In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill A Mockingbird, the theme of how prejudice and superstition can lead to injustice is seen through the characters Boo Radley, who is seen by many as a creep through rumors, Tom Robinson, who is found guilty even though all the evidence supports him just because and his skin color, and Dolphus Raymond, who feels comfort in the black community and is shamed upon by the white community, believing he has mental disorders. In the beginning of the story we are introduced to Boo Radley. Boo is Scout’s neighbor who is rumored to be locked in his house by his father because of his evil ways. Scout and Jem hear scary rumors of Boo stabbing his father and throwing poisoned pecans into the school yard. Scout and Jem perceive …show more content…
The superstition of Boo Radley being mentally disturbed leads to the injustice of being the butt of gossip and gaining a bad reputation. This reputation causes most of the people of Maycomb to avoid the Radley Place. Boo Radley feels this injustice which causes him to stay inside of his house. The second example of how superstition can lead to injustice happens in the Maycomb Courthouse to Tom Robinson. Tom is a black man accused of raping Mayella Ewell, a white woman. The crime of black man raping a white woman was taken very seriously in the South and was punished worse than murder. Later in the story Uncle Jack visits Atticus. When both think Scout and Jem are sleeping they begin to discuss the case. Uncle Jack questions how difficult the case will be for Atticus. Atticus explains that “ ‘The jury couldn't possibly be expected to take Tom Robinson's word against the Ewells', a white man's word is always accepted over the word of a black man’ ” (116-7). Atticus knows that his chances of winning the case is very slim. Atticus does his very best to try to get the all white jury to overlook Tom’s skin
In To Kill a Mockingbird, the main plot, the Tom Robinson case, parallels that of the Boo Radley subplot in many ways. In the Tom Robinson plot, Tom, a black man, gets falsely accused of savagely beating and raping Miss Mayella Ewell, a 19 year old girl who lives in poverty with her father, Bob Ewell, and her many younger siblings. Though the evidence points to Bob Ewell as the abuser, the townsfolk, including the jury, take the Ewell’s word over Tom’s purely because of his skin color. The subplot in this novel is focused on Arthur “Boo” Radley, the mysterious neighbor of the Finch family. They know very little about him, as he hasn’t left his house in many years. In the midst of the Tom Robinson case, the Boo Radley subplot trails off, almost
Sometimes, people discriminate one thing, but strongly oppose the discrimination of another thing. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, this issue is very much expressed throughout the story. This thought-provoking story takes place in Maycomb, Alabama during a time when there’s a rape trial against a falsely accused African American named Tom Robinson. There is also a discrimination, of sorts, towards a man named Boo Radley, by three young children named Jeremy “Jem” Finch, Jean Louise “Scout” Finch, and Charles “Dill” Baker Harris. Both Boo Radley and Tom Robinson are similar in their own ways through their inherent goodness.
According to To Kill a Mockingbird, two characters, Boo Radley and Tom Robinson, share appealing connections with each other throughout the book. I was astonished to realize at the end of the book that Radley and Robinson both are misjudged by the town of Maycomb, Alabama, without any justifications or reasons. I also realized from analyzing and reading the two stories conveys similar connections to our own social lives and culture of how people like Radley or Robinson were misjudged by their appearance and status. In the text, Boo Radley was misjudged from conspiracies and rumors that the kids- Jem, Scout, and Dill mention. The kids actually believe about these rumors that Boo Radley or Arthur was a ghost figure who never coming out from his
In the beginning of the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Scout Finch is a good-hearted, innocent five-year-old who has no experience with the evils of the world. However, throughout the novel, Scout has her first contact with the evils of the world in the form of prejudice. Arthur “Boo” Radley — one of the two cases — is a harmless human-being who falls victim to this evilness. Regarded as an evil person, Boo is the “ghost” of Maycomb and is used as the scapegoat for anything bad which happens. However, growing up in the house of Atticus Finch, Scout learns that humanity is evil at times, but there is also a lot of good humanity has to offer. Not only is there good, but what may seem evil at the time, if approached with an outlook
Both Arthur Radley and Tom Robinson are innocent victims to judgment by others in Maycomb. Superstitious attributes follow Arthur, while Tom is struck by racism and prejudice. Arthur Radley is thought of as an intimidating, phantom-like person. As Jem is describing Arthur to Dill, he tells him “inside the house lived a malevolent phantom” (Lee 8). Jem’s behavior represents the community’s perception of Arthur. Another way Arthur is misjudged is by the nickname that was given to him; “Boo”. This nickname was developed by the pe...
Throughout History, men have looked down on blacks and women. But this does not justify the view that blacks and women are below white men. When people look down on blacks and women, they preform injustice. Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is full of injustice. During this time period, everyone looked down on blacks and women, which makes Maycomb one in the same with the discriminators. In particular, the people in Maycomb looked down on Tom Robinson, and many others looked down on Scout. Around the Finch household, Aunt Alexandria always tries to do away with Calpurnia, the black housekeeper and cook as Alexandria says, “We don’t need her (Calpurnia) now.” (182). Injustices in Maycomb include the case of Tom Robinson, the way Aunt Alexandra treats Calpurnia, and the way people treat Scout.
