Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “That which we call sin in others is experiment for us.” We constantly criticize others for doing wrong, while in truth, we are doing actions that are equally despicable. In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, a historical fiction novel, we are introduced to a six-year old child, Scout, living in Maycomb, Alabama. She experiences hypocrisy in her once believed to be perfect society. Throughout the novel and the court case – in which Tom Robinson is accused of raping Mayella Ewell – Scout sees the severe injustice in her society. Even though Atticus, Scout’s dad, defended Tom well, Tom was still convicted of rape. Later, her and her brother, Jem, were attacked by Bob Ewell because he was mad at the Finches for …show more content…
For example, Mrs. Merriweather is prejudiced towards black people in Maycomb, and always believes she is the holy figure; she gossips, “‘Sophy…you simply are not being a Christian today. Jesus Christ never went around grumbling and complaining’” (Lee 232). This clearly demonstrates Mrs. Merriweather’s hypocrisy; even though she whines about her black servant complaining, she is clearly doing the same thing at the moment. It is ironic that she is bashing her servant on complaining, yet Mrs. Merriweather is doing the exact same. Her social status makes her think she is better than a black person, doing everything correctly, but in reality, she is hypocritical. She has a mindset of expecting everyone to be perfect and become subservient to her, yet doesn’t realize her own flaws. Furthermore, Miss Gates is also consumed by prejudice in thinking about how “it’s time someone taught ‘em a lesson, [the blacks] were getting’ way above themselves, an’ the next thing they think they can do is marry us” (Lee 247). Although she believes “[America] is a democracy and Germany is a dictatorship”, she clearly knows that Tom Robinson wasn’t given a democratic jury (Lee 245). Again, Miss Gates talks about the sinful actions Hitler committed against the Jews, wanting people to be a perfect figure; yet at the same time, she believes that black people did not …show more content…
For example, the smokers in this world see the damage smoking can do on their lungs. They caution kids and other children to not smoke, but they themselves smoke without thinking about the consequences. Smokers will usually give the excuse that they cannot get off of the addiction, even though they have not actually ever tried to. They create lies to themselves to force it into their minds that they are right and that it is not dangerous to smoke for them. In reality, they are rejecting the truth and becoming hypocrites. They believe that telling others not to smoke is an effective way to warn others and create a better generation, but they don’t realize that still smoking themselves will encourage others to smoke. Furthermore, people in our society constantly bash the celebrities for being greedy and not sharing enough of their wealth. These envious people who actually rise to that level become the same “monsters” they called the celebrities; these newly rich people are also consumed by greed and use the money for themselves. Our society constantly believes the evil behind wealthy people, but if put in their social class, they would end up doing the same thing. People want to see a perfect world, but don’t understand that they have underlying greed themselves. Moreover, our society always says that we are fair towards a certain race. In college admissions,
For example, throughout the novel "Huckleberry Finn ", Mark Twain depicts society as a structure that has become little more than a collection of degraded rules and precepts that defy logic. This faulty logic manifests itself early, when the new judge in town allows Pap to keep custody of Huck. "The law backs that Judge Thatcher up and helps him to keep me out o' my property." The judge privileges Pap's "rights" to his son over Huck's welfare. Clearly, this decision comments on a system that puts a white man's rights to his "property"--his slaves--over the welfare and freedom of a black man.
The novel How to Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee contains one overbearing theme: extreme prejudice. Throughout the novel “Scout” and her brother “Jem”; their real names being Jean Louise Finch and Jeremy Atticus Finch respectively, are victims and perpetrators of prejudice. In the novel, the children’s father Atticus Finch is the defense attorney for Mr. Tom Robinson, a black man convicted of raping white women with only circumstantial evidence. This evidence only pointing to Mayella Ewell being assaulted not by him; but by her father, Mr. Bob Ewell. Tom Robinson is only a victim of prejudice, alongside a multitude of people, all because of gender, socioeconomic, and/or racial aspects of their lives.
