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Racial Prejudice In Zoot Suit

511 Words3 Pages
The play Zoot Suit represents more than an entertaining time, a good literature, or a bad guy, good guy moral. The play itself represents a metaphor of racial prejudice. This racial prejudice is seen through events in the play, the ending, and comparison with modern day events. Zoot Suit symbolizes a problem in society. Critical events in the play help demonstrate the metaphor and some unfair realities still in modern day. Starting on page twenty-seven and extending to page thirty-two we can appreciate how Henry and his boys were arrested for being Chicanos and how they dressed, their zoot suit fashion. They were targeted for their skin color and their style, automatically thinking they were guilty of crimes. In modern day, Hispanics and African
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Clashes between Mexican-Americans and military personnel continued in the days and weeks to come. The play Zoot Suit by Luis Valdez, underscores the Zoot Suit Riots that occurred historically in Los Angeles during the 1940’s following the infamous trial “The Sleepy Lagoon”. The play follows Henry Reyna, leader of the 38th Street Gang, along with with the gang’s members and Henry’s family, while seeking to combat the racial prejudice of the era. The play dramatizes injustice in order to educate and awaken responses towards acts of injustice that occur in today’s society such as racial profiling, bias judicial system, and bias media (yellow journalism) that are still present in society

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Tom, the mixed sheriff’s son in Chestnutt’s, is jailed for accusations of murdering a white man. Outraged by the death of their friend, the townspeople of Branson wanted to see Tom lynched for the murder. “The crowd decided to lynch the Negro. . . .They had some vague notions of the majesty of the law and the rights of the citizen, but in the passion of the moment these sunk into oblivion; a what man had been killed by a Negro.” ( Chestnutt 3).

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Through Zoot Suit, the audience is able to realize that one’s race has a lot to do with the outcomes of their everyday life, which is an issue that America continues to have. Overall, the drama Zoot Suit by Luis Valdez analyzes the injustice of individuals in America due to their race, and the play can allow the audience to understand and see the problem

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With the case of Tom Robinson, who is a black man has been accused of raping a young white women, Atticus has helped Tom to defend the false accusation from whites. This case has reflected to another reading’s idea in the class which is Tuch Hughes’s article, Whites’ Racial Policy Attitudes. In the last scene of court of Tom’s case, Tom says he has kissed the white women, because he has sympathy on the white women’s experience from the family abuse. At the end of the court, Tom was found guilty because it is outlawed for blacks to be sympathy to whites. In the other words, Tom has against the white superiority.

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Some members of the black church in Maycomb were not very accepting of the Finch children when they attended a service, “You ain’t got no business bringin’ white chillun here” (184). The blacks in the community knew what it was like to not be trusted by another race because of their skin color, they felt as if they were not members of the society which created distrust within their community. Also, the blacks felt like outliers and not really members of their community, they had their own neighborhood and worked odd jobs that did not make much money, this forced them into a belief that they were less of people and did not trust the whites because of this. Tom who was put on trial as a black against a white young lady knew the amount of distrust the community had for him, “Mr. Finch, if you was a nigger like me, you’d be scared, too” (261). The fact that Tom knew what was happening in the community to be scared of what someone else did to him proves that the distrust in the community was so immense just because of a color.

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Recently a trial was run in the Maycomb County courthouse about a negro, Tom Robinson, allegedly raping a young white woman, Mayella Ewell. Mayella’s argument was that Tom Robinson was waiting behind Mayella in her house when she turned around and Tom choked her and “took advantage of [her]”. Tom Robinson’s argument is that he came into Mayella’s home to help her out with some tasks because he felt sorry for the way she had to live. One day, when he was finishing one task Mayella hugged Tom around the waist and kissed him on the side of his face. Atticus Finch has made the surprising decision to defend the black negro named Tom Robinson despite the convincing evidence Mayella has given.

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The first connection to America’s actual history is the presence of the Jim Crow laws in the book. Jim Crow laws are never assert or even intimate that a White person is lying. Never impute dishonorable intentions to a White person. Never curse a White person. Never comment upon the appearance of a White female.

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Cultural diversity is also called multiculturalism. It is having a heart and mind that acknowledges, accepts values and celebrates different ways via which people live and interact all over the world. Now what is discrimination? Is the unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories of people or things, especially on the grounds of race, age, or sex. In 1920-1945 America showed so much discrimination toward many cultures African American, Japanese American and Hispanic American.

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Conformity affects people in many ways even if they are “mockingbirds”. In paragraph 1 we prove that conformity is very present in Maycomb. The Radley house is an example of nonconformity in Maycomb, but the rest of the town resents them for that. In paragraph 2 I talked about Tom Robinson, a hard working innocent man who is trying to provide for his family by working in the fields. Tom has never done anything wrong but because of his skin color he was a victim of false accusations to cover up a man’s own mistakes.

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At the trial where Tom Robinson (a black man) is falsely accused of raping a white woman, Mr. Raymond explains why Dill is crying to the lawyer’s children. He rationalizes that Dill is crying because of the instinctive “hell white people give to colored folks, without stopping to think that they’re people too” (Lee 229). The lack of consideration that the white people have towards Tom because of the racist society they are deeply rooted in displays that human nature tends to be evil. The white people in Maycomb County are so focused on their own pleasure in Tom losing his case because of his skin color that they totally disregard the fact that he is a human being. This reveals their complete lack of empathy in their own selfish ways.

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A specific quote from the book that gives an example about race is “In our courts, when it’s a white man's word against a black man’s, the white man always wins” (pg 295). This quote explains that at the time a black man never wins against a white man.

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Many events in this book illustrate racism, specifically the trial of Tom Robinson, Lula’s contempt for Jem and Scout, and the significant mention of Hitler’s treatment of the Jewish people in Germany. Tom Robinson’s trial stands out as an obvious example of racism. The townspeople find fault in Tom not because he committed a crime, but because his skin is a few shades darker than theirs. Atticus rightly says, “‘To begin with, this case should never have come to trial. This case is as simple as black and white’” (231).

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“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view… until you climb into his skin and walk around in it”(Lee 30). These are the words of Atticus Finch, the wisest character in the famous novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. He is a fictional man that embodies human traits that all people should strive to emulate. In the novel; narrated by Atticus’ daughter Jean Louise Finch, more often referred to as Scout; Atticus defends a black man, Tom Robinson, who has been accused of raping a white female, Mayella Ewell. The main message of the text is the prominence of racial injustice, specifically in the 1930’s, the era the novel takes place in.

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If someone back then were to break a law about lets say for an example if a white lets a black drink out of the same water fountain as them and if someone found out it would cost them. This shows how race's were back then compared to know. This second claim will state another way we see racism in the 1930's. In chapter 14 "They c'n go loose and rape up the countryside for all of ‘em who runs this country care". This is racist because it is saying that blacks are the only people who rape white’s which is so not true.

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Through Atticus, the author presents an argument for equality and racial tolerance. All black people were categorised in this era; they were seen as aggressive, untrustworthy and inhuman. This is completely different

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