ipl-logo

The Role Of Mistreatment In To Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee

904 Words4 Pages

Mistreatment is a problem that can change and affect the way people present themselves, and can affect the whole social ladder of society. The novel To Kill a Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee, shows the importance of both learning and demonstrating empathy through events experienced by Jem, Scout, Atticus, and Tom Robinson. To Kill a Mockingbird is both a young girl’s coming of age story and a drama about the roots and consequences of racism and prejudice, probing how good and evil can coexist within a single community or individual. It is about Scout and her brother Jem trying to understand and relate to their father, Atticus, who is a lawyer charged with defending a black man falsely accused of raping a white woman. Harper Lee shows acceptance to all types of people in a couple of ways, including Atticus defending a black man, Scout not being afraid of Boo Radley, and Scout accepting the fact that Walter Cunningham is poor. …show more content…

In the novel Atticus says “The main one is, if I didn’t I couldn’t hold up my head in town, I couldn't represent this county in the legislature, I couldn’t even tell you or Jem not to do something again” (Lee pg 100). Atticus knows that he will lose this case, but still takes it due to the fact that he doesn’t care what race anyone is, nor what anyone else thinks, and that he will defend anyone as much as he is capable of out of pure respect. Atticus faces a mob of angry men to defend Tom, but most white people in Maycomb would not protect a black person if it meant life or death. Lee pg

Show More
Related
926 Words | 4 Pages

Harper Lee’s novel, To kill a Mockingbird, is a book about the Finch family, living in Maycomb, Alabama, during the early 1930s. The book is told through the perspective of an 8-year-old girl called Scout, and it's about the struggles she and her brother Jem, age 11, face when their father Atticus takes a case defending a black man accused of raping a white girl. Lee embraces the idea of nonviolent resistance and shows how sometimes it can be the most powerful influence in change, how hate is not the way, and she pushes the reader to consider their worldview about the differences among people. The Author shows her belief in nonviolence in many ways throughout this book.

Read More
458 Words | 2 Pages

In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee conveys that prejudice divides communities and that persecution of innocent people is evil; furthermore; these two minor themes reinforce the major thematic idea that a simple assumption can divide people. When Tom Robinson is put on trial for supposedly raped Mayella Ewell, the racism in Maycomb surfaces and creates conflict. In the novel, a stranger says, “You know what we want,” ‘another man said.’ “Get aside from the door, Mr. Finch.”(172). Some drunken men want to harm Tom Robinson for the wrong that he did.

Read More
471 Words | 2 Pages

In the coming-of-age novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the author conveys themes of prejudice and racism. The story follows Scout, a young girl in a small town, with her older brother, Jem, and father, Atticus, who is a lawyer. Scout’s father signs on to defend a Black man, which, to many, is seen as a losing case. Scout begins to learn about the racial bias in her town, seeing how many people treat African Americans differently than whites. Lee displays themes of prejudice through Atticus and his experience defending Tom Robinson.

Read More
612 Words | 3 Pages

Atticus defends Tom Robinson against his own race despite knowing the fact that before the trial even begins, he's going to lose. He knows that many of the whites living in Maycomb want to see Tom Robinson, an African American accused of raping and beating a white woman, killed. He started receiving threats from whites men but that doesn't stop Atticus from doing what he thinks is right. When he acts with integrity, he received more support and love from the African American

Read More
2042 Words | 9 Pages

Respect is a hand, calling out, waving, waiting to be picked on to express its views on a topic. People look up to it, and, consequently, admire its nobility and intelligence. The book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is set during the time of the Great Depression and the Jim Crow laws, when black people and white people did not have the same rights as each other. The book is told from the point of view of Scout, a young girl, and the story is a reminiscence of her childhood. Her father, Atticus, is appointed as the lawyer for the trial of a man named Tom Robinson.

Read More
400 Words | 2 Pages

The people of Maycomb were very mad and very unthoughtful of the decision for Atticus to take the case because Tom is black. “He’s nothing but a nigger lover.”(Lee)Pg.110) However if Atticus hadn’t taken the case he wouldn’t be able to face his kids anymore. He wouldn’t have enough dignity anymore. He also wouldn’t be known as a racist.