The theme that I see in To Kill A Mockingbird is that there is hypocrisy in Prejudice. As Scout goes about her life, the reader notices Prejudice everywhere including the school. When Cecil speaks in class after the current event Presentation on World War 2, He says “There are no better people in the world than the Jews, and why Hitler doesn’t think so is a mystery to me...well, I don’t know for certain, they’re supposed to change money or somethin’, but that ain’t no cause to persecute ‘em, they’re white ain’t they?” (Lee 248). Cecil says he doesn't understand why Hitler would hate Jews, because all the Jews did was help, yet he makes it clear that anyone that if they were not white then it was alright to persecute them, though like the Jews
When Scout is with The Ladies Missionary Club she starts to pick up on hypocrisy. They want to help the African kids, but they do not want to help the African-Americans in their own town! They are also they are prejudiced against the black community in Maycomb. Another time Scout becomes aware of hypocrisy is with her teacher Miss Gates. As Scout starts to pick up on hypocrisy, Harper Lee is showing another way Scout is growing up. “Over here we don’t believe in persecuting anybody. Persecution comes from people who are prejudiced” (281). This quote is from Miss Gates is full of irony. She says this to her class as she is trying to describe persecution to her class. She does not think Hitler should victimize the Jews. However, Miss Gates persecutes the black community in Maycomb. She clearly shows her hypocrisy during the trial when she persecutes Tom Robinson. Therefore, Scout picks up on hypocrisy and prejudices in the people of Maycomb. Finally, Scout establishes an understanding of
Jem and Scout had learned a lot over the years about racism, social inequality, and “the simple hell people give to each other” (269). Maycomb’s citizens are unaware of the actions they make and ignore the consequences. Certain people are judged just for their appearance such as a black man. They are judged just like the cover of a book, where Maycomb is unable to open the book and read it. Even the mockingbirds are judged unfairly due to the uncertainty of society to actually learn something about the person and understand. Ultimately, Mr. Dolphus Raymond, Mayella Ewell, and the Cunninghams are all innocent; but Maycomb’s citizens, contaminated with racism and prejudice, are unable to read and understand one another.
“...Mayella’s recital had given her confidence, but it was not her father’s brash kind: there was something stealthy about hers, like a steady-eyed cat with a twitchy tail” (Lee, 242). In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, Tom Robinson was a black 25-year-old man. Mayella Ewell is a white nineteen-year-old female whose family was at the bottom of the social class and everyone in the town disliked them. She accused Tom Robinson of raping her in her own home causing the case to go to court. Atticus Finch defended Tom in court because he knew Tom’s trial would be acquittal which they could have won the case, but Tom was shot seventeen times in jail. In the trial Atticus Finch’s children Scout and Jem learn their opinion on how racist
In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, many different themes come into view. One major theme that played a big role in the character’s lives is racial prejudice. Racism is an unending problem throughout the book. The song “Message from a Black Man” by The Temptations has many similarities to the theme of racial discrimination. Therefore, both the novel and the song prove that racism was a great obstacle for some people at a point.
It is a sin to kill a mockingbird, mockingbirds are innocent birds that do not do one harm thing, but makes music for ones to enjoy. Tom Robinson is one of the novel’s “mockingbirds”, he is innocent but he was falsely convicted of rape and got killed. In a court, black man had never won over a white person. Tom Robinson, a black man was accused of raping Mayella Ewell, Mr. Ewell’s daughter. Atticus defends Tom Robinson because he had been appointed to defend for him, but it is also because of his morals. “Mr. Finch, I tried. I tried to 'thout bein' ugly to her. I didn't wanta be ugly, I didn't wanta push her or nothing” (Lee 260). During...
Throughout the book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, situation ethics are raised and are present within many of the actions taken by the people of Maycomb, Alabama. When Atticus’ children, Jem and Scout, were attacked by Bob Ewell and was later found that Boo Radley was the one that killed him, both Sheriff Heck Tate and Atticus lied in order to protect him and they took the law into their own hands. It is also seen that Bob Ewell, an unemployed, drunk man that belongs to one of the poorest families in Maycomb, accuses Tom Robinson, a black man, of raping Mayella and lied at the trial. Bob Ewell’s case differs from Heck Tate and Atticus’ Case since they lied in order to protect Boo Radley and Ewell only lied in order to help himself and in spite.
