ipl-logo

Theme Of Social Divide In To Kill A Mockingbird

775 Words4 Pages

"You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view-- 'Sir?' --until you climb into his skin and walk around in it" (Lee, 39). To Kill A Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee, follows the story of Scout Finch, Jem Finch, and everyone in the town of Maycomb. They experience conflict, including a pivotal trial that changes their lives. To Kill A Mockingbird has many themes, often making the book easy to categorize into many genres. One of the many themes is that prejudice creates a social divide. Ignorance towards others can lead to conflict, misunderstanding one's intentions can lead to unfair judgement of the person, and racism and prejudice are caused by misunderstanding.
Ignorance towards others can lead to conflict. "Scout," said Atticus,
"N*****-lover is just one of those terms that don't mean anything—like snot-nose. It's hard to explain—ignorant, trashy people use it when they think somebody's favoring Negroes over and above themselves. It's slipped into usage with some people like ourselves, when they want a common, ugly term to label somebody" (Lee, 144). …show more content…

Cry about the hell white people give colored folks, without even stopping to think that they're people too" (Lee, 269). In To Kill A Mockingbird, racism plays a factor to the Tom Robinson trial. Though the facts about Tom being innocent were clearly stated, the jury decided he was guilty because he was different than them. The jury and judge in the trial were Caucasian men, that knew just about everybody in Maycomb. As stated before, they have called Atticus multiple insults, just because he believed Tom Robinson was not guilty. They treat the black community horribly because they never think they are humans too. Atticus has quoted Thomas Jefferson, saying that all men are created equal, but the people of Maycomb continue this hierarchy, where the black community is at the bottom and are not treated as

Show More
Related
576 Words | 3 Pages

Atticus decides to take the case in defending a black person, something nobody in the town would have done. Most of the residents of Maycomb do not believe in equality and have hatred towards black people. If an African-American is charged for committing a crime, he is automatically believed to be guilty because of their skin color. Atticus says, “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view” (39). To clarify, Atticus took the case because he believes there is a chance of Tom being innocent.

Read More
605 Words | 3 Pages

Being Brave To Kill A Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee, is a tale of two children, Jem and Scout. This powerfully inspiring and educational story entails daily life of the children, as well as the struggles they faced while their father is defending a black man’s case during a racially segregated time period. As an author, Harper Lee developed multiple themes throughout this story. These themes include good, evil, justice, fear, family, forgiveness, and compassion.

Read More
845 Words | 4 Pages

Therefore, some people pissed to Atticus. The people, who live in Maycomb, say such ugly things about Atticus Finch, a white man, for defending Tom Robinson in court, because Atticus believe Tom and he tried to defend Tom seriously. Long time ago, many people believed that black men is not good, polite, and NOT believable, so they were treated like slaves. Now in real life, people who believe idea of racism by skin color are less than before. However, some people

Read More
1119 Words | 5 Pages

(100), here, Atticus knows even if everyone knows Tom is innocent and Tom’s opponent is white trash and ignorant, everyone understand that he will suffer racial discrimination and will be labelled guilty no matter the proof. Racial segregation will be the main factor as to why no one will choose a black man’s side over a white’s. No matter how much evidence there is, the mindset on blacks in Maycomb is nearly impossible to discard. “Atticus had used every tool available to free men to save Tom Robinson, but in the secret courts of men’s hearts Atticus had no case. Tom was a dead man the minute Mayella Ewell opened her mouth and screamed” (276), it is no surprise when Tom tries to escape the prison and dies doing so, because everyone knew there was no hope for him once a white accuses him.

Read More
2150 Words | 9 Pages

To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, tells a story about a lawyer going through a journey where he faces many difficult tasks. My hero, named Atticus Finch, decided to defend the black man named Tom Robinson. Many people in the story wanted to kill Tom because of revenge. However, Atticus tries to prevent Tom’s death, even though Tom’s death was inevitable.

