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To Kill A Mockingbird Still Relevant Today

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Relevance in To Kill A Mockingbird We would all like to imagine a perfect world with no crimes, no injustice, or wrongdoing. Unfortunately, we do not live in such a world. In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, it is clear that some parts of her book are still relevant and meaningful in today's society and that it consolidates the message of racial inequality, stereotyping of women, and injustice. First and foremost, some may argue that racism is not relevant today because of the Civil Rights Movement, protests for the rights of African Americans, the Civil Rights Acts, and equality for African Americans rose in numbers. That may be accurate, but it is crucial to consider other restrictions that cause African Americans to lag and leave whites …show more content…

Calpurnia says they don’t have hymn books because most can not read them. African Americans in Maycomb County are uneducated compared to the white people in Maycomb County. This illustrates the inequality in education between the whites and the blacks. Even in this day and age, racial inequality is still present. According to recent data, “in 2011-12, only 57 percent of black students had access to a full range of math and science courses necessary for college readiness, compared to 81 percent of Asian American students and 71 percent of white students”(UNCF). Even though there have been measures put in place for equality, there are still aspects of our society that show that people of color have fewer opportunities or are left behind compared to white people. For this reason, To Kill a Mockingbird is relevant and important when speaking of racial discrimination and inequality today. Another relevant theme from the book that connects to today is stereotypes of women. Indeed, stereotyping women is not as frequent as before, but it is still an issue that is in our society. However, certain traits such as the color pink, jobs, makeup, and gossiping are associated with women by many

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To kill a mockingbird was a political statement, yet it was not meant for the public to so widely see. In To Kill a Mockingbird, the award winning novel by Harper Lee, many important topics are touched upon with themes such as family and justice, however, the most prevalent theme is racism and Harper Lee manages to touch upon it many times. Race in Maycomb County helps to determine social class and power, it also creates an unspoken set of rules regarding code of conduct and how many people interact in their relationships, both interracial and not. In Maycomb County race is a major determining factor in a person’s positioning in the social hierarchy.

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507 Words | 3 Pages

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee and Dear Martin by Nic Stone are two powerful works of literature that explore themes of prejudice, discrimination, and racism in America. These two novels not only showcase the impact of racism on individuals but also bring attention to the issue of equity. Although both novels have different plots and settings, they both present thought-provoking themes that highlight the importance of equity in society. This essay will compare the themes of equity presented in Part one of To Kill a Mockingbird and Dear Martin using two pieces of text evidence from each book.

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641 Words | 3 Pages

Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird shows how racism affected people in the 1930’s and how terrible people were treated. Since then, things have changed and racism is not a problem. Racism has changed drastically since the 1930’s; now we do not have a big problem compared to how big of a problem it was in the 30’s. In Harper Lee’s

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1088 Words | 5 Pages

Because of this, many historians lacked in taking into consideration that black people were individuals with varying opinions and thoughts and not just one ethnic group, and African-Americans have been put into situations they are isolated from the rest of American and stripped of their individualism. This closed mindset society has used in the past has been the driving force behind things like slavery and

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254 Words | 2 Pages

In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird, one of the most significant themes is race and social class cause inequalities. For example, the all-white jury decided an innocent black man’s verdict, when Judge Taylor polled the group, the vote was unanimous “guilty… guilty… guilty… guilty…” (Lee 112). The white men were all considered of higher class than Tom and going into the trial they all already knew the outcome. Furthermore, Bob knew that he could use Tom to cover up his mistakes and once he got his daughter to go along, “Tom was a dead man the minute Mayella Ewell opened her mouth and screamed” (Lee 128).

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538 Words | 3 Pages

In the United States, we may say that social and economic discrimination no longer exists, however, racism and classism still apply in society today. An example of this is in Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, when Atticus Finch suspects that Mayella Ewell’s injuries don't match up to the story she and her father Bob Ewell are telling, so Atticus asks Tom Robinson to catch a ball and he catches it with his right hand as opposed to Bob Ewell who is left-handed. In the scene, Lee uses characterization and dialogue that Mayella uses to convey the theme that racism and classism rely on power structures that serve to diminish the importance of other human lives. This is important to the novel because it shows how racism affects the town of Maycomb. They knew Bob Ewell hit his daughter, but because Tom Robinson was a black man, he fell in the lowest class in their society.

