To Kill A Mockingbird Literary Analysis

To Kill a Mockingbird: Literary Analysis

Back when laws separating whites and blacks existed in the United States of America, whites felt they were “superior” to blacks and felt the need to prove it to them. This marked an immense piece of American history, and influenced numerous things such as books and movies. For example, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee revolves around this ideology. As the story progresses, it is evident as to what caused Harper Lee to take her story in this orientation. Harper Lee’s novel has a lot of heavy influence of the Jim-Crow Laws and how these unfair laws were installed in opposition to the black community.

Firstly, public facilities always had separation rules for whites and blacks. One source says that

A quote from the novel that Atticus states explaining this theory is “In our courts, when it's a white man's word against a black man's, the white man always wins” (Lee 295). Atticus means to say that our society is more likely to believe a white man since they are more “trustworthy” and because of the barrier the Jim-Crow laws put between the two races. It was very hard for the blacks to fight for righteousness since the courthouse favored the whites. In one article’s view it states “it was one more link in a system of segregation that had to be defended at all times — lest it collapse. Thus transit was a logical point of attack for the foes of segregation, in the courtroom” (“Jim Crow Laws”). This article’s point is that the whites were more likely to be believed than the blacks since that was the way how society was. It is said in this novel “..You’ll see white men cheat black men every day of your life, but let me tell you something and don’t you forget it-whenever a white man does that to a black man, no matter who he is, how rich he is, or how fine a family he comes from, that white man is trash” (Lee 295). In other words, Atticus believes that cheating someone else is wrong and that you aren’t a good person if you do so. These pieces of evidence all mainly show that a white man was most likely to win a case than a black man fighting against one. As the story progressed, the case of Tom Robinson was unfortunately lost as well, and he resulted going to jail. When Atticus is telling his children about Tom Robinson’s case he states "Tom Robinson's a colored man, Jem. No jury in this part of the world's going to say 'We think you're guilty, but not very' on a charge like that. It was either a straight acquittal or nothing"(Lee 219). This statement has a connection with the Jim-Crow Laws since these laws and society prosecuted blacks