The beloved children’s song Jesus Loves the Little Children teaches that Jesus loves everybody regardless of race through the words, “Red and yellow, black and white they are precious in his sight.” However the world is corrupt and does not treat different races as equal. In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Nelle Harper Lee shows the injustice of racism through the story of Atticus Finch and Tom Robinson. Atticus, a lawyer with two children, defends Tom a black man who had been unfairly accused of raping a young white girl Mayella Ewell. Throughout the story Lee demonstrates the racism of the citizens of Maycomb as the white townspeople segregate themselves from the blacks, and the black people allow the whites to do what they want without objecting. In fact, racism influences the people of Maycomb to unjustly convict black people in court, separates the blacks from the whites and causes the blacks to have fatalistic views on life.
First, the people of Maycomb unjustly convict black people through their racism. Regardless of the evidence, a black person cannot win in the court of Maycomb. To illustrate, in the Tom Robinson case, Atticus proves Tom’s innocence, but the jury still convicts him. Even though the truth is
…show more content…
In almost every aspect of life, the whites have a different place than the blacks. For instance, the blacks have completely different living quarters. While the whites have nice houses, the blacks live in poor huts near the dump. The whites even attend a different church than the blacks. Also, the people of Maycomb scorn those who have mixed race families and refuse to associate with them. If a white person’s relative is black than the town will treat the person as black because in Maycomb, “once you have a drop of Negro blood, that makes you all black” (162). Obviously, due to prejudice the whites and blacks in Maycomb separate themselves whenever
Harper Lee wrote, “when Atticus turned away from Mayella he looked like his stomach hurt.” during the trial. (chapter 18) People tried to force their way into prison and kill Tom Robinson. A group of white men including Mr Cunningham really wanted him killed as the town believed the white family’. They chose the Ewells over Tom Robinson because he is black. There were two churches in Maycomb, one for the blacks and one for the whites. This is another example of racism. They also had separate seating arrangements in the courthouse for white and black
The town of Maycomb in the 1930's was split into two sections, the white section and the black section. This was a time of racial segregation, where blacks were not permitted to go to the same schools as the whites.
This unfair prejudice was widespread throughout the south. " Maycomb" didn't actually exist but was meant to be the embodiment of a typical town in the south at that time. In Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird, she has created characters who seem a little different and thus, isolated from the rest of Maycomb's. mainstream society. Prime examples of this isolation are Atticus and the Ewells; particularly Bob Ewell.
“Beneath the armor of skin and bone and mind, most of our colors are amazingly the same.” This quote by Aberjhani is very relatable to “To Kill A Mockingbird”. The novel by Harper Lee was published in 1960. The book involves racism, rape, and inequality. A major theme in the book is unfairness. Maycomb County is a small, prejudice town in Alabama. The town is divided between racist Whites, and innocent Blacks. African Americans had no rights and no power in the 1930s. Whites had a lot more rights, and had power over the Black community. From innocent Blacks being killed, court siding with Whites, Maycomb is a very unfair town.
In To Kill a Mockingbird, many things occur to be simple and everyone’s happy, but it’s not always peachy in Maycomb Alabama. To Kill a Mockingbird tells of a little girl’s love for her family and life living in a racist community filled with judgmental people (Shackelford). This was the time where black people were treated unfairly in courts, especially in Alabama (Johnson). Alabama was the most racist part of the south, everything was separated and blacks were treated like dirt that the whites walked on. In the book, blacks did not have many rights and had to be servants and workers for the whites.
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.
As Scout grew up in Maycomb, she learned about the people who live in Maycomb. By being exposed to events with explicit discrimination, judgment, and racism, Scout has become aware of the negative aspects of Maycomb residents. Scout’s visit to First Purchase African M.E. church, showed her how discrimination impacts the lives of African-Americans. As justified by Dolphus Raymond, the people who live in Maycomb are awfully judgmental, and the lack of fairness and justice caused by racism affects serious situations, as demonstrated during the Tom Robinson trial. All of these experiences have opened up Scout’s eyes, giving her a better understanding of the residents of Maycomb County, and how negative many people can be.
