Narrow-Mindedness Depicted in To Kill a Mockingbird

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To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Prompt: Explain how the fictional Maycomb County in Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird represents many of the societal problems we have today, and explain how Atticus Finch's empathy for a ll people serves as a model we should all follow.

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Narrow-mindedness in To Kill a Mockingbird

“I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience. I know no way of judging of the future but by the past.”-Edward Gibbon. There were many societal problems in To Kill a Mockingbird that were displayed such as, racism, child abuse, poverty, and alcohol/drug abuse. The main societal problem in To Kill a Mockingbird is narrow-mindedness. Despite Atticus’s strong efforts, the problem continued in the book. This is true in society today as well, our society has made steps to fix it, but narrow-mindedness is still around.

First, Racism and prejudice are examples of narrow-mindedness. There are many cases of racism in To Kill a Mockingbird, or as Atticus calls it “Maycomb’s usual disease”. Most of the characters in the book conformed to racism, and like Atticus said, “Only the children weep” when there are racism problems. Aunt Alexandra displays her racial discrimination when she gets upset because Calpurnia let Scout and Jem go to her church. Even their cousin, Francis, calls Atticus a “nigger-lover”. Mrs. Dubose says, “Your father’s [Atticus’s] no better than the niggers and trash he works for!” (135). We’ve made some major steps from racism, such as Obama becoming president, but it still exists. If you are a poor black person being on trial for a crime you can’t afford a good lawyer, so you are even more likely to ...

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...g speech, Atticus says “There is one institution that makes a pauper the equal of a Rockefeller, the stupid man the equal of an Einstein, and the ignorant man the equal of any college president. That institution is a court….In the name of god, do your duty.”(274). Also, he later says “The one place a man ought to get a square deal is in a courtroom be he any color of the rainbow…” (295).

“History does nothing it does not possess immense riches, it does not fight battles. It is men, real, living, who do all this”-Karl Marx. In order to fix the societal problem of being narrow-minded, we have to learn from what the character Atticus said and did in To Kill a Mockingbird. We have to look at the world from the other person’s point of view, and treat them how you want to be treated. As a society, we have to stick up for people are being treated unfairly.

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