ipl-logo

Susan Sontag

898 Words4 Pages

Being born in America in 1933 has shown to impact Susan Sontag, a liberal author and human rights advocate, when she stated, “I do not think white America is committed to granting equality to the American Negro... this is a passionately racist country; it will continue to be so in the foreseeable future,” on Quotestoknow.com. Susan Sontag, born in the great depression, has set the scene for To Kill A Mockingbird in an extremely powerful way. The citizens in To Kill A Mockingbird experience prejudice in many different ways. A very impactful and influential woman in this novel is an African American woman named Calpurnia. Scout, the narrator in the book, goes to Calpurnia’s church with her and her brother, Jem. While at the church, Scout realizes …show more content…

Throughout the trial, Atticus’s son Jem becomes very intrigued by the case, and obsessed with the possibility Tom being acquitted. This causes atticus to tell Jem, "Tom Robinson's a colored man, Jem. No jury in this part of the world's going to say 'We think you're guilty, but not very' on a charge like that. It was either a straight acquittal or nothing.” (219) A huge part of today's racial issues is an action called stop and frisk. Stop and Frisk is a term used to describe police officers stopping people on the street to “pat them down” in order to collect illegal weapons and prevent possible crimes. Although it was intended to be a safe and proactive way to prevent crime, it has turned into serious cases of racial profiling. For example, an article titled Stop and Frisk by Numbers, written by Jason Oberholtzer on Forbes.com, state's, “Young black and Latino men account for 4.7% of New York City’s population but 41.6% of the stops in 2011.” These numbers prove the issue of racial profiling when it comes to Stop and Frisk. This conflicts with Tom Robinson’s trial because in the 1930’s, when the story of To Kill A Mockingbird takes place, people are outwardly racist. However, the racist people in today’s society tend to keep it secret in order to hide from the open-mindedness in the world

Show More
Related

  • Summary Of White Privilege Unpacking The Invisible Knapsack

    1862 Words  | 8 Pages

    Researchers and Black people are not the only ones who recognize that racial profiling is a problem — even some government organizations do. A page on the National Institute of Justice’s website admits, “people of color are more often stopped than whites” (National Institute of Justice). Clearly, racial profiling by police officers is an existing issue and something must be done to put an end to this horrible practice. Fortunately, there are several methods for how police departments can reduce racial profiling against Black

    Read More

  • To Kill A Mockingbird Coming Of Age Quotes

    386 Words  | 2 Pages

    In court, Tom Robinson was declared guilty and sentenced to death. Atticus discusses the outcomes with Jem, stating that whites will always win over blacks. However, Jem argues by saying it “‘doesn’t make it right’”

    Read More

  • Similarities Between To Kill A Mockingbird And Nothing Gold Can Stay

    514 Words  | 3 Pages

    Jem’s adamant interest in Atticus’s affairs implies that he is beginning to replace his innocence with an understanding of the racial stereotypes surrounding Tom Robinson, and how his Atticus’s decision to defend Robinson in court puts himself in a position of political and physical danger, as social norms prohibit such.

    Read More

  • Stop And Frisk: Discussion Of Stop And Frisk

    459 Words  | 2 Pages

    Studies have shown that Hispanics were stopped 33%, and African-American were stopped 51%, despite only being 24% (Hispanics) and 26% (African-American) of the community (Gelman, A. et al, 2012). In the other hand Caucasians made up 43.4% of the population, but were only stop and frisk 12.9%(Gelman, A. et al, 2012). Do to the disparity of who was stopped with the use of stop and frisk there were protest by unsatisfied civilians who saw the actions of the police as unfair and unjust. “On June 17, 2012 several thousand protester marched down Manhattan Fifth Avenue from lower Harlem to then Major Michael Bloomberg’s upper eastside townhouse” to protest the policy of the NYPD of stop question and frisk (Francesani, C.,

    Read More

  • Examples Of Jem Finch's Transformation In To Kill A Mockingbird

    697 Words  | 3 Pages

    His faith in the world around him, in the people he’s grown up around his entire life, has been completely and utterly shattered. He “[don’t] see how any jury could convict on what we heard” (pg. 230). He’s totally convinced that Tom Robinson is innocent, and, undoubtedly, he is. But what Jem doesn’t understand, despite his father’s efforts, is that innocence is not enough to keep Tom out of jail. The words of a white man, even a distrusted and disrespected man like Bob Ewell, will always trump those of a black man.

    Read More

  • Argumentative Essay On Racial Profiling

    1530 Words  | 7 Pages

    Racial profiling is a very important issue that individuals in society face every day. This problem occurs in low income or poverty-stricken areas throughout cities and communities across the nation. Hundreds of anecdotal testimonials allege that law enforcement officials at all levels of government are infringing upon the constitutional rights and civil liberties of racial and ethnic minorities through a practice called “racial profiling” (Ward, 2002). So what is racial profiling? According to the National Institute of Justice, racial profiling by law enforcement is commonly defined as a practice that targets people for suspicion of crime based on their race, ethnicity, religion or national origin (National Institute of Justice, 2013).

