The 1930’s were times of segregation and mistreatment of the black community. Although slavery had been abolished several years prior, people were still hostile toward this adjustment. Anytime a black or yellow person acted out or against social norm, as the whites would call it, they would be enraged. The white people could not see the damage caused by the unethical murderous acts they had been committing. Most of the whites of that time sat so comfortably upon their high horses, and were filled with the idea of being the superior of races.
Even Atticus explains to Jem and Scout that women are not allowed to serve on juries simply because they are women. He comments that women are too talkative and that justice would be halted or impeded by their many questions if they were allowed to serve on juries. These three forms of prejudice ? race, class, and sex -- are integrated into the novel and the society of Maycomb, which serves as a symbol of the southern way of life in the 1930?s. With these tools, Lee creates a graphic picture of a restrictive society which prefers to cling blindly to what has always been, rather than change its ways and accept change and progress.
Gaines shows every white point of view towards blacks in this novel through the progression of the most backward to the most forward thinkers. Each white character in Ernest Gaines's novel, A Gathering of Old Men represents some different aspect of the stereotypical southern white person of the time. Gaines uses characters such as Beau and Fix Boutan to help cement the image that all while people wanted things the way they used to be. Although Beau never has a real part in the story, he is one of the main characters. His dead body "symbolizes the changing values and traditions that deprived [the blacks] of a way of living," while to the whites it symbolizes heritage and brotherhood (Babb 123).
(4.42) logan thinks that black woman aren’t supposed to demand any respect or good treatment and ought to be happy as her husband’s work and demands anything better. Janie does not want to be accepted into the society as the average wife, but she quietly continued to be who she was not and ok killicks his death bed right before he dies, Janie expressed her suppressed anger. All this an... ... middle of paper ... ... of herself. Her grandmother had told her that her mother had been raped by the towns school teacher who was a white man. Even though she was black she had beautiful hair which sometimes gave her an advantage over other village women.
In the story, she leaves just because her baby is of a different color and Armand disapproves. He is her everything, almost like an idol, thus, when he reviled against the baby, she accepted the guilt of having a child of African descend. Even if she had rebelled, the society that she lived in would have sided with Armand and berate Desiree and her
One of these instances was when Lula commented on the Finch children coming to a historically all black church. Another less prominent form of this reverse discrimination would be the fact that the African people of Maycomb tended to assume that all white people in Maycomb had a deep hatred for blacks, and so they also treated all of them as prejudiced people. But, the black population, by far was discriminated against the most. For instance the many times Scout was told her father defended niggers, and was a nigger lover. One of these times would be when Francis states, "I guess it ain't your fault if Uncle Atticus is nigger lover"(83).
Stowe’s novel was written to confront the basis of the southern way of life and culture. It stirred the pot and controversy rose to the top. Some even clamored for the book and its supporters to be “done away with” before anything bad was to come of them (Harriet Beecher Stowe Center). For many, Uncle Tom’s Cabin was nothing more than the fanciful illusions and imaginings of a woman determined to sway innocent readers. In fact, the worst offense found in the book was the talk of equality amongst the two races, where whites and blacks were essentially on equal ground (Gossett 57).
Despite the repeal of the Jim Crow laws in 1964 racism still exists and this attitude is still demonstrated in America today. Lily’s racism is very subtle, but she is making an assumption about a group of people, when she first meets Zach: If he was shocked at me being white, I was shocked about him being handsome (116). This comment exhibits Lily’s immaturity and lack of experience outside of the
One point that is brought up in the book is understanding racism. This is an issue because Atticus as a white man is defending Tom Robinson a black man who is accused of raping a white woman named Mayella Violet Ewell, Bob Ewell daughter which as expected their white. If this was to take place in the north no one would really care, but they live in the south where people still believed in segregation from blacks, and for a black man to challenge a white man in court, meant that they would probably lose their case because of prejudice against their race and color. Also a white man defending a black man in court which was unheard of at th... ... middle of paper ... ...o Blacks and not get lynched by the town people. Keep in mind this is the 1930’s in the south where everyone is highly racist toward blacks so its unheard of a white man having an affair with a black woman so to live the life he wanted to live he had to pretend to be drunk.
He also expressed somewhat the same feelings as Douglass when he stated, “the whites may do bad all their lives, and then, if they are sorry for it when about to die, all is well! But with us it is different: we must continue throughout our lives to do what we conceive to be good,”. Neither Douglass nor Black Hawk could come to grips with why it was okay for whites to do as they pleased, but for others, it was considered to be anything but good. Finally, the government was unjust because of their need to treat black males as animals rather than men. During slavery the high level of cruelty towards slaves made it seem as though the man was an animal and was often referred to as such.