Have you ever judged someone because of their race or how they live? If so, It means you are prejudice and there are plenty of examples of it in To Kill a Mockingbird. Harper Lee began To Kill a Mockingbird in the mid-1950s, after moving to New York to become a writer. She completed the novel in 1957 and published it in 1960, just before the peak of the American civil rights movement. Critical response to To Kill a Mockingbird was mixed: a number of critics found the narrative voice of a nine-year-old girl unconvincing and called the novel overly moralistic. Nevertheless, in the racially charged atmosphere of the early 1960s. In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird, prejudice is described as judging someone without knowing them, and Racial and
Prejudice has been present in society since the beginning of the United States. For example, the Scottsboro Boys being accused and charged with rape. The Judicial System during that time allowed race, skin color, and religion to affect the trials. Because of their skin color, the boys did not get a fair trial and were sentenced to years in prison, with some spending their whole life in prison. Few of the boys served their full time in prison and were set free, but they had a difficult time finding job due to their background with the law. In the novel, Harper Lee wanted the readers to know that prejudice can cloud the judgement of people, bring out the hatred, and also wants readers to put themselves in other’s position, so they would be less
Injustice In the world today there is a say that is widely used and go something like this, “Life just has not been fair to me.” No one in To Kill a Mockingbird written by Harper Lee understands this more then Tom Robinson who had his act of kindness stab him in the back. Humans act in many different ways when being unfairly treated, some act in shock while others act in anger or frustration. In Tom Robinson’s case the result of his mistreatment sadly moved him to suicide. People who I feel like were treated unjustly in this book are Scout, Atticus, and Tom Robinson.
Prejudice victims are affected by unjustified or incorrect judgment that directly impacts their lives. Billy Graham, a promoter of peace, argues that, "Racial prejudice, anti-Semitism, or hatred of anyone with different beliefs has no place in the human mind or heart" (Billy Graham). As Billy Graham said, prejudice is a common and alarming problem in the twentieth century that should not have a place in society. In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird, prejudice is the result of ignorance, as seen through Arthur Radley and Tom Robinson.
Hypocrisy is as much a part of Maycomb’s society as church and community spirit. For example, Mrs. Merriweather talks about saving the poor Mruans from Africa, but she thinks black people in her community are a disgrace (p.234). The hypocrisy of this teaching is shown as soon as she mentions the word ‘persecution’. This is due to the fact that she herself is persecuting the black people of Maycomb by not raising an eyebrow at the killing of innocent black men. Furthermore, it is obvious Bob Ewell is abusive to his daughter, Mayella, and that he is the one who violated her, not Tom Robinson (p.178). Since there is such hypocrisy in Maycomb, there are excuses made for whites. The jury probably thinks that if they pronounce Tom innocent the citizens will mock them as they do to Atticus. Harper Lee uses hypocrisy to show how the people of Maycomb are so engulfed in a variety of elements that they unknowingly complete acts of unjustified discrimination.
Mrs Merriweather is known as the “most devout woman in Maycomb” (236), a supposed paragon of good grace and empathy, yet she is perhaps one of the most brutal characters in the book. While attending Aunt Alexandra’s Missionary Tea, Mrs Merriweather preaches to her fellow ladies the state of poverty the Mruna people are forced to live in. She begins to tear up when she is reminded of how horrible it is that white people won’t go near them, without even realizing the hypocrisy present in her words. What Mrs Merriweather fails to acknowledge is that she does the exact same thing with the black people living in her own town. She berates her maid, Sophy, for mourning the death of Tom Robinson, claiming that there’s "nothing more distracting than a sulky darky.” (233) Just like the white people with the Mruna, Mrs Merriweather is disillusioned from the plights of oppressed men and women in her own town, and even admits to wanting to live apart from them, saying, “you live your way and we’ll live ours.” (232) While it is easy for Mrs Merriweather to feel compassion in the abstract sense, her own actions directly contradict her claims of being righteous and