ipl-logo

Social Paradox In To Kill A Mockingbird

2696 Words11 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Jim Crow laws in the united states

Ashley Zecca
Ms. Vyse
English II
23 March 2016
The Social Paradox in To Kill a Mockingbird
To Kill a Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee, is a novel told from the perspective of young girl, called Scout. The reader follows Scout?s journey through school, a court case, and white supremacy over the course of several years. The audience sees domestic disputes through the eyes of an innocent, eight-year girl. Scout?s accounts are often humorous or light-hearted, but they portray situations the truly affected people of the United States in the 1920?s to the 1930?s. During the 1930?s, the southern United States faced several socioeconomic issues, including The Great Depression, The Scottsboro Trials, Jim Crow Laws, and social prejudices. Harper Lee …show more content…

Within the time of this growth period, America was faced with a court case that caused extreme outrage, the Scottsboro Trials. The court case began after two young, white women claimed twelve black, young men raped them while on a train to Memphis. Nine of the young men were convicted. The court case lasted only three days and sentenced eight of the accused to the death punishment by the electric chair. The youngest Scottsboro boy was only 14 years old. Later, the Supreme Court reopened the Scottsboro Boys? case. One of the plaintiffs confessed to lying under oath about being raped. Once again, the Scottsboro Boys were still considered guilty. The court?s rationale behind the decision was that they were black. The two young women committed a federal offense by lying under oath. During the same time period as the setting of To Kill a Mockingbird Alabama was faced with another legal matter that lead to social and political outrage, The Scottsboro Trials. Two white, young women illegitimately accused twelve, black young men of raping them, while on a train to Memphis (Belsches). Only nine of the accused were indicted. Due to the extreme Racism epidemic in the 1930?s the defendants were given an unfair trial. The trial lasted approximately three days and resulted in the ?Scottsboro boys? being declared as guilty and eight of them were sentenced to the electric chair. It wasn?t until the case was reopened by the Supreme Court that one of the plaintiffs confessed that the story was a lie. Young men were still found guilty (Encyclopedia of Alabama). Both court cases revolve around the same theme, racial injustice. Neither defendant received the proper trial because of their race. During this time, racism was at one of its highest points. Not even the law could protect black people from discrimination. The innocent Scottsboro boys were killed at a

Show More
Related
851 Words | 4 Pages

On March 25, 1931 the lives of nine black teenagers changed after they were allegedly accused of being involved in a gang rape of two white females. This began when a fight broke out on a train after a white male named Orville Gilley stepped on the hand of a black male named Haywood Patterson who was hanging from the train itself (Linder, “The Trials of the Scottsboro Boys”). The white males involved went to a stationmaster to report the alleged assault which resulted with posse members coming to take the nine black males away. (Linder, “The Trials of the Scottsboro Boys”). Two white, female mill workers named Ruby Bates and Victoria Price also accused the nine black males to raping them.

Read More
1154 Words | 5 Pages

All of the young African-American men were charged with assault and rape. The Scottsboro boys were taken to Scottsboro, Alabama where they were tried in front of an all-white jury. It should also be noted that all nine of the accused were “framed”, which is a legal term for deliberately providing false evidence to give support to convict a subject. In the court of Judge A.E. Hawkins, two of the boys, Clarence Norris and Charlie Weems were first tried, and then convicted of both crimes and sentenced to death, over the span of only two days, April 6th and April 7th, 1931. On April 8th and 9th of 1931, Ozie Powell, Willie Roberson, Olen Montgomery, Eugene Williams, and Andy Wright were also tried, convicted of both crimes, and sentenced to death.

Read More
1019 Words | 5 Pages

The Scottsboro trials was an incident involving nine black boys and two white women. One day in the 1930’s an unspeakable event happened. Several groups consisting of both black and white people were riding the rails. On one of the train cars, the black and white people began fighting (Johnson). When two white women got involved they were thrown off the train with the rest of the people in the fight.

Read More
504 Words | 3 Pages

Throughout the 1800s and early 1900s, racism was still a huge part in our society and this is demonstrated through the Scottsboro Trial and the novel To Kill a Mockingbird. The first place this is shown, was after everybody heard about the supposed rape of the white girls. There were protests and tons of people showing hate towards the black men. Another example of this, was all the assumptions white people made, that the only logical explanation for the incident was that the black men raped the white girls. This assumption was without listening to the evidence or facts proving the man's innocence during the trial.

Read More
724 Words | 3 Pages

To Kill A Mockingbird by the late Harper Lee is a very monumental book in classic American literature. It is filled with craft moves that support the goals that Lee makes the reader aware of throughout the story. To Kill A Mockingbird is about the struggles of dealing with a court case supporting a black man, Tom Robinson, through the eyes of a young girl, Scout Finch. Scout lives with her father Atticus in a small home in Maycomb County, Alabama. She goes through many internal struggles throughout the story that she learns to deal with.

