Paul Simon, the musician, once said, “If you can get humor and seriousness at the same time, [you have] created a special little thing, and [that is] what [I am] looking for, because if you get pompous, you lose everything” (Simon 1). Racism in the 1930s and until the 1960s was a very serious issue. As stated, authors have taken this serious issue and turned it into great pieces of literature. Many of them have truly shown the seriousness of racism in society. Even though, criticism, as always, continues. Some critics have argued that Scout, in To Kill A Mockingbird, is an unreliable narrator. This is simply because Scout is a child. They suspect she is too innocent, naïve, and has an unbiased view. However, Scout as the narrator is a reliable choice because she allows the reader to concentrate more on the exterior of situations, she allows the reader to make his/her opinion, and she gives the reader direction of how to cover events and certain actions in the novel. Scout, as a child narrator, helps the reader ‘read between the lines’.
First of all, Scout allows the reader to focus more on the exterior of situations. Children tend to experience things differently from others. Events that take place in society may be of great importance to adults and mean nothing to children. Things of importance differ between children and adults. However, sometimes a child’s perspective may be the best way to look at things. In To Kill A Mockingbird, the whole town was talking about Tom Robinson’s trial, especially since he was African American and Atticus, a white man, was to be his lawyer. According to reviewer Edwin Bruell in Racism in Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird, “[To Kill A] Mockingbird, he tells us, is about the townspeople, not abou...
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... To Kill a Mockingbird. New York: Warner Books, 1982.
Mancini, Candice. Racism in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird. Farmington Hills: Christine Nasso, 2008. Social Issues in Literature. Print.
Murray, Jennifer. "More Than One Way to (Mis)Read a Mockingbird." The Southern Literary Journal 43.1 (2010): 75+. Gale Biography In Context. Web. 19 Dec. 2013.
Simon, Paul. Brainy Quote. Xplore, 2013. Web. 17 Dec. 2013.
Joyce Moss and George Wilson. "To Kill a Mockingbird." Literature and Its Times: Profiles of 300 Notable Literary Works and the Historical Events that Influenced Them. Vol. 3: Growth of Empires to the Great Depression (1890-1930s). Detroit: Gale, 1997. 390-396. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 19 Dec. 2013.
Wilson, Charles E., Jr. Race and Racism in Literature. Westport: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2005. Exploring Social Issues Through Literature. Print.
The theme of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mocking Bird is the existence of racism and prejudice in the 1930 – 40's. Harper Lee succeeds in presenting the topic in a manner that is not overly simplistic and thus achieves the task of allowing the reader to fully appreciate the complex nature of unjust discrimination. Harper Lee's inclusion of characters such as Tom Robinson, Boo Radley, Dolphus Raymond and many others, aid the reader to grasp the concept of racism and its central role in the town of Maycomb.
Shaw-Thornburg, Angela. “On Reading To Kill a Mockingbird: Fifty Years Later.” Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird: New Essays. Meyer, Michael J. Lanham, Md: Scarecrow Press, 2010. 113-127. Print.
Throughout the book To Kill A Mockingbird Lee discusses the effects of ignorance and the toll it takes on people such as Tom Robinson, Boo Radley, Scout herself, and many more. Through her examples of sexism, prejudice, and racism, from the populist of poverty stricken Southerners, she shows the readers the injustice of many. The victims of ignorance are the ‘mockingbirds’ of the story. A good example of this injustice is the trial of Tom Robinson, who is falsely accused of raping a white girl and is found guilty. The book is from the point of view Scout, a child, who has an advantage over most kids due to her having a lawyer as a dad, to see the other side of the story. Her father tells her in the story, “you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them.” (Lee 200).
Even though extraordinary changes have been made in the past to achieve racial equality, America is still racist, especially in schools. In the novel, “To Kill a Mockingbird,” written by Harper Lee, Atticus Finch is criticized for defending a black man accused of raping a white woman. During the 1930s, the time this novel took place, America was a very segregated country. At the time when Harper Lee wrote "To Kill a Mockingbird," America was fighting a civil rights movement. The events of racism in “To Kill a Mockingbird” reflect the time period.
