The Portrayal of ‘Relative Justice’ in To Kill a Mockingbird
The correlation of justice and prejudice dwell as a perpetuating conflict in the United States. Case in point is racism, which is deeply analyzed on the 1960 Pulitzer-awarded novel, Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. Lee focalizes this novel upon the trial of Tom Robinson, a black man charged by the rape of a white girl, Mayella Ewell. Racial prejudice is thoroughly presented in the novel, but what originally transpired as discrimination evolves into an inferno of injustice, particularly in the debasement and death of one of the ‘Mockingbirds,’ the impoverishment of his family, and the humiliation of his race. The whole novel is presented by the protagonist, Scout, as a tomboyish naive adult retrospectively recalling her early ages. Morally, her character possesses double standards of justice and honesty combined with the sordid adult values inherent in her revelations and mature character. Initially, the first half of the novel revolves around Scout’s childhood in Maycomb, a fictional “tired old town” (5) which subsequently links the alleged rape and enlightens readers on the social backdrop, subconsciously grooming the children for “Maycomb’s usual disease” (100). This literary masterpiece distributed
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However, the book passes a ray of hope as a path out of prejudice and injustice, as “Most people are (nice), Scout, when you finally see them.” (323). The purge of prejudice and injustice, ultimately, could be achieved by separating the facts from preconceived assumptions by examining life and evidence with a child’s
The ever present distaste from whites in Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, shows the issues that blacks had to deal with constantly. Lee was able to portray this hatred by putting and important character, Tom Robinson a black man, on an unjust trial for the alleged rape of a white woman, Mayella Ewell. This classic story reveals the awful conditions and intense racism during this time in the southern Unites States. Some of the many African Americans affected by southern white racists in court or otherwise include the Scottsboro
To Kill a Mockingbird shows that while justice will always exist, it often isn’t distributed fairly. Harper Lee shows this in the book through Mr. Ewell and Mayella’s reason to accuse Tom Robinson, Atticus’s closing argument about how
The case between Tom Robinson and his prosecutors portray one of the many examples Miss Lee wrote of “killing mockingbirds” throughout the plot. The mockingbird, during the case, represented an innocent being that has been wronged by another unjustly. Thus is the case for Tom Robinson, he had been wrongly indicted for an unforgivable felony and set through a futile attempt to redeem himself and the whole reason why his innocence was unattainable, was because his skin colour contrasted to his white neighbours (Lee, 248,
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee is a well written novel that brings importance and understanding to the differences of people through the unfair trial where a black man is accused of raping a white women during the 1930’s in Maycomb, Alabama. When our differences are materialized and brought forth we feel uncomfortable or ashamed. When our faults like racism and classism are brought up we shy away or get defensive. Before Tom Robison’s trial even takes place we’re shown how the townspeople of Maycomb react to white going against black or how they think of people who have less than them. If a large group of people feel this way they will do their best to get rid of the thing bringing them these feelings.
By the end of the novel during the court scene and Tom’s death, we see the final stages of her development and how far she has come as she can 't stand for Tom’s discrimination which only further proves her power to rebel against something that everyone conforms to. This shows her make her own opinion about racism which creates the exciting environment that we find ourselves in while reading. The novel has many important points and moments which make a lasting impression on us even after reading the novel. One of the biggest ideas which are focused on in this essay is Scout 's development and how it allows her to forge her own opinions. Scout learns to separate herself from the conforming sheep that Maycomb residents are described to be.
Author Harper Lee, in her novel “To Kill A Mockingbird”, depicts a court trial in which Atticus Finch, a Maycomb County lawyer, attempts to defend an innocent black man, Tom Robinson, who was falsely accused of rape and beating by a young white woman, Mayella Ewell. Finch’s purpose is to prove Tom’s innocence to the court and avoid an inaccurate conviction. He adopts a deliberate tone in order to rule the jury’s speculation in favor of Robinsons guiltlessness. Atticus begins his argument by contrasting social moralities versus actual law.
Rajan Dosanjh Mrs. Haber ENG 1D0A January 18, 2017 To Kill A Mockingbird Theme Essay Discrimination is a societal issue which has been prevalent for a long time and still brings people down in today’s society. Discrimination can be defined by the unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories of people or things, especially on the grounds of race, age, or sex (www.dictionary.com) Lee’s book To Kill a Mockingbird is based in a small town in Alabama called Maycomb where a man named Atticus Finch is appointed to defend a man named Tom Robinson who was accused of raping a teenage girl.
In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, one of the most significant themes is unjust decisions are made due to race and social class. For example, a group of men showed up in dusty cars at the Maycomb County jail, where Atticus was late at night. Outside the jail, “in ones and twos, men got out of the cars. Shadows became substance as lights revealed solid shapes moving toward the jail door” (Lee 80). One man asked “he's in there, Mr. Finch?” referring to Tom Robinson (Lee 80).
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
To Kill a Mockingbird Argumentative Essay 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
“Hypocrisy is the mother of all evil and racial prejudice is her favorite child” (Don King). In Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, a young girl named Scout is receiving a first hand experience of racism and its brutality. In Chapter 26, during school, Scout’s teacher, Mrs. Gates explains what a democracy is and how it differs from the events taking place in Germany with Hitler and the Jews. Using her biased opinion, Mrs. Gates shows Scout that the world can be a cruel place in more ways than one. During the scene, “Mrs. Gates,” Scout learns that hypocrisy exists in the most trusted through the character of Mrs. Gates, the internal conflict of Mrs. Gates and racism, and the settings of both the school and the Finch home.
The author demonstrates the problems in the school systems when Scout enters school she is reprimanded by her teacher, Mrs. Honeycomb for reading proficiently. She is commanded to “tell [her] father not to teach [her] anymore” and stop reading outside of school. Lee’s incongruity of the situation alerts her readers to the flaws within the school system. Lee satirizes the church when Scout and Jem are taken to church by Calpurnia, their black housekeeper, when the children’s father is unavailable. At this Christian church, the children are ridiculed for being white.
Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird has caused a copious amount of controversy over its relevance in today’s society. This marvelous tale is relevant to today’s society. According to the critic Jill May’s article, In defense of To Kill A Mockingbird, it is relevant because Harper Lee herself grew up with the attitudes depicted and the book survived the first period of regional criticism. Quotes from the book’s narrator and lead character, Scout Finch, show us that she, Scout, matures throughout the novel.
In To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee teaches us about the town of Maycomb County during the late 1930s, where the characters live in isolation and victimization. Through the perspective of a young Jean Louise “Scout” Finch, readers will witness the prejudice that Maycomb produces during times where people face judgement through age, gender, skin colour, and class, their whole lives. Different types of prejudice are present throughout the story and each contribute to how events play out in the small town of Maycomb. Consequently, socially disabling the people who fall victim from living their life comfortably in peace. Boo Radley and his isolation from Maycomb County, the racial aspects of Tom Robinson, and the decision Atticus Finch makes as a lawyer, to defend a black man has all made them fall in the hands of Maycomb’s prejudice ways.
As can be seen, Lee’s usage of Tom Robinson’s trial and the racial discrimination and prejudice seen throughout it helps reinforce the theme of social injustice throughout To Kill A Mockingbird. Another encounter that the