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To kill a mockingbird symbols
To kill a mockingbird symbols
The effects of racism in to kill a mockingbird
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More handpicked essays just for you.
To kill a mockingbird symbols
To kill a mockingbird symbols
The effects of racism in to kill a mockingbird
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
This book, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, is all about racism. There is one character that fights for equality, Atticus Finch. Atticus represents the desire for fairness. He proves some of it in his speech he gives at the courtroom. An example/quote, of his desire for equality is this quote, “…Gentlemen, a court is no better than each man of you sitting before me on this jury.
“Not all men are created equal”. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee focuses mostly on Tom Robinson’s trial, first Tom Robinson was caught with Mayella by Bob Ewell, Next he was being sent to trial because he was being accused of raping Mayella. After they send him away and finally he tries to make a run for it and gets shot by a man because the people did not want to do the trial again and because the whites didn’t like blacks. Another focus was on Boo Radley because he first stabbed his dad with a pair of scissors. He was then known as a monster but the children never saw him before,Jem’s description is that Boo was half man, half monster, all teror, about six-and-a-half-feet, dined on raw squirrels and any cats hw could catch.
So·cial jus·tice, noun, 1. justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society. 2."individuality gives way to the struggle for social justice.” (Google Search). Social Justice is a term used to justify the equality in the world; equality of race, equality of gender, equality of religion, of age, of background; equality of all people not dependent on any outside factor, but of the people themselves.
In the world right now, there is still inequality for all. People are criticized everyday because of how they look, speak, dress, act, etc. In America, although there is people that are changing, there with always be that small group of people that won’t change their views on what they believe is right and wrong in our society. You can also see this in the book, To Kill A Mockingbird, written by author, Harper Lee. All throughout the novel, you can see how white people are superior to the African Americans that live in the same town.
A major conflict established in this story was injustice and inequality. “Atticus was right, one time he said you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them” ( Lee 321) Scout realized that Atticus was right about what he said, you don’t know how things are for people unless you see it from their point of view. In the story Tom Robinson faced inequality when he was accused for raping Mayella Euwell in a trial, Mayella accused tom of choking her wither one and beating her with the other one but Tom Robinsons other hand was useless to him. “ He looked oddly off balance, but it was not from the way he was standing.
Not all the Same Equality is a term that is defined as “the state of being equal; correspondence in quantity, degree, value, rank, or ability” (Dictionary.com). In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, equality dictates how several characters are portrayed in the town of Maycomb, Alabama, at a time of racism, hate, and prejudice. Because of these topics being such an everyday obstacle for characters like Walter Cunningham Jr. and Burris Ewell, two students at the school, Boo Radley, a scared neighbor that saves a life, and Tom Robinson, a black man wrongly convicted of a crime, the idea of equality has a different effect on each character’s life.
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.
Justice. The dictionary definition of that word is "just behavior or treatment". In the 1960's when "To Kill A Mockingbird" was written blacks were still facing prejudice for being colored, even though the story takes place in the 1930's. They were stereotyped and not given a chance to show who they really were. Some people may think that justice is the same for everyone, in my eyes I think some people are shown more justice than others.
“Equal rights for all, special privileges for none” (Harper Lee). I personally believe that To Kill a Mockingbird is about equality in every form. In To Kill a Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee, she wants the readers to know that it is important to identify inequities in everyday situations so that we can excel in other global activities. Meaning, once we learn the issue of a situation that has a lack of equality/fairness, in the future, we can try our best to protest against that unfairness throughout the entire world/lifetime. She has placed various scenes throughout about discrimination.
Of the numerous themes from Harper Lee’s famous novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, one stands out, injustice. This subject appears multiple times throughout the book. Firstly, Mr. Ewell demonstrates injustice towards the Finch family by insulting them and harming them. Again injustice shows itself in Tom Robinson’s false accusation. Lastly, this horrible topic becomes apparent in Aunt Alexandra’s actions towards Calpurnia.
It is an instinctive part of the human nature to attempt to reconfigure the world around us in order for it to fit to our convenience. Whether one does it intentionally, or as an unconscious defense mechanism, the change we create often serves as only a temporary disguise for what really exists around us. Like most lies and falsities, this can lead to negative impacts. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, the white community of Maycomb is controlled by a deeply ingrained prejudice that they have rearranged their surroundings and ideas to accommodate.
Throughout the novel Harper Lee uses symbolism of many things to strengthen the theme of social inequality. The title of the book is the most obvious use of symbolism. The mockingbird is an animal meant for pleasure. It sings a beautiful song and hurts nothing and no one. When she receives an air gun as a gift, Scout is instructed to leave the mockingbirds alone for “its a sin to kill a mockingbird” and they pose no threat.
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.
Ever since human existence was known, women weren’t treated the same as a man. They were told to stay inside, care for the kids, and look pretty, as a paying man’s job was considered “too hard” for them to accomplish. But, during the years leading up to 1920, women had enough of this, they rallied and marched with a simple message, to be treated equal to a man. Harper Lee’s book To Kill a Mockingbird, set in a 1930’s Alabama, covers women issues at various lengths. From Scout’s tomboyish attitude, gender inequality, and gender roles, Harper Lee’s novel