Our first major character is Boo Radley, who is first introduced as Scout and Jem walk past the Radley house every day after school. Jem, Scout, and Dill are fascinated with the chilly stories of Boo’s past, spending many summers acting out his life and imagining what he is like. As the story progresses, the children come to realize that Boo was in fact an intelligent child, but was poorly treated by his “foot-washing Baptist” father, resulting in mental problems at a very young age. Boo Radley is one of the eponymous “mockingbirds” of the book, the other being Tom Robinson. Mockingbirds, as explained in the book by Atticus, “don't do one thing but make music for us to enjoy... but sing their hearts out for us. That is why it is a sin to kill a mockingbird." (90) The analogy holds true for Boo, a young boy damaged by his father’s ambitions, and is partially the reason he has shied away from society. He is already experienced the harmful effects of a racist/judgmental culture and realizes how evil society is. Towards the end of the book, Scout ...
A possible reason as to why the book was called “To Kill a Mockingbird” is because a mockingbird is a harmless and innocent animal. Therefore, when it is killed, peace is disturbed. In the story, Tom Robinson, a black man, was accused of raping Mayella Ewell, a white woman. Due to this, innocence and peace have been disturbed.
In a desperate attempt to save his client, Tom Robinson, from death, Atticus Finch boldly declares, “To begin with, this case should never have come to trial. This case is as simple as black and white” (Lee 271). The gross amounts of lurid racial inequality in the early 20th century South is unfathomable to the everyday modern person. African-Americans received absolutely no equality anywhere, especially not in American court rooms. After reading accounts of the trials of nine young men accused of raping two white women, novelist Harper Lee took up her pen and wrote To Kill a Mockingbird, a blistering exposition of tragic inequalities suffered by African Americans told from the point of view of a young girl. Though there are a few trivial differences between the events of the Scottsboro trials and the trial of Tom Robinson portrayed in To Kill a Mockingbird, such as the accusers’ attitudes towards attention, the two cases share a superabundance of similarities. Among these are the preservation of idealist views regarding southern womanhood and excessive brutality utilized by police.
This intolerance led to an unjust trial for Tom Robinson. Racism is responsible for most of the prejudice in To Kill A Mockingbird. Boo Radley was a victim of prejudice because after youthful pranks, his father confined him to their house. As a result, Boo became known as a "malevolent phantom. "
In the novel, ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ by Harper Lee some characters suffer in the hands of justice and fairness more than others. Many characters in the novel are discriminated against such as Calpurnia, Dolphus Raymond, Helen Robinson, Burris Ewell and more. However I will be focusing on the discrimination against Tom Robinson for his race, Walter Cunningham for his low socioeconomic status and Boo Radley for the rumors and supposed mental instability he holds. I chose those three because they are the most prominent and I will discuss how the discrimination against the characters therefore leads to their injustice or unfairness.
“There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest” Ellie Wiesel. Readers may find the amount of injustice in Harper lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird a little shocking. This could be why it’s such a popular book. People like the suspense of knowing someone’s right, but still being found guilty for something they did not do. There are many times throughout the book when people are powerless to prevent injustice but they still protest it. This shows that even when people unjustly punish there should always be someone to protest it. The theme of injustice is a common one in harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, whether it be through racism, misinformation, or Arrogance.
How would you like it if someone walked up to you and berated you based on the color of your skin? A characteristic like that isn’t even something you can control, so an insult of that nature can leave one furious and oppressed. Discrimination is inevitable in any culture, throughout history, in modern times, and even in ancient times. For example, the oppression and murder of 6 million Jewish people during the Holocaust, the African Slave Trade which occurred for multiple centuries, and more recently, the “ethnic cleansing” of Rohingya people in Myanmar, brought on by the government of the Asian nation, all of which are tragedies doomed to happen when history repeats itself and people do not learn
Tom Robinson was just a “respectable negro” with a kind nature who was accused in absence of wrong. Mr Robinson is immediately seen as an enemy by most in town of Maycomb. Is it because of his malicious personality? Is it because of his hair colour? Is it because he is arrogant? No, all of these are false he is instantly convicted because he is of a different ethnicity. It seems foolish but this is the reason why Maycomb has discarded a man who is of higher quality than the majority of the town. “Tom was a dead man the minute Mayella opened her mouth and screamed.” As soon as the trial began Tom’s opportunity for victory grew slimmer and slimmer and Maycomb knew that Atticus was fighting an unwinnable battle. But Atticus was determined to defend the ‘ultimate mockingbird’ right up until the end; even after the court case Atticus defends Tom at the jail. A final act of Tom’s innocence to prove his mockingbird status was whilst in court, he still didn’t want to accuse Mayella because “she seemed...
Injustices There have been many famous pieces of literature, but one that stands out is the 1960's classic To Kill a Mockingbird written by Harper Lee. Lee, who only wrote one book in her life time, wrote of prejudice, injustice, and racism in the 1930's. To Kill a Mockingbird takes place in the Deep South in the 1930's. To Kill a Mockingbird is a story in which a black mad is accused of doing something he didn't do. During the whole story some of the two of the main characters, Jem Finch and Jean Lousie Finch, grow up in there mind