Read More
184 Words | 1 Pages

Scottsboro Racism Paragraph The Scottsboro trials were a long horrific eighteen-year-long trial about eight black boys in Scottsboro, Alabama. According to Anderson in the video lecture “Scottsboro Boys” a large group of people had gotten on a train to find work when a large fight broke out on the train. The fight was between eight black men and a few white men, the train stopped in Scottsboro when two white women got off the train and accused the eight black men of rape. The eight boys were brought into court and trialed. There were multiple cases of racism in the Scottsboro trials, one included that all the boys were trialed together and in only one day.

Read More
581 Words | 3 Pages

The Scottsboro Boys were nine black boys people blamed in Alabama for assaulting two white ladies on a train in 1931. The cases from this occurrence managed prejudice and the privilege to a reasonable trial. The cases incorporated a lynch swarm before the suspects had been arraigned, every white jurie, surged trials, and problematic crowds. It is refered to as an illustration of a general unnatural birth cycle of equity in the United States legitimate framework.

Read More
1657 Words | 7 Pages

Injustice The Scottsboro Case shed light on the racial practices expressed in law that made a great impact on the legal system today. The actual victims of the Case did not receive a fair trial due to the color of their skin. The ones who played the victims planned the crime, and their stories made no sense. But like many of the trials during the time it wasn’t based on the actual evidence that was found,or even the defendants ' stories.

Read More
566 Words | 3 Pages

Harper Lee is known for her best-selling novel, To Kill A Mockingbird. This story was taken place in the 1930’s where there was prejudice in the Southern society. It’s told from the point of view of 6 year old Jean Louise Finch, also known as Scout. Through Scout’s point of view, Harper Lee demonstrated how people were biasedly treated and to show us the reality of society back then. Throughout the novel, Harper Lee demonstrates the importance of justice, gender differences, and racial inequality in the South.

Read More
1914 Words | 8 Pages

Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel that show the life of a southern state od Alabama during the “black racism” time period, where majority of the people had the mentality that (quote) with the exception of a few. To chosen to portray it from the eyes of Scout Finch, from a child’s point of view. Living in Maycomb, in the midst of a conservative society of the 1930’s and 20’s Southern America Scout Finch is an extra ordinary child.

Read More
754 Words | 4 Pages

Race has always been a part of history, from slavery to MLK, to Barack Obama. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee defines race in the south during the 1930’s. Jean “Scout” Finch, is the narrator of the story. Her brother Jeremy “Jem” and her dad, Atticus, are both main characters. Calpurnia is their house cook and helper, she is also black.

Read More
915 Words | 4 Pages

Option 2 Literary Analysis To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is a novel set during the 1930s in a small town in Southern Alabama called Maycomb. The story is told through the narrator, Scout, a young girl who lives with her father, a lawyer, and her older brother Jem. As a child, Scout is portrayed as a stubborn and obnoxious little girl who loves to read, play with her brother Jem, and fantasize about her mysterious neighbor, Boo Radley. However, her life gets turned upside down when Scout’s father agrees to do something that is deemed unacceptable in the south; he agrees to defend Tom Robinson, a black man who is accused of raping a white girl. Instantly, Atticus and his family go from being respected and beloved by their town, to being

Read More
923 Words | 4 Pages

Told in the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, the author Harper Lee conveys the idea of perspective through the many hardships that the characters go through. The novel, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is a coming-of-age story that takes place in the mid 1930’s when the great depression is starting to hit. The story is told through our narrator Scout who is a little girl, who has a brother named Jem and their father, Atticus. Scout and Jem go through many significant events throughout their town of Maycomb, Alabama. In which most of these events are influenced by racism or even their prejudiced town.

Read More
1317 Words | 6 Pages

The novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee takes place in the town of Maycomb, Alabama during the Great Depression. The author Lee demonstrates some major themes such as social inequality, intolerance, education, legal justice and bravery through this character. The title To Kill a Mockingbird symbolises innocence where Lee explores this through the eyes of Jem and Scout who are kids of Atticus Finch. He is one of the most honest, patient, kind, fair, respected and admired men in Maycomb during the Great Depression. Atticus is known for his moral character throughout the book.

Read More
766 Words | 4 Pages

Breaking Social Norms In To Kill A Mockingbird In To Kill A Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee, Lee depicts the main character Scout Finch as the primary feminist who defies social norms despite several influences in Maycomb County. Scout displays her feminist qualities throughout several occurrences in the novel. She continues to stay true to herself and fights for how she desires to act, while occasionally experimenting with her femininity.

Read More

More about Social Paradox In To Kill A Mockingbird

Related Topics

Open Document