Why Is Tkam Taught In To Kill A Mockingbird

Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird is a classic still taught and read in school after it was first published 57 years ago. The story is told by the protagonist Jean Louise Finch, who goes by “Scout”. Scout lives in Maycomb, Alabama, with her older brother, Jeremy Finch, who goes by “Jem”, her father, Atticus Finch, and her African-American maid Calpurnia, who is a mother figure in their young lives. Throughout this story Scout and Jem go on adventures with their new companion Charles Baker Harris, who goes by “Dill”. They learn of a supposed neighbor who is a monster, Arthur Radley, who goes by “Boo”. Atticus Finch shows his kids,(Jem and Scout) a whole new perspective of the world from their young eyes by protecting an African-American male

However during this time period, prejudism was very popular against African-Americans, male or female. African-Americans were looked down on and pictured as the “minority”. Slavery was no longer a part of life but African-Americans were never treated as equals and as fair as the whites. You can tell this is shown throughout the story because of racial slurs the Finches were called everyday. Cecil Jacobs says, “Scout’s daddy is a ni***r lover” which ends up with Scout beating him up. Atticus is known as a “Ni***r lover”. Scout and Jem are very young so they do not get the whole concept of ‘Racism’ and with Calpurnia in their life and their exposure to other African-Americans and their community they understand that just like themself, they are normal people who get hated on for no reason, therefore they understand that Tom Robinson is innocent and being falsely accused of rape. Throughout the beginning of the story, Scout and Jem are recieving gifts that are placed inside a tree, they recieve gum, a broken pocket watch, a spelling bee medal, and many more gifts. One gift that Jem and Scout were freaked about were the soap dolls. They had recieved two soap dolls that looked exactly like them and they had wondered who was giving them these gifts. And who made the soap dolls because they must have seen them a lot to recognize even the tiniest details about

This is shown a lot by Jem and Scout’s father, Atticus. The entire town of Maycomb hates him for standing up for a African-American man and they threaten him, his family, and talk down on his name, but he does the right thing and he still continues to protect and defend Tom Robinson in the case. Atticus doesn’t talk about these things to his children so they end up hearing it from other people. Scout hears it from Cecil Jacobs at school on the play ground. Scout immediatly demands her father to tell her the full story and why her and her family get talked down on everyday. Atticus goes on and tells her that most of the townspeople don’t think he should be defending Tom Robinson, because it was unheard of a white person defending, or even being friends with a African-American in this time period. Atticus is know as a very good lawyer and he knows that he can do a good job in the court without putting in much effort. Atticus understands that Tom has no chance at winning this case without a good lawyer because of his race and the lack of people wanting to help him. Atticus shows that he is really comitted to the case because people that know he’s doing the right thing think that he is taking a huge risk, which he is. Atticus is defending Tom because he knows that he will not get a fair trial and Atticus wants to make sure that Tom does. Atticus only wants to tell the