Examples Of Racial Prejudice In To Kill A Mockingbird

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Welcome to the Weekly Column. Today’s topic is about the idea of racial prejudice in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird written by Harper Lee. The reason for this choice of topic today is to educate you on racial prejudice, conveyed through perspectives of characters in the novel which relate to our society today. The events, the shooting of Trayvon Martin and the Charleston Church shooting support this idea and can hopefully open your eyes to the dreadful racist acts still happening today. Since none of you are black people in the 1930’s, I will have to show you what it was like for them at the time.

The black man walks into the courtroom with his white lawyer. He sits ready to be charged for a crime he didn’t even commit. The jury is seated …show more content…

Racial prejudice is sick, the idea that one race has power over another is wrong and inhumane. This is why To Kill a Mockingbird is so effective. It conveys the idea that a man can choose to not be consumed by the racial prejudice in a society. Whilst his actions opposing racism can, in fact, change other people's views as well. Atticus Finch; A hero? Some may say so. A man rife with racial prejudice? No, which shows the contrast between him and the society of Maycomb, Alabama, where To Kill a Mockingbird is set. What Atticus Finch is, is a man with strong moral integrity. A man who knows right from wrong, and a role model to his beloved children Jem and Scout. Atticus is a single father and a lawyer who chooses to defend Tom Robinson, a black man accused of rape against Mayella Ewell. Atticus chooses this case knowing he won’t win, but wants to slowly make a change to the racist society consuming Maycomb. Atticus states he knows the short term outcome of this case when he says, “that boy might be going to the chair, but he ain’t going till the truth is told.” Even though there was hard evidence that Tom didn’t commit the crime, he was found guilty of the charge. Atticus sees a way to start a change to racism by showing how corrupt the justice system is. He also sees a change by showing the next generation that racism is wrong and we see Atticus teach Jem and Scout …show more content…

In To Kill a Mockingbird Scout narrates the novel through her retrospective adult view being interweaved with her child’s view. The child perspective showcases the racial prejudice in Maycomb and draws attention to the reality people faced in the 1930’s. Scout as a child had a lack of knowledge about racial discrimination which emphasised all this. Scout shows her innocence within this racist society by innocent questions which wouldn’t usually be asked by adults. This is because they would be seen as rude and unacceptable. Scout questioned Calpurnia after attending a black church asking why she acted differently around blacks. Scout as a child asked why, because she didn’t understand at the time. We then get the retrospective adult view state, “That Calpurnia lived a double life never dawned on me. The idea she had a separate existence outside our household was a novel one, to say nothing of her having command of two languages.” This explains that when Scout was young she didn’t know why or think that Calpurnia had another life outside their household. This is because Scouts childlike perspective isn’t understanding enough to know the racial prejudice in that time. Blacks were segregated by whites. So by using Scout as the narrator we get an idea of the racism present in Maycomb. Whilst throughout the story we see racist remarks occur repeatedly. Unfortunately in society today, there are still racist opinions about blacks and commit

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