Harper Lee's novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, has gained much controversy over the years for the contents found within. These contents include racist themes engineered to bring light and context to the book's historical setting in a racist America, giving the book a sense of reality. However, some libraries have chosen to ban the book for the racism and racial slurs as well as descriptions of rape. Because it gives a valuable piece of narrative fiction as a true-to-life account of racist America through the eyes of a child, Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird should not be banned in libraries and schools for the racism, racial slurs, and descriptions of rape.
The racism depicted inside To Kill a Mockingbird is as true to reality as reality itself. This was life for the common people of America during this time period, for whites were considered superior to blacks. It gives important context to a time that, while considered highly offensive, is essential to the book and its effect. In the time the narrative takes place, racism is a commonplace doctrine of the people. In fact, you were shamed for believing in racial equality. The atmosphere of this period is highly segregated and offensive, and as a novel meant to give a realistic eyewitness account of the time
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For the average person, these words were common phrases inside of the society used to defame what they perceived as the inferior race. You couldn't go about your day in this time period without hearing this said at least once, no matter which side of the racist dynamic you were on. The slurs and derogatory phrases used in the book give important detail of the degree of racism in the then modern American society. One would not truly understand what it would be like to be in this time period, experiencing what these characters were experiencing, unless you also heard the colloquial terms they heard every