In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus Finch has many influences on his daughter, resulting in a change of her understandings, personal traits, and more. The story is narrated by Jean Louise "Scout" Finch, a young girl who lives with her older brother Jem and their widowed father, Atticus Finch. Racial injustice and social inequality are themes that are explored in the book. Tom Robinson, a black man accused of raping a white lady, is given legal representation by Atticus. The Finches encounter hostility and threats because of their friendship with Tom as the trial goes on, exposing the town's racial prejudices.
The story follows Scout as she grows up during the great depression while her father, Atticus, who's a lawyer defends a black man named Tom Robinson. Tom Robinson was accused by Mayella Ewell of rape. This comes with a lot of racism and Mayella is white. Harper Lee uses the symbolism
Scout learns about the prejudice the black community faces during Tom Robinson’s case. Tom is a black man accused of raping Mayella Ewell and is ultimately given a guilty verdict. After news spread of Atticus being Tom’s lawyer, people around town began calling the Finch family derogatory names. This led to Scout understanding that society doesn’t respect the black community or even treat them as equals. They believed that Tom was guilty even before the trial just because he was black.
On top of the Tom Robinson vs. Mayella Ewell case, Scout deals with more confusion and frustration of her own brought on by racial discrimination. The lynch mob that tried to kill Tom Robinson while he is held in jail had obviously already falsely decided the man’s fate before he was even put on trial (202-207). Atticus already knew that Tom Robinson is innocent and is outraged that a Bob Ewell would do this to such a good man just because he was able to. “There’s nothing more sickening to me than a low-grade white man who’ll take advantage of a Negro’s ignorance.” (296) This takes place in the discussion after Atticus’s harassment by Bob Ewell which included Miss Maudie, Scout, Jem, and Atticus.
Racial Injustice is when you deny someone their rights based on race or background. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the author uses acts of cruelty towards Tom Robinson as a way to convey the theme of racial injustice. This theme contributes to the overall meaning of the novel by supporting the statement: “That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird”.(Lee 119) During the 1930’s in the South, African Americans were discriminated against due to their race.
Multiple characters in To Kill a Mockingbird are discriminated against, one that stuck out was Atticus. He was discriminated against multiple times, for example, on the way he raises his children, for defending a black man in court, and for just being a poor white person white person. Those are just a few ways that Atticus is discriminated against in the novel. Atticus is discriminated against on the way that he chooses to raise his children. In the novel several times people tell Atticus that he doesn’t raise his kids right, for example Miss Maudie says “”...erected an absolute morphodite in that yard!
A Segregating Society Martin Luther King Jr. once stated “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” In the story, To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, the people of the town of Maycomb, Alabama judge individuals by the color of their skin, not the content of their character and face various incidences of Social Inequality. Harper Lee demonstrates how unequal and prejudice the 1930s southern culture is when Walter Cunningham comes over for dinner and Scout does not respect him, when Aunt Alexandra does not agree Atticus defending Tom Robinson, and when Tom is falsely charged with rape because of his skin color.
She learns about the prejudices of her town when her father begins to defend Tom Robinson, a black man wrongly accused of raping a white woman. Up until the case began, Scout had been unaware of the racism that lived in her community. Atticus had been assigned the case because no other lawyer in the town would take it due to the defendant’s colored skin. Atticus uses this case to build Jem and Scout’s moral views as they become individuals. Scout asks her father if he is going to win his case and he states, “Simply because we were licked a hundred years before we started is no reason for us not to try and win.”
At Columbine High School there had been a massacre on April 20, 1999. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold were the two shooters from the Columbine massacre. After that day there had been many rumors and myths about the shooting from the media and from people. After the shooting at Columbine there had been many rumors and myths from news reporters saying the shooters were only targeting jocks but really Eric and Dylan were just trying to kill of whoever they saw.
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.
The Berlin Wall in Germany separeates west Berlin from the rest of Germany. Similarily, Harper Lee in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird emphasizes that prejudice is the wall that divides a human race. The story takes place in Maycomb, Alabama, during the times of The Great Depression, 1930’s. The main character witnesses the spread of racism before and after the Tom Robinson trial. Tom Robinson is an innocent black man who is accused of raping a white woman, and sentenced to death by a racist white jury.
The damaging impacts of discrimination, combating the morality of righteousness. creates tensions within societal expectations. In the novel To Kill A Mocking Bird by Harper Lee, the author illustrates within the Town of Maycomb, the rising racial tensions which lead to the heroism of the Finch. Believing in your morals, and speaking against racial injustices, is the most prevalent theme in the novel To Kill A Mockingbird. The novel captures this through the trial of Tom Robinson, the treatment of Boo Radley, and Scout’s education. The trial of Tom Robinson advocated for a significant moment within the novel, as it suggests the truth behind prejudiced judgements.
To Kill a MockingBird is a painfully tragic novel of the reality of maturing kids in the 1930’s. During these times discrimination was very common. Many households had black maids who were often treated horrible. The Finches were some of the only people that didn’t fall into the category that were prejudice among blacks. Atticus made an amazing effort to teach the kids equality.
In the novel, ‘To kill a mockingbird, Harper Lee demonstrates the small, imaginary town, the Maycomb County, as a place where racism and social inequality happens in the background of 1930s America. Not only the segregation between whites and blacks, but also the poor lived in a harsh state of living. As Scout, the young narrator, tells the story, Lee introduces and highlights the effects of racism and social inequality on the citizens of Maycomb County by using various characters such as Boo Radley, Tom Robinson, and Mayella Ewell. Firstly, Harper Lee portrays Boo Radley as a victim of social inequality through adjectives and metaphor in the phrase, “There was a long jagged scar that ran across his face; what teeth he had were yellow and rotten;” ‘Long jagged scar that ran across his face’ tells us that Boo Radley has stereotype about his appearance, which forces to imagine Boo as a scary and threatening person. The phrase, ‘yellow and rotten’ make the readers think as if Boo Radley is poor and low in a social hierarchy, as he cannot afford to brush his teeth.
One of the main themes of the novel is Racism. During the time of depression, racism and poverty were a common issue. People with a dark skin tone, i.e the African- Americans were seen as derogatory and treated like dirt. Harper Lee depicts it in a very realistic way.
