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Racism And Inequality In To Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee

1339 Words6 Pages

Idhaant Bhosle
Ms.Morgan
EN 100 (H)
8 March 2023
The Role of Language, Power, and Societal Status in Confronting Racism and Inequality in To Kill a Mockingbird
Race has always been a defining factor in American society, shaping the way people interact with each other and the world around them. Similarly, In Harper Lee’s classic novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee explores how race structures relationships in terms of power, language, and social status. To Kill A Mockingbird is set in Maycomb, Alabama in the 1930s, the novel is told from the eyes of Jean Louise Finch, Scout Finch, a young girl growing up in a world where society is divided by the prejudices of others. Scout is the daughter of Atticus Finch, a lawyer, defending an African …show more content…

Lee effectively uses the court case and Jim Crow laws, which were state and local laws that enforced racial segregation. Lee carefully uses language, power, and societal status to confront the realities of racism and inequality and work towards a more just and equal society.
Race has not just segregated and divided Maycomb but it also has created a power dynamic. Throughout the novel, Atticus defends Tom Robinson manifesting the power dynamic between whites and African Americans. One example is “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” ( Lee 323). The symbol for the legal system is Lady Justice, an allegorical personification of the moral force in the justice system. Lady Justice holds a balance, and a sword, and is blindfolded, each symbolizing a part of the justice system. A balance for equality, a sword for authority, and a blindfold to show under the law all are equal. In truth, during the 1930s in Alabama, society did not just discriminate, but so did the laws created by state

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