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How Does Lee Show Prejudice In To Kill A Mockingbird

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It’s an awful feeling knowing that no matter how hard you work, you’ll never earn as much money as your white counterpart. Sadly, this has been the case for hundreds of years for African Americans living in the United States. To Kill a Mockingbird reveals the everyday struggles that African Americans endured during the 1930’s. Many of the events in the novel were based on the author, Harper Lee’s life. Just like Atticus, Lee’s father was also a lawyer. The Tom Robinson court case was loosely based on the Scottsboro Boys Trial. The trial entailed nine black teenage boys who were accused of raping two white women. Much like Tom Robinson’s case in the book, the trial was biased and unfair. Lee perfectly captures the unjust court system for black …show more content…

After Atticus gives Jem and Scout their air rifles, he tells them they can shoot tin cans and bluejays, but not mockingbirds. “” … they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us … it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird,”” (Lee 119).The mockingbird is supposed to symbolize Boo Radley and Tom Robinson. Both characters have been wronged for no reason. Tom and Boo just mind their own business, while the world bothers them. Later in the story, Calpurnia and the children have discovered a rabid dog, Tim Johnson, running about. Mr. Heck Tate asks Atticus to shoot it dead because he doesn’t want to risk missing the dog. Even though he isn't eager to do the deed, he obliges. While Atticus is preparing to shoot, his glasses fall off and crack. Atticus’s glasses symbolically help him see against the prejudice and racism in the town. “Atticus pushed his glasses to his forehead; they slipped down and he dropped them in the street,” (Lee 127). This shows that even without his glasses, he is capable of seeing how awful racism and prejudice. The dog, Tims Johnson, Atticus is supposed to shoot represents the racism and prejudice spread throughout the town. When Atticus shoots him, he is trying to rid the town of their awful views. “Tim Johnson leaped, flopped over and crumpled on the sidewalk,” (Lee 127). Unfortunately, Atticus can not convince everyone to see without their prejudice

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209 Words | 1 Pages

In the book, To Kill a Mockingbird, metaphor warrants Atticus’s decision and provides reasoning as to why he wasn’t proud of what he had done. Tim Johnson, a rabid dog, has posed a threat to those on the Finch’s street, and Atticus has taken initiative with a rifle. Scout inserts that: “Atticus pushed his glasses to his forehead; they slipped down, and he dropped them in the street” (Lee 127). Glasses can represent class, dignity, and most importantly, knowledge, all qualities that Atticus embodies to the fullest. Shooting a gun, on the other hand, has more uncivilized, reckless entailments.

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748 Words | 3 Pages

In the fiction novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, a young girl learns about her racist community as she grows up and past her childhood and witnessing cruelty due to race. Some characters in the novel represent a mockingbird like Arthur Radley who stays inside all day and is rarely seen by anyone. There is also Tom Robinson who is a laborer and did many kind acts just out of pity, both of these characters made the community better and haven’t disrupted or hurt anyone. They all have moments where it is clear that they represent a mockingbird as their actions show kindness even with no reward. One instance in which Tom Robinson is a mockingbird is when he commonly helps out Mayella Ewell even with no pay and a crippled arm.

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468 Words | 2 Pages

To Kill a Mockingbird was written by Harper Lee in 1962 during the Civil Rights movement, but was set in Alabama in the 1930s. Lee’ father, who was a lawyer in the South during a time of racial prejudice paralleling Atticus, defended an innocent Black men in a case he later lost. Similar to Atticus, Lee’s father lost the case because his client was Black. Having experienced this racial prejudice first hand, Lee chose to write this novel to highlight the racial injustice that took place during the 1930s and the many effects that occured from the racism. Lee uses ethos and logos in Atticus’s speech to the jury, to inform the reader of the injustices of racism.

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1537 Words | 7 Pages

Harper Lee used this trial and created many parallels between the Scottsboro Boys case and the Tom Robinson case. The similarities include the idea of black men being accused of raping white women. In the Scottsboro case, these boys were illegally riding a train on their way home and along them were 2 white women. These women were pressured by the cops to accuse these young men of raping them. Similarly, in Tom Robinson’s case, he was innocently walking home when Mayella Ewell called him over, and almost raped him.

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712 Words | 3 Pages

“‘I haven’t shot a gun in thirty years’… ’Atticus Finch was the deadest shot in Maycomb County…he decided he wouldn’t shoot till he had to, and he had to today. ’”(109-112) In this dialogue, the reader can see that Atticus shot the dog because he had to. Even though he believed that he had an unfair advantage, he knew he needed to do it to protect the people close to him.

