How Does Harper Lee Use External Conflict In To Kill A Mockingbird

In society, people are of aware of racism. Through the use of external conflict and setting, Harper Lee emphasizes the awareness of racism in the South. From the events after the trial to a “friendly” conversation, racism is a clear subject.

Through To Kill a Mockingbird, Lee uses external conflict to illustrate that the idea of racism being something taught. For example, Jem and Scout always walk past their neighbor Mrs. Dubose. One day while walking past Mrs. Dubose, she shouts a particular phrase that interests Scout: n***** lover. Scout asked Atticus what that word meant and he responded with, “A n***** lover is just one of those terms that don’t mean anything like snot-nose. It’s hard to explain- ignorant, trashy people use it when they

This quote illustrates that people in the South looked down on others who did not grow up believing that the white race was the superior race. Another example, during the trial, the children run in to Mr. Dolphus Raymond. The children discover that he married to a black woman and has mixed children. He also pretends to be an alcoholic in order to give people a reason as to why he is happy with the way he chooses to live. However, when he asked why he truly lives the way that he does, he responded with, “Cry about the simple hell people give other people without even thinking. Cry about the hell white people give colored folks, without even stopping to think that they’re people, too” [Lee 201]. This quote emphasizes that the concept of superiority characterized black people as not being human beings. Back then, the idea that black people were lesser human beings than white people was a common thing to believe. Finally, after the trial, Atticus explained to Jem why the outcome was the way that it was: “They’ve done it before and they did it tonight and they’ll do it again” [Lee 213]. This illustrates that a black person could be completely innocent but because of

For example, after the trial, Atticus was explaining to Jem about the court system: “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 220]. This quote illustrates that during that time, a white man’s word wins over a black man’s any day. Another example occurred during the children’s newfound fascination with Arthur (Boo) Radley. While the narrator lets the reader in on the neighborhood legend of Boo Radley, the reader learns that Boo Radley was arrested, but wasn’t put in jail: “The sheriff hadn’t the heart to put him in jail alongside Negroes, so Boo was locked in the courthouse basement” [Lee 11]. This quote emphasizes that in the South, it was common for segregation, even when it came down to separated jailing quarters. Finally, during the narrator’s description of the background of Atticus, they explain the background of Maycomb County and Atticus: “His first two clients were the last two persons hanged in the Maycomb County jail. Atticus had urged them to accept the state generosity in allowing them to plead guilty to second-degree murder and escape with their lives, but they were Haverfords, in Maycomb County a name synonymous with jackass” [Lee 4 & 5]. This