Pros And Cons Of To Kill A Mockingbird

School is a place where students have the opportunity to learn. In fact, the entire point of attending school is to learn about the past, the present, and to prepare students for the future. With this said, taking important factors away from the past--whether they are negative or not--does not benefit academic learners. In some schools, To Kill A Mockingbird has been removed from curriculum or even banned because of the use of repetitive racial slurs and “uncomfortable” situations. Recently, many people have dove straight into debating the pros and cons of this novel. Though some may argue that To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee should not be taught in school, this book should continue to stay in english and literature curriculum as it teaches

Although racial slurs and bad language may seem unsettling and inappropriate for young adults, the usage throughout To Kill A Mockingbird actually helps readers understand the racial injustice and prejudice that occurred, and why it is not tolerable. One of the main characters Atticus Finch, defends a black man in court--Tom Robinson--who was falsey accused of raping a white woman. The main idea of this book is to represent racism in the U.S during this time period and how it unfortunately happened very often. The book proves that black people deserve just as many rights as white people do, so when people argue that the language isn’t necessary, it truly only contributes to understanding the cruelty and actions of realistic characters. Harper Lee describes “As you grow older you’ll see white men cheat black men every day of your life…but whenever a white man does that…he is trash (224). This piece of information shows that an influencer and leader in the town of Maycomb, as well as a positively written character by Harper Lee, wants his own children to respect black people. Even though prejudice occurs frequently in the novel, it is also one of the biggest concepts to explain that is not right or fair in the time period, as well as current day. This is similar to The Power of Words lesson when Professor Neal Lester wrote, “Words have power and there are certain ways in which when we authenticate a historical moment that that word is very powerful,” (12). This shows that even in To Kill A Mockingbird, the depth and hideous meaning behind the N-word and other racial slurs still exists, but if students never learn about words and their deep history, they won’t understand why it is never okay to use those terms. The opposing views upon racial slurs have a major impact on the decision of