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How Does Harper Lee Use Social Injustice

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Did you know that back in the 1930’s courts were really unfair towards black people and almost always a white man won the case? Social injustice towards black people was through the roof back then. And you may ask what the definition of social justice is, well it is when people are treated the same no matter their skin color, religion, or ethnic background. The issue that will be presented here is racism towards black people. In the story ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ by Harper Lee, she uses different literary devices to develop the theme of the story which is that all people are created the same and should not treat each other differently based on their ethnic backgrounds and skin color. Moving on to chapter 23, the scene where a man named Tom …show more content…

Specifically, Lee used a literary device in this quote: “When it’s a white man’s word against a black man’s, the white man always wins” (Lee 223). The literary device used in this quote is dramatic irony because as readers we know that the black man referred to in the quote is Tom Robinson, and we also know that he is not guilty but just because he was black the jury assumed that he did the raping and therefore was convicted guilty. Secondly, we can see a sort of symbolism in this statement: “As you grow older, you’ll see white men cheat black men every day of your life, but let me tell you something and don’t you forget it— whenever a white man does that to a black man, no matter who he is, how rich he is, or how fine a family he comes from, that white man is trash” (Lee 223). This is an example of a metaphor: Atticus implies that a white man is unjustifiable because he is using a black man to his advantage every single day. Lastly, Harper Lee used indirect characterization that we can imply about the jury to make the story feel more alive, and it can be seen used here: “’If you had been on that jury, son, and eleven other boys like you, Tom would be a free man,’ said Atticus. ‘So far nothing in your life has interfered with your reasoning process” (Lee 223). The inference we can make about the jury is that it is unreasonable towards black people and therefore is racist, and

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