Racism Quotes In To Kill A Mockingbird

Courage is never giving up, especially before you try. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee the author shows courage in numerous ways. The characters learn that sometimes even though you know you might fail at something you still try to do your best. I agree with the theme courage is never giving up, especially before you try, and the characters of Mrs.Dubose and Mr. Underwood exemplify this theme.

The writer, Harper Lee, in chapter 9 of her novel To Kill a Mockingbird conveys social racism. For example, when Atticus tells Scout how lawyers have black clients but not all lawyers try to do a good job at defending the black person.

Stereotyping is a general idea that someone uses to view someone before they actually get to know them. In To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Scout, Jem, and Dill stereotype people until Scout’s father tells her to stop stereotyping. Harper Lee suggests that in order to fully understand someone, you must learn to see the world from their point of view.

In To Kill a Mockingbird, Mrs. Dubose has a bush of camellias in her yard. These flowers represent racism and prejudice towards black people in Macomb County. She refers to her flowers as “Snow-on-the-Mountain” that have white petals. The white petals show favoritism towards the white people in Maycomb County. In Chapter 11, Jem cuts down all the flowers with Scout’s baton. This shows how simple he thinks racism can be effaced. However, Mrs. Dubose says, “Thought you could kill my Snow-on-the-Mountains, did you? Well Jessie says the tops are growing back out.” (Lee 146). This quote means that racism cannot be easily gone. If you try to get rid of convincing people to change their views of racism, it will only go away for a while. After a while,

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. Mockingbirds never bring harm to anybody. Tom Robinson, Boo Radley, and Atticus Finch resemble mockingbirds because they never bring harm to anybody.

In the novel ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ by Harper Lee, there are many important messages shown throughout the book. However the primary focus was set on racial prejudice that existed in the 1930s-1940’s in the fictional town of Maycomb County.The racism in the novel was very much a reality in 1930s-1940s America. A very good example of the racial prejudice that existed was in the courtroom during Tom Robinson’s trial, an innocent Negro man held against his will for a crime he did not commit.

The poet, Lascelles Abercrombie once said, “There is only one thing which can master the perplexed stuff of epic material into unity; and that is, an ability to see in particular human experience some significant symbolism of man 's general destiny.”. He talked about how powerful of a tool symbolism is and how it is the only thing that can truly define a highly complex ‘destiny’ or series of events. Symbolism is something that is found throughout Harper Lee’s book, To Kill a Mockingbird. Lee shows the reader that racism is a product of society,she portrays the matter through her symbolism of the mad dog, the birds and the bugs.

Physicist Albert Einstein once said, “Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen”. He means that you didn’t just randomly become so judgmental one day. You acquired all of the common sense that you have now based on where you grew up, and the influences that were around you. You were taught to automatically judge people and assume things based on appearance, skin color, and rumors. Judgement is always prevalent in society in many ways; no matter what you try to do, people will always make assumptions and judge you.

“I ain’t ever seen any jury decide in favor of a colored man over a white man.” (Lee 208 par. 11). This quote shows that all jury’s pick whites as innocence before blacks even when whites have no evidence to prove innocence which then makes the trial an unfair trial since colored people were considered lower class than whites no black person has ever won a trial against a white person. Society influences everyone including the way blacks are being treated. It depends on the time period of which you could be affected by.

Courage is not strength or skill, it’s simply standing up for what you believe in and what is right. This is the theme that was enrolled after Jem destroys Mrs.Dubose’s camellias and after she died in chapter 11. This passage also reveals Jem’s coming of age moment. After using conflict, symbolism, and point of view, Harper Lee was able to connect the theme with Jems coming of age moment.

Racial equality and discrimination is a founding issue that has been spread throughout every part of the world, To Kill A Mockingbird was written and published by Harper Lee in 1960, this time was dominated by civil rights protests and some of the first hippie movements following the crushing reality of the Vietnam War, the 60s also saw the struggle against segregation and racial equality. It is no surprise that the extreme political conflict affecting her life and world would greatly impact her writing and influence how she perceived the world during the writing of To Kill a Mockingbird. the influence of the fight for racial inequality is shown greatly in her book as she depicts the everyday life

In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee uses characterization, symbolism, and irony to express the cloud in judgment prejudice causes when examining the morals of others.

Dubose, the cranky and socially impaired lady next door to the Finches, for being rude to his family in revenge. “He did not begin to calm down until he had cut the tops off every camellia bush Mrs. Dubose owned until the ground was littered with green buds and leaves.”(137). Jem is the one suffering when Atticus finds out and forces him to make up for it by reading to Mrs. Dubose every afternoon after school and Saturdays for two hours. In this passage, Lee uses symbolism to show how Mrs. Dubose’s flowers (camellias) represent racism, and that you can't get rid of it that easily. Even though Jem cuts the top off of all her camellias, the issue is not yet resolved because the flowers are rooted deeper than that. That’s how that single camellia was left for Jem after Mrs. Dubose died.

If you’re a fan of baseball, in America or anywhere else in the world, you’ve heard the name Jackie Robinson. Jackie Robinson became a hero by overcoming racial barriers in American Baseball, therefore leading to the decline of the negro leagues, thus impacting our world today.

“Neighbors bring food with death and flowers with sickness and little things in between.” (Lee 278). When it comes to the topic of flowers, most of us will readily agree that they represent development, growth, beauty and happiness. For instance, Roses are known for signifying love and deep passion while Lotus flowers are known for purity of the heart. Nonetheless, in To Kill a Mockingbird, Lee utilizes flowers to symbolize the strength and character that women of Maycomb possess.