To Kill A Mockingbird Equality Analysis

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.

For instance, there are numerous times that equality plays a big role throughout this novel. The

The first time the novel introduces Boo, it is easy to tell right away that people do not treat him the same as everyone else because they treat him as a monster or non-human. The first time that it is very clear that Boo is not treated as any other person is a quote that comes from Jem in Chapter 1, “Boo was about six-and-a-half feet tall, judging from his tracks; he dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch, that’s why his hands were bloodstained…” (Lee 13). This helps display that people treat Boo like a monster. Jem describes him as being a person that catches cats and squirrels to eat which helps support that he thinks Boo is a monster. Also, he uses the word tracks which seems as if he is trying to say Boo has monstrous feet that would leave tracks not prints. Another quote that also comes from Jem is him explaining once again how Boo Radley’s appearance is not as normal as other people, “...what teeth he had were yellow and rotten; his eyes popped, and he drooled most of the time” (Lee 13). This piece of text also shows that people treat Boo much like a monster because of the description of the way his teeth and eyes are. The next time that people describe Boo like he is non human is when Jem is dared by Dill to touch the Radley front door, “You’re too scared even to put your big toe in the front yard” (Lee 13). Dill says this saying Jem is not man enough to put even his toe

Throughout the whole trial there are multiple times when anyone who reads the novel knows that he is not getting a fair shake. The first time is when Atticus delivers his closing remarks and he says something that is very powerful and also very true about the case and Tom receiving an unfair trial, “To begin with, this case should never have come to trial. This case is as simple as black and white” (Lee 203). What Atticus explains is that no matter how plain it is to everyone that Tom is innocent and could not have commited the crime, it does not matter because one thing is certain, Tom is black. And the jury being white means he has no chance at winning, it’s truly sad, but during the time of the trial that 's just how society works. But, nevertheless this is how the times are and a black person never really has a chance in the court system, because they weren’t treated the same as white people. Another time that it is very clear that people don’t treat Tom the same as white people is when people refer to him as a “nigger.” The first example of this is at the Finch landing on Christmas when Scout and Cousin Francis get into a fight after Francis says something to Scout about Atticus, “He’s nothin’ but a nigger-lover” (Lee 83). This quote very clearly shows that people treat Tom differently when Cousin Francis says