Racism Quotes In To Kill A Mockingbird

During the early 1900s , racism was dominating the south. Jim Crow Laws gave blacks little rights and made it almost impossible to live a normal life. In court, judges and juries were filled with white men. Biases and racism over run court rulings. A black man winning a trial over a white man was unheard of. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee illustrates the difficulties of being a black man on trial. Tom Robinson, a black man, is on trial for a crime that he did not commit. Atticus Finch, Tom’s lawyer and the father of Jem and Scout, attempts to overcome the barriers of racism and keep an innocent man from being found guilty. In her novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee uses the symbolic significance of the snowman and fire, the mad

Jem and scout were walking home one day and passed by Mrs Dubose’s house. Mrs Dubose is an old lady who is very racist. Mrs Dubose talked bad about both their dad and their dead mother. Angry, Jem destroyed her white camellia flowers. Scout narrates, “He did not begin to calm down until he had cut the tops off every camellia bush Mrs Dubose owned…” (Lee 103). The white camellia bush symbolizes racism against black people. The white flowers growing out of the black dirt symbolizes white people being on top of blacks. This represents racism growing and spreading. Because Jem is good, he is trying to destroy that racism. As the book continues, Jem has to read to Mrs Dubose after school several days a week as a punishment for destroying her flowers. Mrs Dubose is very sick, and the night that she died she gave Atticus a box to give to Jem. Inside the box was a white camellia. Scout narrates, “Jem opened the box, Inside, surrounded by wads of damn cotton was a white, waxy, perfect camellia” (Lee 111). This shows how Mrs Dubose was trying to spread white supremacy and racism to Jem. The white camellias symbolize the growth and spread of racism throughout the town because of the trial.

In conclusion, in her novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee uses the symbolic significance of the snowman and fire, the mad dog, and the white camellia to contribute to the effects of racism during the early 1900s. Harper Lee shows how difficult it was to live in the 1930s as a black person. With racism everywhere, it would be nearly impossible to live a normal life. With white supremacy and all white courthouses, winning a trial as a black an was impossible. Even to this day, biases and racism overrun court rulings and everyday