Judging People in To Kill a Mocking Bird by Harper Lee

Martin Luther King said, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” Racism is still an issue that can be seen in the twenty-first century. Although, tons of progress has been made over the last century, some still hold on to racist beliefs. The majority of classic American literature demonstrates the racism that was present in the early twentieth century. By looking at the theme of race in the American classic, To Kill a Mockingbird, it is clear that people are quick to judge others based on their own opinions and feelings.
The novel To Kill a Mocking Bird is about a young girl named Jean Louise Finch, also referred to as Scout, growing up in the little town of Maycomb in Alabama during the time of the great depression. Scout’s father is a lawyer, so although it is the great depression their family is pretty well off. The book starts out with Scout, her brother Jem, and a boy named Dill who is spending the summer with his aunt. The three become good friends and enamored with their neighbor Boo-Radley, who is a man known for never stepping a foot outside his house. Town rumor says that Boo-Radley’s dad punished him for a brush up with the law when he was a teenager, by making him stay inside the house. As time passes Scout and Jem start to notice odd things happening near the Radley’s. Such as gifts being left in a hollowed out hole in the Radley’s oak tree. Although all the events that take place make the reader believe that Boo-Radley is a kind man, both Scout and Jem still find the thought of him terrifying. More time goes by and the children start getting called names, because their father agreed to ...

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...cording to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment,” New American Standard Bible, John 7:24. If we are not judging someone righteously, then we should not be judging. To judge someone righteously simply means that we judge them against the word of God, not against our own opinions or feelings. If we do not Judge righteously, then judging is not justified.
By looking at the theme of race in To Kill a Mockingbird, it is clear that people judge others based on their own opinion and feelings. Racism is a kind of judgment which is a judgment that people make based off their own feelings, for it is not a righteous judgment. God made all man in his image, colored or not all men are sons of God. Judging a colored person because of his appearance is not judging righteously, thus is not justified. If we judge the way God wants us too, then there is no harm in judging.