Injustices from the 1930s Represented in Literature Throughout history, there are many examples of human inequality. In the 1930s, prejudice and stereotypes were prevalent as shown in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. Though many characters in the novel face these injustices, they all do so with courage and grace in the face of adversity. The events that occured in Tom Robinson’s trial are one example of Inequality in the novel. When Mr. Gilmer questions Tom, he frequently calls Tom, “Boy” which shows the disrespect allowed by the court toward african americans. In addition, Bob Ewell even goes to the extreme of using a racial slur when he states, “I see that black nigger yonder ruttin’ on my Mayella!” (231). These cynical words was permitted by the court, which shows the injustice occurring in the 1930s. After all of the testimonies, Tom Robinson is convicted of a crime he did not commit by a white jury. Later, Tom Robinson is lead to his demise. The fact that the Jim Crow Laws do not allow Tom Robinson’s peers to serve on the jury is the most shameful injustice. …show more content…
The entire black community is relegated to the balcony so they are segregated from the white crowd. This isn’t a desirable location due to the fact that there is no air conditioner in this time. Jim Crow Laws made it especially difficult to obtain a job. This is especially true for Helen Robinson. Calpurnia explains to Scout why it is difficult for Helen when she states, “It’s because of what folks say Tom’s done… Folks aren’t anxious to -- to have anything to do with his family” (164). Finally, the mindset of many with people perpetuates the practice of the Jim Crow Laws. For examples, Aunt Alexandra is not accepting of Calpurnia as a member of the Finch pedigree. She feels that a family is established by breeding
Tom Robinson is a hard-working African American in the town of Maycomb, Alabama. However, his life takes a tragic turn when he is accused of raping Mayella Ewell, daughter of the town’s least respected citizen, Tom Ewell. When he goes to court , even with the very capable Atticus Finch as his lawyer, his future looks grim. Regardless of the information that Tom Robinson and Atticus had provided that proved Tom as innocent, he was still found guilty. The reader can then conclude that the only explanation for this is that Tom Robinson was guilty not of rape, but of his being black. During the trial, Atticus states that, “She was white, and she tempted a Negro. She did something that in our society is unspeakable: she kissed a black man. Not an old uncle, but a strong young Negro man. No code mattered to her before she broke it, but it comes crashing down on her afterwards.” Atticus also states that, "Which, gentlemen, we know is in itself a lie as black as Tom Robinson's skin, a lie I do not have to point out to you. You know the truth, and the truth is this: some Negroes lie, some Negroes are immoral, some Negro men are not to be trusted around women—black or white. But this is a truth that applies to the human race and to no particular race of men. There is not a person in this courtroom who has never told a lie, who has never done an immoral thing, and there is no man living who has never looked upon a
Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird explores the concept of injustice and her readers are introduced to a society where the social hierarchy dominated acts of humanity. We are often put into situations where we witness member of society be inhumane to one another in order to fit into the community and to act selfishly to save yourself. Within the text, we are also commonly shown the racial discrimination that has become society’s norm. Because of the general acceptance of these behaviours, it is explicitly show to all that the major theme Lee is trying to portray is ‘Man’s inhumanity to man’.
In chapter 10 of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, an allegory for racism, prejudice, and injustice is created through the mad dog Tim Johnson as he wanders through the small southern town of Maycomb to find a place to die. The mad dog's physical descriptions, his death by Atticus's gun, and his disposal after death all combine to shape him to be a symbol for the injustice and racism that occurred during the Great Depression. Tim Johnson plays a pivotal part in Lee's narrative and portrays the story's central themes of justice and morality.
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.
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.
It is easy to understand why this novel has become a classic and a must-read for everyone around the world. Written and published in the 1960’s, society was still struggling with prejudice and discrimination, and this book caused a huge impact on the world’s perspective. Even today, “To Kill a Mockingbird” continues to impart valuable lessons to anyone who decides to wilfully read and understand it. Prejudice and inequality are both ideas imposed by ignorance and closed minds, and people need to become more understanding and tolerant of other ideas, races, religions, and ways of life; it is essential in order to achieve a world in which love, rather than hatred, drives us all to make a change.
The colour of one’s skin does not indicate a class, it indicates a community of people. The novel To Kill A Mockingbird sets place during the 1930’s in a small rural county of Macomb, Alabama. In the novel, Atticus Finch is a civil, intelligent, and an idealistic father of the two main characters named Scout and Jem. He is a white liberal Alabama lawyer who is against racism and is not ashamed to defend Tom Robinson, an innocent African-American. In the novel, Tom Robinson is falsely accused of raping a young white woman named Mayella Ewell due to his ethnic group by Meyella herself along with her father Bob Ewell. Racial discrimination is the worst kind of prejudice in the community which has an extremely effective impact on the characters
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.
In the novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, racism is a major theme. Atticus Finch, the narrator’s father, defends a negro, Tom Robinson, in the court of law against a white man, Bob Ewell. Robinson had reportedly raped a young white girl, Mayella Ewell. But according to Robinson he had gone to help Mayella, as he often did, with work around the house. As he starts helping Mayella, she tries to get Tom to kiss her and will not let him out of the house. Bob Ewell sees this and chases Tom out of the house and accuses him of raping his daughter. Atticus goes against almost everyone in Maycomb County’s opinion in defending Tom Robinson. Throughout the course of the novel, racism effects many characters such as Tom and Helen Robinson, Scout and Jem Finch, and Mayella and Bob Ewell. All these characters had there lives
Injustice of people based on race “...my father had fought for him all the way.’ Then Mr. Underwood’s meaning became clear: Atticus had used every tool available to free men to save Tom Robinson, but in the secret courts of men’s hearts Atticus had no case.’ Tom was a dead man the minute Mayella Ewell opened her mouth and screamed” (pg. 323). The trial is shown as injustice because an innocent man goes to jail. Injustice isn’t just shown in the trial it’s shown throughout the whole book, multiple characters (like Tom Robinson, Atticus, Dolphus Raymond) in To Kill A Mockingbird were discriminated against due to the color of their skin and who they associated with.
Fear is a survival response to anything that may possibly endanger you. Fear is the cause for most emotions, rules, words and actions. Fear of what you don't know can cause hate. Hatred is anger, and anger is a response to being hurt or upset; the unknown is upsetting. Scout Finch, the naive child in Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird" is realizing that even though people are afraid of ignorance, they protect it vehemently. She sees fear overpowering reason in symbolic ways, in events she witnesses, and through characters she interacts with. It makes sense to her that one would try to understand what they are afraid of, but sometimes fear can overwhelm logic.
“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.
There was always hatred for each other throughout the story, such as the Ewell’s feeling for the African American, Tom Robinson.
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
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