In the town of Maycomb, there is a big case about a black man who is accused of rape. Scout's father Atticus is the black man's lawyer. While talking to scout about his case, Atticus says, "'Simply because we were licked a hundred years ago before it started is no reason for us to try to win'"(Lee 87). Even Atticus a fair and right man admits there's racism in the town of Maycomb and that he will not win the case because of it. The town of Maycomb has some good people, but many people have racist and unfair
People are responsible for acting according to their conscience. The justice system was created in order to be our aid in making moral and ethical decisions, but when the Justice system fails, we should still be able to follow our conscience to make the right the decision. In Harper Lee’s novel “To Kill a Mockingbird,” one of the characters, Atticus Finch, helps not only characters in the book, but the readers, understand that the legal system does not always serve justice, in fact, the legal system only is as moral and just as the community it serves. In the town of Maycomb, just like many towns in the American south during the 1930s, racism as a personal feeling and racism as a cultural, legal, and economic institution are practically one
“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.
Few people are the same as they are on the street in their homes. Few people can treat others equally; no matter what colour their skin is. Atticus Finch is one of those precious few. Racism in the town of Maycomb is nothing but disguised by the polite smiles and ladies missionary meetings; although it is the strongest belief that each person of the town holds apart from some such as Atticus. Racism is an issue of great importance, yet to the eye of a visitor waltzing through, it's just a slight whisk of air.
People in this world get judged because they were black back then and judged for being mean to others and being judged even though those people don't really know you. Because people judge others, and tell the community how they should think about them, those who are judged can become lonely. Tom Robinson is an innocent man but because of his color the white people in Maycomb think that he is guilty and they decide to lie about what Tom did just because of his color. Tom was accused of raping a girl and had to go to court because of his color. The people of Maycomb were trying so hard just to get Tom into jail for no good reason.
Hypocrisy is as much a part of Maycomb’s society as church and community spirit. For example, Mrs. Merriweather talks about saving the poor Mruans from Africa, but she thinks black people in her community are a disgrace (p.234). The hypocrisy of this teaching is shown as soon as she mentions the word ‘persecution’. This is due to the fact that she herself is persecuting the black people of Maycomb by not raising an eyebrow at the killing of innocent black men. Furthermore, it is obvious Bob Ewell is abusive to his daughter, Mayella, and that he is the one who violated her, not Tom Robinson (p.178). Since there is such hypocrisy in Maycomb, there are excuses made for whites. The jury probably thinks that if they pronounce Tom innocent the citizens will mock them as they do to Atticus. Harper Lee uses hypocrisy to show how the people of Maycomb are so engulfed in a variety of elements that they unknowingly complete acts of unjustified discrimination.
Racism continued to happen, even after the case and the case was suppose to get them to realize it doesn’t matter about the skin color. Blacks are still trying hard to get the respect they want, Atticus had earned their respect. Even white kids learn from their parents that blacks could be dangerous as they could. Words can hurt you more than actions could. Maycomb stays a town with racism. As prejudice is starting to grow even more, the relationship between the races gets
A small city nestled in the state of Alabama, Maycomb has got its faults, just like any other place in the world, but one of its main faults or (pg.88) “Maycomb's usual disease,” as Atticus calls it in the book is prejudice. Jem and Scout learn a lot about prejudice when a black man named Tom Robinson is accused of raping a white woman named Mayella Ewell and their father, Atticus, is called on to be his lawyer. They realize the hate that people have buried deep within their heart when they see a black man accused of doing something only because of his color. On pg.241, Scout starts understanding this and thinks, “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.” As the case continues, up until the death of Tom Robinson, Jem and Scout learn more and more about prejudice and how the hate that people have towards others causes them to take wrong actions. They also see how unfair it is that a white man can get treated better and think of himself better than a black man only because he was born white. This prejudice and the trial cause Jem and Scout to get in argum...