Read More
825 Words | 4 Pages

In Harper Lee’s gothic novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, protagonist Scout Finch and her family are introduced to racial inequity in the “tired old town” (5) of Maycomb, Alabama. Scout's father Atticus Finch, a lawyer, is given the task of defending a black man “{whose} name’s Tom Robinson” (86), who has been accused of rape, in court. During the trial, Scout and her brother Jem learn the appalling effects of racial prejudice and the iniquity of the world and the people in it. Tom Robinson is deemed guilty because of his race, despite all evidence proving his innocence. Lee utilizes literary techniques in the novel to further develop the theme of racial prejudice, such as Atticus’s encounter with Tim Johnson, Mrs. Dubose’s camellias, and her use

Read More
725 Words | 3 Pages

Many characters throughout To Kill A Mockingbird were abused and traumatized. Harper Lee included abuse as one of the main themes in her book To Kill A Mockingbird. Boo Radley, Mayella Ewell, and Dill were all abused in different ways. Abuse happens a lot in our society, but isn’t talked about much. Abuse has a lasting impact on every person that it happens too.

Read More
662 Words | 3 Pages

Most of the people in Maycomb are racist. For Atticus to defend a black man in a racist community shows one of the main themes in the story. That Scout, and Jem should stand up for what they believe is right, even if it's hard to do. Atticus leads this theme by standing up for Tom when no one else believed it was right because he was colored.

Read More
708 Words | 3 Pages

Atticus believes that all people should be treated the same regardless of race and Maycomb needs to realize that. Scout tell Atticus that’s Mrs. Dubose calls him a negro-lover and asks Atticus if he is one and Atticus says “I certainly am. I do my best to love everybody” (pg. 144). Atticus tries to treat everyone the same no matter who they are or what they say to him. This is why it makes sense for Atticus to defend Tom

Read More
592 Words | 3 Pages

To Kill a Mockingbird, a novel by Harper Lee, describes the events and trials surrounding a window of Jean-Louise “Scout” Finch’s childhood growing up in the small southern town of Maycomb. In doing so, Lee reveals young Scout’s internal conflict in relation to her views on topics such as racism, discrimination, and societal rank. Her impressionability as a child causes her to be bombarded with opinions wherever she turns, and must therefore sort through the confusion around her to discover her own personal set of morals. Lee accurately conveys this through characterization, the irony and even hypocrisy of the stances of others, and through a range of motifs.

Read More
1146 Words | 5 Pages

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee tells a story of racial prejudice during the Depression and how it is combated. The main development in the novel is that a Atticus, the father of Scout and Jem, has been appointed to defend Tom Robinson, a black man accused of raping a young white woman named Mayella. Many people in the town of Maycomb, particularly people involved with the case of Tom, have a negative attitude towards African Americans. Prejudice was a terrible issue in the South during the Depression, but Atticus Finch shows that racial injustice can be combated in two main ways, each having different levels of effectiveness.

Read More
860 Words | 4 Pages

The novel “To Kill A Mockingbird” was written in 1960 by Harper Lee in the point of view of a young innocent girl named Scout. One of the main messages that Lee has (need a new word than – indicated or set out) is racism, it plays an important role which strongly impacts many character’s lives unfairly and changes the relationship between two. Harper Lee’s “To Kill A Mockingbird” shows that it is wrong to hurt someone who does no harm to you, for example, black people are innocent but no way did they have as many rights as white people did. Black people lived hard lives because society was judgemental, irrational and most importantly, racist. As Scout and Jem grow older they learn to cope, take responsibility and are introduced to new aspects of life, one of which is racism.

Read More
1455 Words | 6 Pages

“Scout, I’m beginning to understand something. I think I’m beginning to understand why Boo Radley’s stayed shut up in the house all this time…” (227). Prejudice and discrimination are major issues that are present in the town of Maycomb; Scout and her brother Jem are young children who learn about the disturbing existence of the bigotry that they were previously unaware of in their familiar southern hometown throughout the trial of Tom Robinson, an innocent African American who is accused of rape by a white woman. To Kill a Mockingbird introduces a world that harbors prejudice against some of its very citizens and describes how discrimination was a major flaw in society and still is a flaw present day society. The author, Harper Lee develops a major theme of people should not discriminate against others solely due to prejudice on the basis of differences for it leads to consequences using dialogue between the characters, thoughts from the narrator 's perspective, and descriptions of beliefs during the time period throughout the book To Kill a Mockingbird.

Read More
501 Words | 3 Pages

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee is a well written novel that brings importance and understanding to the differences of people through the unfair trial where a black man is accused of raping a white women during the 1930’s in Maycomb, Alabama. When our differences are materialized and brought forth we feel uncomfortable or ashamed. When our faults like racism and classism are brought up we shy away or get defensive. Before Tom Robison’s trial even takes place we’re shown how the townspeople of Maycomb react to white going against black or how they think of people who have less than them. If a large group of people feel this way they will do their best to get rid of the thing bringing them these feelings.

Read More

More about The Role Of Mistreatment In To Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee

Open Document