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How Does Calpurnia Use Racial Discrimination In To Kill A Mockingbird

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Jacob attended church each Sunday morning, he finished the jobs he started, and he took care of those around him. Yet people still looked down on him due to only one outside factor—his skin color. Jacob was a black man and no matter how hard he worked, he could never earn respect from the white people around him. Racial prejudice continues to plague mankind and in Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird racism holds huge significance. Racism infected the minds of the citizens of Maycomb County and showed itself in how the black people treated white people, how the white people acted towards black people, and even led to the conviction of an innocent man.

While many people see racism as one sided, often black people can treat white people in the same prejudiced way. Not only the white people in Maycomb held responsibility for racism. For example, when Calpurnia takes Jem and Scout to her church one Sunday morning, one of the black women lashes out in disdain, “You ain’t got no business bringin’ white chillun here—they got their church, we got our’n” (119). Even in the black church racial discrimination found root. It did not matter who the children belonged to or how they acted, they were white and they did not fit in there. Thus, even black people in Maycomb looked at white people with …show more content…

The white people of Maycomb County certainly viewed the black people as inferior. Atticus provides a disturbing example of this while informing Jem, “As you grow older, you’ll see white men cheat black men every day of your life” (220). The stark truth Atticus presented showed how some of the white men treated the blacks of Maycomb. Because of their race, white men justified treating black people in a dishonest way as legitimate. Therefore, the white people in Maycomb County acted poorly towards the black people because of their race ultimately displaying their racist

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These rules force people to conduct themselves differently in relationships that are both interracial and not. This is proven when Dill, Jem, and Scout discuss the mixed children of Maycomb and why Jem thinks that they are sad, “Colored folks won’t have ‘em cause they’re half white; white folks won’t have ‘em cause they’re colored” (215). By saying this Jem illustrates how many people shun other people or treat the other members of the county differently based off of race. It shows that these children will not be accepted into society just because of their race. Even if this is true, some of the people in Maycomb do not let race affect their judgements such as Mrs. Maudie, Atticus, and Mr. Link Deas.

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This image shows how the people in Maycomb based their beliefs, about Thomas Robinson, by his skin color. Most whites who were at the trial, didn’t want to hear anything that Mr. Robinson has to say, because he was black. Since he was black, the whites automatically assumed Mr. Robinson was guilty. Mr. Robinson says he didn’t mean any harm toward Miss. Mayella. “Mr. Finch, I tried.

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In To Kill a Mockingbird , you unravel a generous amount of important life lessons. Throughout the book racism is shown as the climax; it takes a whole lot of courage to face it. Tom Robinson, an african-american, throughout the book is blamed and hated for his dark skin color, “Old Mr. Bob Ewell accused him of rapin’ his girl an’ had him arrested an’ put in jail” (Lee 164). Atticus, a lawyer, knows Tom Robinson is innocent. Atticus becomes

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The oppressive feeling of racism has touched all in maycomb. None can ignore it. The effect of it is very obvious, corruption. Atticus’s goal is to stop his children from “catching Maycomb’s disease” (117 need citation) in hopes that Jem and Scout will grow into people with morals that all are equal, you don’t have to follow society's predetermined standards. Atticus sacrifices his reputation, safety and when undertaking the responsibility of defending a black man.

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The townsfolk are ready to insult the black community, but they can’t even accept others who are white. In the eyes of Maycomb: “All the little man on the witness stand had that made him any better than his nearest neighbors was, that if scrubbed with lye soap in very hot water, his skin was white.” – Scout referring to Bob Ewell (p186). It’s not only the Ewells that Maycomb back-hands. Throughout TKAMB, Atticus and his family suffer taunts from their fellows.

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This furthermore shows how the insensitive citizens of Maycomb do not mind when their fellow townsfolk use horrid terms. Along with these horrendous terms, it is made clear that black people are not allowed to be united with white people. While the Tom Robinson case was heating up, it was made evident that black people could not be seated next to the white people. The lack of unity shows how racism lurks through the town like a mudslide. This separation highlights the bad qualities that have been entrenched in Maycomb.

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For instance, lots of the people in Maycomb would avoid black people throughout the story because they were considered the lowest class of people. Lots of white people in town would make comments about black people or ignore them. The majority of white people gave them a hard time. One example of this would be when Mr. Raymond talks to Scout about how white people treat black people. The text states, “‘Cry about the simple hell white people give colored folks, without even stopping to that they’re people, too’”

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