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665 Words | 3 Pages

Even though Atticus does not like guns and has not used a gun in about thrity years he still has the courage to shoot down a dog that was in pain and in need of help. Atticus went out of his way to protect those that lived in Maycomb county with out letting his worries get the best of

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393 Words | 2 Pages

The town’s sheriff, Heck Tate, is called to kill the dog. Even the town’s sheriff asked Atticus, who the town would describe as “...civilized in his heart,” to shoot the mad dog. Atticus is very clear that he doesn’t want to do it when he says, “don’t waste time, Heck,” after Mr. Tate hands him the rifle. The main reason that Atticus was so hesitant about killing the dog was that he didn’t want Jem and Scout to believe, “...that courage is a man with a gun in his hand.” In many ways, the mad dog in this chapter symbolizes racism in the community.

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803 Words | 4 Pages

In the fiction novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the book is based off of her real life experiences and paints an image of what life looked like back in the 1930s. The setting of the scene begins in the south of a small town named Maycomb, Alabama. The novel presents numerous examples of racial prejudice towards African Americans, and it presents how helpless they are. In the novel, Harper Lee portrays a character named Atticus Finch as a hero. Atticus, who is a white man, intelligent lawyer, and the father of two, is asked to represent a black man named Tom Robinson in court, who was accused of raping a white women.

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633 Words | 3 Pages

There are many similarities and differences between some of literature’s most famous works. Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare can be compared to Harper Lee’s, To Kill a Mockingbird. Both works are very well-known to most. There are obvious relationships between the two. Despite an obvious difference, that one is a play and one is a novel, they can be compared with their plot, literary devices and subjects.

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866 Words | 4 Pages

Then Atticus and Heck Tate show up to kill the dog. When Heck is holding the gun this is when he says he can't shoots and he blames it on the reason that he can’t shoot that well. But the real reason Heck doesn’t shoot that dog because the dog is an example of racism. As the Sheriff in town Heck doesn’t stop racism so why stop by shooting the dog. Once Atticus shoots the dog this shows that only Atticus can fix the racism in

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610 Words | 3 Pages

People are More than a Color People in the world today are often found not to get along, because of different backgrounds of ethnicity. Many people will say they dislike someone because of their personality just to hide that on the inside they really disapprove of their color. Those who conform to such idiotic thoughts based on race are the people that prevent this country from progressing due to their unwillingness to critically think wholeheartedly about significant racial issues, but choose to rely on past false perceptions without understanding the complexities of racial issues.. The story To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee conveys how social inequality, good and evil, and moral education contribute to racial stereotypes.

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1405 Words | 6 Pages

Innocence is a time in one’s life of carefreeness and peace. In youth, children have yet to experience the harsh realities of life, and when they do, it is often hard to cope with. In her novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee portrays Maycomb’s prejudiced ways through an unfair trial of an innocent man, and through the treatment of certain members of the community. The young narrator, Scout, and her older brother, Jem, experience growth and learn compassion when the trial exacerbates Maycomb’s intense intolerance. In this novel, Lee uses the characterization of the Finch children to demonstrate that innocent children who have been exposed to their community’s prejudice, often have trouble adjusting, but need a mentor figure to help them mature.

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1146 Words | 5 Pages

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee tells a story of racial prejudice during the Depression and how it is combated. The main development in the novel is that a Atticus, the father of Scout and Jem, has been appointed to defend Tom Robinson, a black man accused of raping a young white woman named Mayella. Many people in the town of Maycomb, particularly people involved with the case of Tom, have a negative attitude towards African Americans. Prejudice was a terrible issue in the South during the Depression, but Atticus Finch shows that racial injustice can be combated in two main ways, each having different levels of effectiveness.

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1117 Words | 5 Pages

He didn 't know what hit him.”. But even after the dog, symbolizing racism, dies, Atticus warns “Don’t you go near that dog, you understand? Don’t go near him, he’s just as dangerous dead as alive.”. He is telling them that even if racism were to disappear, it would still be extremely hurtful to people, it would still ruin

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508 Words | 3 Pages

Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” is set sometime in the 1930s in Maycomb County Alabama. The story is told through the point of view of Scout Finch who lives with her father, Atticus, and brother, Jem. The kids like to play pretend with their friend Dill about the man who lives in a scary house down the road, Boo Radley. The kids come in a few close counters along the way during these games in which Atticus does not approve. Scouts’ father, a lawyer, is appointed by Judge Taylor to defend Mr. Tom Robinson, a black man accused of raping a young girl.

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