Racism In To Kill A Mockingbird

In most cases, telling the truth will not get anyone into trouble. Sometimes, it even gets people out of trouble. However, the hard truth of racism in 1930s Alabama is the reason To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee causes controversy and its removal from curriculum in some schools. Those schools have chosen to ignore the reality of the United States’ history rather than “embrac[ing] what makes us uncomfortable so that we may work together towards ameliorating those situations” (Bachani 2). In the novel, Scout Finch learns various lessons from several adults in her life over the three years the book spans. When her father Atticus Finch takes on a case of the alleged rape of a white woman by an innocent black man, Scout sees firsthand how racism

Miss Maudie, Scout’s next door neighbor and mother figure, teaches Scout how to show sympathy for others and understand her community while still staying true to herself. Miss Maudie is merely a neighbor to Scout until Scout is rejected by her normal companions, Jem and Dill. Once Scout turns to Miss Maudie for companionship, she discovers that, despite Jem’s insults, girls are not always boring and and inconveniences to their friends (56). Miss Maudie gardens while wearing men’s overalls and is liked by the children, but “reign[s] over the street in magisterial beauty” in the evenings (56). Scout’s nature as a tomboy cause her to perceive Miss Maudie differently from the other women in her life, and this affiliation allows Miss Maudie’s lessons to affect Scout’s actions and thoughts. The evenings spent on Miss Maudie’s porch, for example, show how she influences Scout and her view of Boo Radley: “The things that happen to people we never really know. What happens in houses behind closed doors, what secrets--” (61). Scout sees Boo as a monstrous legend, reinforced by the stories of Jem and Miss Stephanie (13), but Miss Maudie sees him as a person, even instructing Scout to call him Arthur, not Boo (57). Miss Maudie can see that Boo’s fate was decided by a father who used the Bible like a weapon, “so busy worrying about the next world [he] never learned to live in this one” (60). Once Scout learns about his past, Boo is less of a mythical creature to her and more of a person, even though she has not yet grown out of her childish fears. Miss Maudie also helps Scout understand her father, Atticus. When the children mourn his older age, Miss Maudie reminds them of his strengths, and after Scout finds out that he hid his shooting skills, she supports his decision by telling her, “People in their right minds never take pride in their talents” (130). This respect of Atticus, with or without a