How Does Harper Lee Show Injustice In To Kill A Mockingbird

Alondra Garcia Mrs. Olmos English 9 - Period 5 10 May 2024 Harper Lee s Mirror: Reflecting Racial Reality into a Novel. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. It explores issues such as racial injustice, prejudice, and the loss of innocence through the perspective of Scout Finch. Set in the 1930s in the town of Maycomb, Alabama, Atticus Finch, Scout's sophisticated father; a lawyer, defends Tom Robinson, an African American young man wrongfully accused of raping a white woman, exposing the biases of the legal system, and leading Scout and Jem to confront the harsh realities of the racial tensions in Maycomb, and why Boo Radley, a character that the kids obsess over, prefers living in seclusion. Harper Lee and her fictional character,

Growing up in Monroeville, a patriarchal small town in southwest Alabama during the Great Depression, Harper Lee witnessed discrimination. Such as segregation, and gender expectations like the Jim Crow Law and the Scottsboro Boys Case, where nine innocent young African-American men were wrongfully convicted of raping two white women and were sentenced to death. Furthermore, Lee's experiences with discrimination sparked empathy in individuals facing injustices which are portrayed in the novel by Scout, Jem, Calpurnia, and the Tom Robinson case. Scout is a determined individual who enjoys defying the gender expectations of being ladylike. Calpurnia is the black family's cook and a mother figure to the kids while having two kids of her own, nevertheless, both characters counterpoint the traditional gender expectations which are portrayed by Harper Lee because she was a tomboy growing up. Additionally, the Tom Robinson case has to do with an African American male being wrongfully convicted of raping a white woman/Mayella Ewell. Overall, Harper Lee's writing was profoundly shaped and influenced by societal forces surrounding her. Her experiences with racial tensions, gender roles, and growing up in a patriarchal small town infused her novel To Kill a Mockingbird with a coherent understanding to readers of the human experience in the

As a young teenager, Jem was exposed to difficult topics of racial tensions, and gender expectations which profoundly impacted his development and how he views the world. For example, Jem was football crazy. Atticus was never too tired to play keep away, but when Jem wanted to tackle him, Atticus would say I'm too old for that, son (pg.102). Ultimately, this shows that Jem was eager and active at the novel's beginning, with no other care in the world. In comparison, near the novel's ending, Jem states, “That's what I thought too,” he said at last, “when I was your age. If theres just one kind of folks, why can't they get along with each other? If they re all alike, why do they go out of their way to despise each other? Scout, I think I beginning to understand something. I think I beginning to understand why Boo Radley stayed shut up in the house all this time. it's because he wants to stay inside (pg.259) At this point in the novel Jem is at an age where he realizes that the world isn't all good, it is a cruel and unfair place. Jem's experience with racial injustice; The Tom Robbison trial had a profound impact, leading him to question the values and beliefs of Maycomb and leaving him with outrage, empathy, and a desire for justice. Overall, Jem was profoundly shaped and influenced by societal forces that led him to change his perspective of