To Kill A Mockingbird can be read as the story of a child's growth and maturation. Almost every incident in the novel contributes something to Scout's perception of the world. Through her experiences she grows more tolerant of others, learning how to " climb into another person's skin and walk around in it." On her first day of school she finds that there are both social and poor classes in society, some are respectable and others not. She also learns that her father is an extra-ordinary man, fighting for a Negro's rights in court. At the trial of Tom Robinson Scout learns about equality and inequality, about justice and injustice and finally about racial prejudice.
Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird. Reprint. New York City: Grand Central Publishing, 1982. Print
In 1960, a novel was written to outline injustices and racism against those who were innocent, though unfairly judged because of social expectations and prejudiced beliefs. This novel not only presented these issues, but is also considered a revolutionary piece of literature, still being read by many people today, more than 50 years later. The novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, has caused some controversy about the intents of the book and the way certain people or groups are presented. Whether To Kill a Mockingbird as a narrative outshines the issue it presents is a debatable argument. However, I believe that the narrative of the novel supports the concerns exhibited for numerous reasons. In what follows, some of these are presented: the historical
As a child grows, many people influence their development as a person. Some people impact more than others, and a select few really leave their mark. In Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird,” several characters play this role. Among them, Miss Maudie Atkinson, a woman who proves herself a strong character, prevails as the one who has the greatest impact on Scout Finch, the protagonist of this novel. As Scout matures and grows up, her views on the world around her change. Through subtle yet effective ways, Miss Maudie teaches Scout many life lessons about being humble, judging, and attitude, all of which ultimately have a great effect on the kind of person Scout develops into and her outlook on the world.
Today, racism is a problematic situation that can break nation apart. Discrimination on one’s personal characteristics can sway a community's opinion greatly. Harper Lee was indulged in numerous racist encounters in her life, many of which transpire into her novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. In the novel, one is seen as an animal when enduring the venom of racism. Throughout the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, racism leads to the dehumanization of both the victims and the infectors.
...ated by a child doesn’t make it unreliable. In To Kill A Mockingbird, Scout proves to be a reliable narrator. In fact, a child as the narrator opens up more opportunities for the reader. Certain conflicts aren’t looked at with just one option, a child narrator gives the reader a chance to look at situations from a unique view. The reader’s viewpoint of the novel is changed when met with the Scout’s perspective of issues. Also, even though Scout is a child, she, as narrator, shows that she can be mature in situations and she lets the reader know how to interpret her actions. Therefore, a child narrator in a novel is never a bad decision. When it comes to thinking and doing things, age doesn’t matter. What matters is the person’s wisdom, his/her life experiences, and how he/she apply it to their own selves. That is what truly determines the reliability of a narrator.
The novel TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD by Harper Lee has numerous accounts of racism and prejudice throughout the entire piece. The novel is set in the 1930's, a time when racism was very prevalent. Although bigotry and segregation were pointed in majority towards blacks, other accounts towards whites were also heard of, though not as commonly. There are acts that are so discreet that you almost don't catch them, but along with those, there are blatant acts of bigotry that would never occur in our time. Lee addresses many of these feelings in her novel.
Fiction usually based on what happened in real life. This novel, Harper Lee based on what she seen and writes about it. Racism was quite popular that moment. At the start of the story Harper doesn’t want to go directly into the problems but wanted it grows slowly through a vision of a little girl – Scout. It begins with the memories of a child “when he was nearly thirteen”. This is another interesting way from style of writing, beginning slowly and calm yet deeply meaning in the end. In this novel and all above 15 first chapters, racism exist in people’s mind, on actions and mostly from dialogue, questions they’ve been asked by people around. Relationship in social also causes the problems like this to happen too.
"To Kill a Mockingbird." Sparknotes LLC. 2003. Barnes & Noble Learning Network. 2 Nov. 2003 .
Still, no other novelist in America at the time populated his novels with representatives of so many races. Racism is a constant in American society. No other society may be as racist. Yet, what other society has made such valiant efforts to rid itself of this evil?
this story that causes controversy because of his skin color. Is the story’s relevance based on Mr. Robinson and his skin color? In my opinion yes, the book revolves all around his skin color and racism of the time. Tom Robinson is treated unfairly because he was black not because of what he supposedly did. The controversial subject matter in this book is immense in numbers, but out of all them, racism stands out the most. A question that has come to mind after reading this book is, today is racism still a hostile problem and as big as it was in the 1930s? Throughout this research paper I will gather information about racism from the 30s, and also today. Then I’ll compare and contrast the differences between the past and present and come to a conclusion.