Racist Rationales In To Kill A Mockingbird

Set in the 1930s in northern Alabama where slavery was at its peak, the book To Kill A Mockingbird is narrated in Scout’s point of view. Through Scout’s eyes, Harper Lee illustrates examples of racism and social inequality and these reveal what it was like for the blacks during that period in America. The racist rationales and social inequality in Maycomb county are, according to the characters, something that is reasonable. Throughout this book, Harper Lee criticises mainly racism and how unjust human beings can be. The readers are able to see how the blacks and the whites were treated differently and how they avoided inter-racial interactions. In addition, segregation and the social ‘classes’ which are formed in Maycomb county (consisting of the Finches, the Cunninghams, the Ewells, and the blacks) demonstrates how the blacks were again, ill-treated. These classes in Maycomb county are also interesting partly because of the unfairness that existed between the whites. All this can be seen through Scout’s

From Scout’s way of referring to both classes, the readers can realise how society treats each class very differently. Jem and Scout respect Atticus and they look up to him - they are very proud of the fact that Atticus is their father. When Mrs. Dubose yells at Jem, telling him that his “father is no better than the niggers and trash he works for,” Jem destroys all the camellias in her garden. Jem does this because he thinks that Atticus is being insulted although he has done the right thing. From Mrs. Dubose’s words, the readers are also able to see how even Atticus was insulted just because he defended for a black. In addition, these two classes clearly show how the racist views in Maycomb county is intertwined with the division of the social