Racism And Prejudice In To Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee

Change comes with hard times, making someone rethink how they view their peers or people in their own community. The people in To Kill A Mockingbird make a massive point to find Tom Robinson guilty and be seen as a monster to then boost the beliefs of the town. In the novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, readers see racism and prejudice throughout the book through a child’s eyes. During Tom Robinson’s trial readers see almost the entire jury vote guilty even though they have almost no evidence. After the trial, Jem becomes really aware of the town he is living in because he now sees how racist the people of Maycomb are towards their own citizens. One of the main characters, Jem Finch is seen as a “mockingbird” because he does not see the evil of his town in the beginning, but after Tom’s trial he starts to see his town for what it really is. At the beginning of the novel Jem Finch is a “mockingbird”. In the novel, it says, “Jem was merely going to put the note on the end of a fishing pole and stick it through the shutters”(Lee 47). This shows how Jem is very childlike when interacting with Arthur Radley because he wants to communicate with him via a note on a fishing pole. Jem doesn’t understand Arthur Radley yet so he shows his innocence there. Though as time progresses readers see this innocence fade.

In the novel, Jem says, “You got it backwards Dill…Clowns are sad, it’s folks that laugh at them”(Lee 247). Jem says this to explain why Tom is a clown because the town laughs and cheers at his verdict while he is innocent. Jem’s view shifts when he realizes that his town has found Tom guilty by racism. Jem saw how innocent Tom was and after the verdict was heard he breaks down and changed his outlook on the town. Harper Lee does this to show how Jem Finch can change and become a new person after a traumatic