Racism In To Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee

Racism is one of the most important and controversial social issues of the modern world. It has affected millions of people worldwide, and it is one of the deepest social problems that America has faced in history. The book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee talks of this history. To begin with, modern racism is a major problem that affects America today. Secondly, To Kill a Mockingbird though it mainly talks of racism in the south, gives a glimpse into the history of racism.

Have you ever judged a book by its cover? Well in “To Kill A Mockingbird”, there is a character named Dolphus Raymond who has a family that gets judged like that daily. Maycomb has a “disease” called racism. Racism is the reason Dolphus Raymond and his family gets judged throughout Maycomb. Almost everybody in Maycomb follows the rules of racism, which puts Dolphus Raymond in a tough situation.

Does the novel seem to think that racism will eventually be overcome? Or will there always be an element of racism in Maycomb? The novel doesn’t suggest that racism will be completely overcome; however, it does show that there is hope and a better way to go around events. This is shown when Atticus points out to Jem that the jury “didn’t” make up its mind in a hurry; taking “a few hours” to make up its verdict. Nevertheless, there will always be some sort of racism in Maycomb, due to people like Mr. Ewell.

Brendan Cregan Mr. Li English 9 Honors 31 March 2017 The People of Maycomb and Their Prejudices After reading To Kill a Mockingbird, one might ask if the people of maycomb are truly “bad” people. While a jury composed of purely Maycombians decided that Tom Robinson was guilty of a crime that he unmistakably did not commit, I do not believe that the general public of Maycomb is a foul or hateful group. The reason that I would argue this is that while their actions have lead to a social injustice, they are unable to retrospect and recognise their own faults and prejudice.

The term racism is when people from different cultures are treated differently based on their race. Racism is a disease with endless consequences . Over time it’s shocking that people think that others are different to them only because of their skin colour and culture. Racism has been and still is a prolific evil in the Australian society. Evidence of this includes The Stolen Generation, migrant treatment and social media.

The oppressive feeling of racism has touched all in maycomb. None can ignore it. The effect of it is very obvious, corruption. Atticus’s goal is to stop his children from “catching Maycomb’s disease” (117 need citation) in hopes that Jem and Scout will grow into people with morals that all are equal, you don’t have to follow society's predetermined standards. Atticus sacrifices his reputation, safety and when undertaking the responsibility of defending a black man.

In To Kill a Mockingbird prejudice in Maycomb is terrible. There are two major people in To Kill A Mockingbird that are prejudged severely. Boo Radley and Tom Robinson are the two main people who are prejudged. There is also one other man who prejudged, Atticus Finch. All three of these men are mockingbirds.

Cultural norms are what make and shape a society. They are the guidelines, and or patterns, that are to be followed, in order to be considered a normal, typical, everyday citizen. As such, it does not matter if the norms are right or wrong. As long as the citizen is still a part of their society, right and wrong does not matter, as far as they are concerned. In the case of To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, the cultural norm, of Maycomb County, embraces the wrong, in the form of extreme prejudice behavior.

In To Kill a Mockingbird it states, “‘If you can learn a simple trick, Scout, you’ll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view . . . until you climb into his skin and walk around in it’” (Lee 39). To Kill a Mockingbird is set in small town Maycomb, Alabama in the 1930’s, where prejudicism is very high.

In Harper Lee’s novel (1960),to kill a MockingBird,one of the major themes is man’s inhumanity to man. This is shown through the Boo Radley, Tom Robinson and Dolphus Raymond subplots. All three characters can be seen as examples of the proverbial mockingbird. This inhumanity shows that Maycomb might not be the melancholic, quiet town that is described in the book by Scout,’”Maycomb was an old town,but it was a tired old town’” (6).