    Read More

  • To Kill A Mockingbird Delusion Analysis

    1088 Words  | 5 Pages

    We were accustomed to prompt, if not cheerful acquiescence to Atticus’s instructions, but from the way he stood Jem was not thinking of budging. ” Go home, I said.” Jem shook his head,”(p203). He disobeys not petulantly but maturely, as he grasps Atticus’s difficult situation concerning the case and therefore fear for Atticus’s safety. Later in the story, during the trial, the jury wrongly finds Tom Robinson guilty despite Atticus’s capable and intense defense.

    Read More

  • To Kill A Mockingbird Jem Character Analysis

    682 Words  | 3 Pages

    To Kill a Mockingbird Essay No person in Maycomb is born racist, it is the way they are brought up. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee presents Jem is an open minded person, and is not judgemental towards blacks. However, since Jem is surrounded by racism, he is losing a piece of his innocence as a child.

    Read More

  • Atticus Finch Hero Quotes

    1007 Words  | 5 Pages

    To illustrate, “Tom Robinson is a colored man, Jem. No jury in the world is going to say, ’We think you are guilty, but not very,’ on a charge like that.” (Lee, 251). This quote shows how little faith Atticus had in Tom’s freedom. He knew that he would not win Tom’s trial, no matter how hard he tried, because no jury in 1930s Alabama would take the word of a black man over that of a white man, no matter how much evidence there was to prove the black man’s innocence.

    Read More

  • How Does Harper Lee Use Irony In To Kill A Mockingbird

    1131 Words  | 5 Pages

    Lee uses Miss Gates’s ironic views of Hitler and Tom’s trial to show how racial prejudice causes crimes against African Americans to be considered less than crimes committed against white people. A mockingbird is then used to symbolize Tom Robinson as an innocent person wrongly convicted of a crime because of his skin color. The misunderstood characterization of Arthur Radley shows how society will let prejudice guide their imaginated view on the lives of people they don't understand. All three characters provide examples of how a preconceived opinion of one person or a whole race can cause drastic misunderstandings and

    Read More

  • Tom Robinson Trial In To Kill A Mockingbird

    525 Words  | 3 Pages

    Imagine living in the 1930’s when court systems were biased and innocent men were sent to death. Throughout To Kill a Mockingbird, we the readers see the trial of a black man, Tom Robinson. We see how this case affects Atticus and his kids, the town of Maycomb, and most importantly Tom Robinson. In To Kill a Mockingbird racism affected Tom Robinson, Atticus Finch and Scout Finch in very distinctive ways.

    Read More

  • How Does Jem Mature In To Kill A Mockingbird

    811 Words  | 4 Pages

    After Atticus loses his trial, Jem notices that the Maycomb County justice system is broken and it needs help, “Then it all goes back to the jury, then. We oughta do away with juries. ”(294) This shows that Jem now understands that people are racist in everything and racism needs to be fought. On top of realizing that the justice system is in shambles, Jem realized that Tom Robinson’s case was very good at showing that.

    Read More

  • Argumentative Essay On Stop And Frisk

    535 Words  | 3 Pages

    Stop and Frisk Stop and Frisk, the tactic that has been going on for only for short time, yet there seems to be racial tension already. But is this new information actually true or is it just good policing? According to Heather Mac Donald from the Manhattan Institute, says “what looks like racial profiling might just be good policing”. However according to Ranjana Natarajan from the Washington post “it’s clear that two issues need to be addressed: racial profiling and police use of excessive force.” Unfortunately we cannot have both ways.

    Read More

  • To Kill A Mockingbird Calpurnia Characteristics

    496 Words  | 2 Pages

    Her cooking skill, her knowledge, and her love toward Jem and Scout, qualified the standard of becoming a wonderful mother. These characteristics of Calpurnia successfully filled the absence of their mother to Jem and Scout. One pleasant memory that Scout had, appeared when Calpurnia treated her a special meal. After the disappointing first day of school, when Scout gave herself to miserable mood, Calpurnia prepared a surprise for Scout.

    Read More

  • Theme Of Bully In To Kill A Mockingbird

    830 Words  | 4 Pages

    Tom Robinson is a young African-American who's been accused of raping and abusing Mayella Ewell, a young and closeted white woman. Racial discrimination is hinted throughout Tom’s trial as Atticus Finch explains to Jem that a white man’s word will always win over that of a black man’s - "... In our courts, when it's a white man's word against a black man's, the white man always wins. They're ugly, but those are the facts of life" (220). Atticus explains to Jem that in the courts of Maycomb, a black man’s state of innocence or guilt is truly determined by a white man’s testimony.

    Read More

More about Susan Sontag

Open Document