Theme Of Racism In To Kill A Mockingbird

851 Words4 Pages
Alisha Anderson
Ms. Norman
Honors English 9
21 September 2017

In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee implies that people create racism by becoming fearful of change and having the need to be more powerful than someone else; as a result, the privileged use their power to tyrannize people of another skin color because they are frightened that someone different might be treated equally. This trend can sometimes be broken by people who think it is morally incorrect to treat anyone disrespectfully just because they are different. While humans should be equal, fear of differences and the desire for advantages in life compels people in the majority to treat the minority maliciously and unfairly. When Scout looked around at the mob wanting to lynch Tom Robinson she saw that “the men were dressed..in overalls and denim shirts buttoned up to the collar” (Lee 153). Through Harper Lee’s use of imagery she reveals that the clothing is very important to display discrimination and that the people in the majority of society dress the same way, and the people who dress different and look different are not welcome into the society and are treated differently.This shows that the people who are in the larger number of community can and will treat people unalike to them differently just because they look unsimilar, meaning that in a population, what you wear decides what group you get placed in. When Walter doesn’t bring his lunch Scout tries to explain to Miss Caroline, “Miss Caroline,