To Kill a Mockingbird is an inspiring tale exploring an abundance of flaws in humanity and giving insight into the worst kind of people we can be. The novel covers many controversial topics, such as rampant racism, prejudice, and hypocrisy. The story follows Jem and Scout Finch, the children of Atticus Finch, a lawyer appointed to defend a black man, Tom Robinson, who has been accused of raping a white woman in 1930’s Maycomb, Alabama. This forces Atticus to deal with the stress and judgment of defending Tom in a society where no one wants to side with him, while Jem and Scout face a similar judgment for being Atticus’ children. Lee uses this setting to paint an extremely vivid picture of prejudice, which shows just how profound their effects can be.
Racism, defined in moderation as prejudice or discrimination towards another race, deeming one’s own race as superior, is and has been a very hot topic in today’s society. Racism can range from anything to refusing service because of the color of skin, to blatantly killing an African American boy who’s walking down a street with an Arizona Tea and a pack of skittles. Living in a post-Obama administration, Americans believed that this country was finally a post-racist society. However, actions, both consciously and subconsciously, show otherwise. African Americans, or any person of color, have to constantly be on guard against racists acts.
It was clear that a fair trial was only for those with fair skin. As a result, Tom Robinson faced tremendous injustice, mainly because of Bob Ewell’s false accusations, but also because of the deep-seated racism of the town.
In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee demonstrates that social inequality breaks down a society through the use of conflict, symbolism and irony. Social inequality plays a pivotal role in the novel because the whole conflict between Bob and Tom is wrapped in it. From the first accusation to the final conviction inequality is intertwined in every paragraph, every word. To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel that stands the test of time because while our society has made improvements, inequality will never truly go away. This novel displays characters you relate to, ones you despise, and all that you fall in love with.
To Kill a Mockingbird Essay ¨Inequality is the root of social evil¨ (Pope Francis). In the book To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee shows that social inequality affects everyone. As the book goes on, Lee proves that racial inequality was one of the greater stresses in the 1930’s. Social inequality does not just exist only with race; it interferes with wealth, family backgrounds, age, and even your beliefs. Racism, family background, and wealth are the three main forms of social inequality that appear multiple times in To Kill a Mockingbird.
In Harper Lee’s view through the character of the fictitious lawyer Atticus Finch, “some negroes lie, some negroes are immoral, some negro men cannot be trusted around women, but this is a truth that applies to all human race and to no particular race of men”. In other words, Harper Lee believes that African American people should be treated just as equally with other people, since they are just like everyone else. In order to do this, Lee takes advantage of her main character’s occupation (a lawyer), in order to make her audience see how those who are highly educated and understand the idea of “justice” view the topic of racism. The author uses the court system, which is supposedly just and fair to legitimize her argument: the court system is something people put their trust in, it is the place where the actual truth must be revealed. By making Atticus’ case fail, and letting the defendant die, Harper Lee reveals truth in fiction, what is perceived to bring justice did exactly the opposite, and that at this time, the idea of “justice” could not be accessible to
The author’s description of the court’s ruling was definite and expected because as Atticus explained, society is biased, therefore the court of all white men were always partisan towards voting in favor of a white man without allowing any arguments against him to sway them. Even though Tom Robinson was not guilty and Atticus had strongly proven him as an innocent who was falsely accused of rape, but because discrimination was a factor in the final judgement, the consequences in society’s prejudice consequently led to the suffering of innocent individuals like Tom Robinson who received discriminatory treatment and trial due to their race. Descriptions of southern beliefs during the time period throughout the book develop and clarify the major theme of the
In his novel, Richard Wright welcomes readers to the insights of racial segregation and destructive effects it had on the American society. The author showed yet different perspective to have an insight view of the sufferings of Negro people. Through the eyes of the protagonist Bigger Thomas, we see a perfect example of how mass oppression and prejudices towards others permeated all aspects of lives of the oppressed, creating disastrous misconceptions, ignorance, and tragedies. One of the damages that caused fatal misunderstandings between the two races was segregation. Bigger and people like him were victims of the harsh reality that white people had created for many years.
We see clearly that white people in Maycomb have all the power. Even white trash like Bob Ewell is given the power to accuse an innocent black man simply because of the power the color of his skin has. Even though African Americans like Tom Robinson have better qualities as human beings than the Ewells they are under them because of the social inequality in Maycomb. These social divisions are destructive and irrational as it gives power to people like Bob Ewell to persecute Tom Robinson. Tom Robinson is not guilty but suffers death only because of the color of his skin and the racial segregation of the time.
Dickens is a serious social critic . Evil always darkens the world of Dickens 's fiction , and indeed Dickens 's novels quite strongly suggest cruelty terrible murders , bloody violence , insane revenge , guilt , terrible imprisonment and sadistic tendencies . These elements justify the use of a term like the 'Macabre '6 which in that they suggest death or lead to it .