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The Effects Of Racism In To Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee

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The book To Kill a Mockingbird takes place in a small southern town of Maycomb, Alabama in the early 1930s. The main conflict of To Kill A Mockingbird is the trial of Tom Robinson, a Black man, accused of rape. While Tom Robinson is the utmost important example of the effects of racism, there are important byproducts too. The biggest effect of the trial is the racism that it highlights and how that racism impacts both Atticus Finch, Tom Robinson’s attorney, and his daughter, Scout. Although Atticus Finch was a white man in Maycomb, he still faced racism because of his choices. Miss Stephanie confirms this when she announces that Bob Ewell had confronted Atticus. “It was Miss Stephanie’s pleasure to tell us: this morning Mr. Bob Ewell stopped …show more content…

When Jem and Scout walk past Mrs Dubose’s house, she shouts at them. “Your father’s no better than the niggers and trash he works for” (105). What is surprising about this is not that Mrs.Dubose said something rude about Atticus, but that she said this to a little kid. Scout experiences racism more directly when she is the minority when Clalpurnia takes Scout and Jem to her church and a member gets mad at them. “I wants to know why you bringin‘ white chillun to nigger church” (120). Even people that do not entirely know about Scout’s family still make racist comments due to her race. A final piece comes from when Scout had a run in with Cecil Jacobs at school. “Cecil Jacobs made me forget. He had announced in the schoolyard the day before that Scout Finch’s daddy defended niggers” (77). This quote shows again how kids are just repeating what they heard from the parents. What these three quotes all have in common is the impact of the opinions of racist people on Scout. Racism leaves Scout constantly criticized and bullied not only for her father’s actions in defending Tom Robinson, but for her own actions in daring to participate in Black

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