The Portrayal of ‘Relative Justice’ in To Kill a Mockingbird
The correlation of justice and prejudice dwell as a perpetuating conflict in the United States. Case in point is racism, which is deeply analyzed on the 1960 Pulitzer-awarded novel, Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. Lee focalizes this novel upon the trial of Tom Robinson, a black man charged by the rape of a white girl, Mayella Ewell. Racial prejudice is thoroughly presented in the novel, but what originally transpired as discrimination evolves into an inferno of injustice, particularly in the debasement and death of one of the ‘Mockingbirds,’ the impoverishment of his family, and the humiliation of his race. The whole novel is presented by the protagonist, Scout, as a tomboyish naive adult retrospectively recalling her early ages. Morally, her character possesses double standards of justice and honesty combined with the sordid adult values inherent in her revelations and mature character. Initially, the first half of the novel revolves around Scout’s childhood in Maycomb, a fictional “tired old town” (5) which subsequently links the alleged rape and enlightens readers on the social backdrop, subconsciously grooming the children for “Maycomb’s usual disease” (100). This literary masterpiece distributed
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However, the book passes a ray of hope as a path out of prejudice and injustice, as “Most people are (nice), Scout, when you finally see them.” (323). The purge of prejudice and injustice, ultimately, could be achieved by separating the facts from preconceived assumptions by examining life and evidence with a child’s