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Social Injustice: A Comparison Of Two Texts

437 Words2 Pages

Sandy Cho
English 9 Honors
Mr. Scaltz
2 November 2015

Social Injustice: A Comparison of Two Texts

The poem, “The Ballad of the Landlord” by Langston Hughes and To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee both illustrate injustice in society because it goes against what is moral and shows how society changes its views on things based on the physical things, like race. Social injustice is when people are treated unfairly and are discriminated against for something purely because that's how society construes the situation. In both novels, Tom Robinson from To Kill a Mockingbird and the tenant from “The Ballad of the Landlord” are treated unfairly because of their race. Because they are black, they are ignored and society judges black people even before they are seen. …show more content…

The landlord should not feel superior to the tenant because the tenant is a different race. The tenant needs fixing around his house because he has a leaky roof and broken steps, but the landlord says that he will only fix it once he gets his ten bucks. This angers the tenant and he refuses to pay a penny until the house is repaired. The landlord threatens to evict the tenant, cut off heat, and throw his furniture out on the streets. The tenant, thinks that one threat deserves another and threatens to punch him. The landlord then says that “He’s trying to ruin the government/And overturn the land!” (Hughes 23-24). All the tenant did was threaten to punch him, and that was purely out of indignation because he was threatened first and the landlord ignored the tenant’s request to fix the leaky roof and broken steps. The landlord exaggerates the tenant's threat. The police and the judicial system believe the landlord and the media distorts the truth to portray the tenant as the “bad guy” in the situation. On the other hand, the ingenuous tenant holds on strong to his beliefs and morality in

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