How Does Lee Use Racial Injustice In To Kill A Mockingbird

In 1931, nine Black American teenagers were falsely accused of raping two white women on a train near Scottsboro, Alabama, and were sentenced to death after being put on trial. Although there was an overwhelming amount of evidence that proved the boys’ innocence, they were still sentenced to death. These young teenagers became known as the Scottsboro Boys. This event highlighted the amount of racial injustice that was happening in the 1930s. In her novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee tells the story of a court case against a young black man who is falsely accused of raping a white woman through the eyes of a young girl, Scout. Scout's father is a lawyer who is defending the Black man. The novel takes place in a fictional small town in

When it comes fall, this dries up and the wind blows it all over Maycomb County’” (Lee, 47). The invasive nature of the nut-grass represents the same invasive nature of the racism and prejudice spreading throughout Maycomb. At first, the nut-grass starts as a seemingly harmless sprout that produces microscopic seeds. However, unbeknownst to others, this small sprout can grow to spread viciously. Lee uses the nut-grass to symbolize racism, further emphasizing to her audience how one seemingly small action can plant a seed in another's head, and that seed will continue to grow and spread to others. In conclusion, Lee's use of nut-grass to symbolize racism in the 1960s demonstrates how racism spreads quickly and is very hard to stop once the spread has started. Lee uses the mad dog as another symbol to illustrate the spread of racism. Next, Lee uses the mad dog, Tim Johnson, and the usual disease of Maycomb to symbolize how racism and prejudice can spread to the innocent if unchecked. When Scout and Jem are playing outside, they see the neighborhood dog, Tim Johnson, acting oddly and tell Calpurnia, and their father, Atticus. While they were discussing what to do, “Tim Johnson had made up what was left of his

With movements so swift they seemed simultaneous, Atticus’s hand yanked a ball-tipped lever as he brought the gun to his shoulder. The rifle cracked a hole. Tim Johnson leaped, flopped over and crumpled on the sidewalk in a brown-and-white heap. He didn’t know what hit him” (Lee, 106). The fact that Atticus had to kill Tim Johnson to stop his disease from spreading illustrates that racism spreads the same way. Tim is infected with rabies, which is why he has gone wild. Rabies causes the infected being to act erratically and try to infect others. It was not Tim’s fault he was acting this way, it was the disease, however, to stop the disease from spreading, someone had to take action and eliminate it. Moreover, Lee uses the mad dog as a symbol of racism and injustice that spread across America, infecting the innocent, and how it can be eliminated by one's actions. Scout overhears Atticus talking to his brother, Jack, about herself. After listening for some time, Atticus says to his brother, “‘...I hope and pray I can get Jem and Scout through it without bitterness, and most of all, without catching Maycomb’s usual disease. Why reasonable people go stark raving mad when anything involving a Negro comes up, is something I don’t pretend to understand’” (Lee, 100 -