuser.
Atticus Finch expresses his logic on racism by saying, “There’s something in our world that makes men lose their heads- they couldn’t be fair if they tried. In our courts when it’s a white man’s word against a black man’s, the white man always wins. They’re ugly, but those are the facts of life.” (Lee, Chapter 27). Atticus Finch is stating his personal reflections from the Tom Robinson trial.
An old town, and a tired one at that, it’s a town where the respect of others is valued above the dollar, a place where your ancestors dictated who you were, a place embedded in the Southern way of living. The result of this mentality is racism, where Negroes wouldn't dare breathe the same air as a white person, but rising above the racism and societally enforced norms are Atticus Finch. Atticus takes no heed of colour so when Tom robinson’s (a coloured man had been accused of raping a white woman, Miss. Mayella Ewell) case came around he snapped at the opportunity to defend a man he believed innocent.
Throughout the book people talk about how wrong it is for Atticus, one of the main characters, to defend an African American in court. The children in the book are told that their father is a disgrace and that he is ruining other people’s lives. For example, “‘...now he’s turned out a nigger-lover we’ll never be able to walk the streets of Maycomb agin. He’s ruinin’ the family, that’s what he’s doin’.’” (Lee 110).
Lee uses Miss Gates’s ironic views of Hitler and Tom’s trial to show how racial prejudice causes crimes against African Americans to be considered less than crimes committed against white people. A mockingbird is then used to symbolize Tom Robinson as an innocent person wrongly convicted of a crime because of his skin color. The misunderstood characterization of Arthur Radley shows how society will let prejudice guide their imaginated view on the lives of people they don't understand. All three characters provide examples of how a preconceived opinion of one person or a whole race can cause drastic misunderstandings and
To Kill a Mockingbird displays how ignorant, discriminatory thinking causes Maycomb’s residents to blame outcasts instead of taking responsibility for their actions. Blaming
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.
As can be seen, Lee’s usage of Tom Robinson’s trial and the racial discrimination and prejudice seen throughout it helps reinforce the theme of social injustice throughout To Kill A Mockingbird. Another encounter that the