Read More
1033 Words | 5 Pages

To Kill A Mockingbird Themes “‘You never really understand a person until you consider his point of view… until you climb into his skin and walk around in it’” (Lee 39). This quote from the novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee includes many characters who suffer from the Great Depression and other conflicts that break out in the town of Maycomb. Racism, poverty, and domestic violence attend in the book and continue their way through to create rising conflict between the people of Maycomb county. Atticus Finch is a lawyer of Maycomb and a father of two children, Jean Louise Finch, also known as Scout, and Jem Finch.

Read More
754 Words | 4 Pages

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.

Read More
1317 Words | 6 Pages

The novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee takes place in the town of Maycomb, Alabama during the Great Depression. The author Lee demonstrates some major themes such as social inequality, intolerance, education, legal justice and bravery through this character. The title To Kill a Mockingbird symbolises innocence where Lee explores this through the eyes of Jem and Scout who are kids of Atticus Finch. He is one of the most honest, patient, kind, fair, respected and admired men in Maycomb during the Great Depression. Atticus is known for his moral character throughout the book.

Read More
1793 Words | 8 Pages

Essentially, the root of all problems stems from prejudiced situations, social inequality is created by religious, ethnic and many other forms of discrimination. Social inequality is defined as ‘the existence of unequal opportunities and rewards for different social positions or statuses within a group or society’. In To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, specifically, it is created by racism, classism and gender. Inequality factors into the course of the story in very evident ways ultimately causing extreme injustice. Harper Lee’s masterful novel exposes the dark underbelly of society, a society overflowing with hate, narrow mindedness and prejudice.

Read More
244 Words | 1 Pages

Elizabeth writes a letter to sick Victor Frankenstein, her “Cousin”, telling how their family is doing, local gossip, and re-tells Justine 's story of how she came into their family. Victor then reads the letter and bursts with joy and later begins feeling much better. Victor then takes Henry Clerval to his college and introduces him to all of Victor 's professors. One of his professors notices Victor has started to hate science thanks to that horrid monster he created. Later, Victor then plans to go back to Geneva to visit his family, but a snowstorm delays the trip until spring.

Read More
680 Words | 3 Pages

To Kill A Mockingbird By: Harper Lee. The book is about the main character, Scout’s view on what happened in Maycomb county over the two years. Within those two years, she describes the advents through a lot of details, such as her father’s court case and the deaths followed within, before, and after the case. She talks about her life with her neighbors, her brother, father, and Calpurnia. She goes into more such details on her next-door neighbor Arthur Radley.

Read More
635 Words | 3 Pages

Atticus tells his children “In our courts, when it’s a white man’s world against a black man’s, the white man always wins” (251-52). This quote alone shows great prejudice because it judges someone because of the color of their skin instead of their innocence which they should be judged off of. When you first begin reading the novel you notice that everyone you meet has a reputation by their last or first name. As you meet the new people as you progress in the book you realize that no matter who a person is they are judged by their name. Scout states in the novel “ He’s a Cunningham.. the Cunninghams never took anything they can't take back” (22).

Read More
1108 Words | 5 Pages

Atticus Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird famously said in his closing arguments: "You know the truth, and the truth is this: some Negroes lie, some Negroes are immoral, some negro men are not to be trusted around women- black or white. But this is a truth that applies to the human race and no particular race of men." (pg 232) What Atticus is trying to convey is a foreign concept to most people in Maycomb county. Atticus is trying to convey a point of equality and no prejudice in a world of social inequality which, as one can imagine, didn 't go over so well.

Read More
1169 Words | 5 Pages

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.

Read More
858 Words | 4 Pages

Though most of the town Maycomb feels negatively and discriminates the African-Americans, characters like Atticus show us how one person can impact his surroundings if he has high morals. Although he couldn’t change the mindset of the other town residents , he made sure that his own children didn’t discriminate people, purely on the basis of their skin colour. Racism can be seen even in the first few chapters of the book. These racist comments by nonracist children typify the culture in which they were growing up.

Read More

More about Theme Of Social Divide In To Kill A Mockingbird

Related Topics

Open Document