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860 Words | 4 Pages

The novel “To Kill A Mockingbird” was written in 1960 by Harper Lee in the point of view of a young innocent girl named Scout. One of the main messages that Lee has (need a new word than – indicated or set out) is racism, it plays an important role which strongly impacts many character’s lives unfairly and changes the relationship between two. Harper Lee’s “To Kill A Mockingbird” shows that it is wrong to hurt someone who does no harm to you, for example, black people are innocent but no way did they have as many rights as white people did. Black people lived hard lives because society was judgemental, irrational and most importantly, racist. As Scout and Jem grow older they learn to cope, take responsibility and are introduced to new aspects of life, one of which is racism.

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1311 Words | 6 Pages

What make a classic timeless? Italo Calvino once said, “A classic is a book that has never finished saying what it has to say.” Therefore, a classic is something timeless and abiding, which has a meaning that goes beyond analysis, and appears to have no absolute end to its significance. In order to be a “timeless classic”, a novel must have characters that are dynamic and complex and a timeless theme. Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird is a “timeless classic” because, throughout the course of the novel, Harper Lee creates dynamic and complex characters that give the reader a sense of realism and a timeless theme that readers of all eras are able to relate to.

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759 Words | 4 Pages

To kill a MockingBird is a novel that shows discrimination and all different kinds of stereotypes. The story takes place in the 30's during the Great Depression and uses a young girls view (scout) to show how bad it was and that these acts of discrimination had a bad affect on people. I believe that To kill a Mockingbird is still relevant today because many of the problems and things that happened in the book still happened today and although we are trying to stop discrimination by making new laws and enforcing them it still happeneds quite often. To Kill a Mockingbird still relates today because of Sexism, Racism and political injustices. Society might tell us that racism isn't as big as a problem then it accually is but in reality racism is

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1187 Words | 5 Pages

Being able to completely understand and follow the different language in To Kill a Mockingbird is one thing, but to decide whether or not it’s still relevant is another thing. Well this book still is relevant and yes some may say that this book is history and we should be reading about the future and present not about the past, but our past is the most important because we can read about the mistakes made and not make them again. To Kill a Mockingbird is based around the civil rights movement and that means that there was a lot of racism happening during the novel. Even though To Kill a Mockingbird is considered an “older” novel and currently it’s the 21st century and not all students enjoy reading this book in their schools but the novel should stay in these curriculums because of the hard times in the civil rights movement

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1117 Words | 5 Pages

Why To Kill A Mockingbird is a timeless classic Through the story of, To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee is a mostly a classic due to Lee’s usage of sensory details to immerse the reader and propel the story along along with using characterization to make characters more relatable but falls short on appealing to a middle and upper-class demographic instead of just a poorer group when talking about the Ewell family. It is important for stories to create a rich world because that is much more enjoyable and immersive for the readers. Rich worlds are one of the number one categories for not only good books but also classics. It is also crucial for a timeless classic to be relatable so that readers are able to get hooked on a story.

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976 Words | 4 Pages

To Kill a Mockingbird Argumentative Essay Racial equality and discrimination is a founding issue that has been spread throughout every part of the world, To Kill A Mockingbird was written and published by Harper Lee in 1960, this time was dominated by civil rights protests and some of the first hippie movements following the crushing reality of the Vietnam War, the 60s also saw the struggle against segregation and racial equality. It is no surprise that the extreme political conflict affecting her life and world would greatly impact her writing and influence how she perceived the world during the writing of To Kill a Mockingbird. the influence of the fight for racial inequality is shown greatly in her book as she depicts the everyday life

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1022 Words | 5 Pages

“To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee highlights the importance of being a community and standing up for what’s right. This topic is still relevant in todays society because we see this with police brutality and racial profiling. The main theme of the novel is racism, which unfortunately is still shown in society today not as severe as the 1930s but the progress is slow. I think the 21st century has made a lot of progress, but as time moves on society as a whole has taken multiple steps back.

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1108 Words | 5 Pages

In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee demonstrates that social inequality breaks down a society through the use of conflict, symbolism and irony. Social inequality plays a pivotal role in the novel because the whole conflict between Bob and Tom is wrapped in it. From the first accusation to the final conviction inequality is intertwined in every paragraph, every word. To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel that stands the test of time because while our society has made improvements, inequality will never truly go away. This novel displays characters you relate to, ones you despise, and all that you fall in love with.

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1200 Words | 5 Pages

Common sense is basically can be understood as follow. That is, when an individual is able to judge and able to understand certain matters that is already expected by majority of people in the society; without the need of any specific nor detailed explanation. As Miller (2017) have stated, there are mainly 2 philosophical term of common sense which have been derived from a philosophical debate. The first philosophical term is proposed by Aristotle.

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