Racism And Prejudice In To Kill A Mockingbird By E. Lee

290 Words2 Pages
In the passage, Lee argues that racism and prejudice are often due to ignorance, and that the only way to get rid of racism is to develop acceptance and understanding. After Tom Robinson is killed, Mr. Underwood compares his death to the killing of “songbirds by hunters and children.” The word “songbirds” is an obvious reference to Atticus’s lessons about mockingbirds, in which he states killing them is a sin. Killing a songbird, according to him, is a sin because such birds are innocent and do nothing but sing. Lee’s diction to shows the reader that Tom was an innocent man, killed by Maycomb’s racism and hatred. In addition, she uses the words “by hunters and children” when describing the killing of songbirds. While a hunter is a professional