Theme Of Social Discrimination In To Kill A Mockingbird

“Now don’t you be so confident, Mr. Jem, I ain’t ever seen any jury decide in favor of a colored man over a white man…” (Lee 179). This quote from Reverend Sykes in To Kill a Mockingbird is a sort of summary of how and why Tom Robinson was wrongly convicted guilty. It also gives a lot of insight on race relations in this time period. Unfortunately, racism has yet to leave society. Racism is still present in society today in a new form dubbed institutional racism. By definition, to institutionalize something is to establish in practice or custom. According to Wikipedia, Institutionalized discrimination refers to the unjust and discriminatory mistreatment of an individual or group of individuals by society and its institutions as a whole, through unequal selection or bias, intentional or unintentional; as opposed to individuals making a conscious choice to discriminate. Institutional racism is an issue

“What’s the worst possible thing you can call a woman? Don’t hold back, now. You’re probably thinking of words like slut, whore, b***h, c**t (I told you not to hold back!), sk*nk. Okay, now, what are the worst things you can call a guy? F*g, girl, b***h, p***y... The worst thing you can call a girl is a girl. The worst thing you can call a guy is a girl. Being a woman is the ultimate insult” (Valenti). Scout Finch knows this better than anyone, despite her age. She is repeatedly looked down upon by her family and friends for not acting parallel to gender norms. Her relationship with her father, Atticus, and housekeeper, Calpurnia, also bring forth issues surrounding the way she was

Multiple characters in To Kill a Mockingbird are discriminated against, one that stuck out was Atticus. He was discriminated against multiple times, for example, on the way he raises his children, for defending a black man in court, and for just being a poor white person white person. Those are just a few ways that Atticus is discriminated against in the novel.

Racial issues are brought up constantly in To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. One area that race issues affect is education, and those who are black have harder times in school due to a lot of different factors. In the article How the Stress of Racism Affects Learning, it talks about the life of a 15 year old Zion Agostoni. In his school and his neighborhood, there are cops everywhere and they follow him to school some days to “protect the city” and the cops acts affect his school work. In the article it says, “The strain of these interactions is heightened by the daily routine of passing through a metal detector, emptying pockets, and removing clothing that frequently makes him late to his first-period class. ‘The fact is now I’m [tardy] because I’m being scanned four times because of the metal in my necklace or my keys. I missed whatever [the teacher] was explaining … a lot goes on in [chemistry], and because of that I 'm behind’” (Anderson). This quote shows how much he is missing in class due to police and metal detectors put into the school. It isn’t his fault that he is black, but his education shouldn’t be held back from him because of the color of his skin. In To Kill A Mockingbird, it talks about how racial issues affect who you are accepted by. In the book it talks about mixed race kids. It states“‘They don’t belong anywhere. Colored folks won’t have ‘em because they’re half white; white folks won’t have ’em

Race has always been a part of history, from slavery to MLK, to Barack Obama. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee defines race in the south during the 1930’s. Jean “Scout” Finch, is the narrator of the story. Her brother Jeremy “Jem” and her dad, Atticus, are both main characters. Calpurnia is their house cook and helper, she is also black. Tom Robinson is a black man who is wrongfully convicted of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell. This novel goes through Scout's life from when she was 6, till she is 9. She lives in the town of Maycomb Alabama, and lives an innocent life until about halfway through the story, where she begins to ask questions. In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Scout shows the readers that racial inequality creates an unjust society through the African American community, through the people surrounding colored folks, and through Tom Robinson’s Case.

Social prejudice is shown throughout Harper Lee’s award winning book, To Kill a Mockingbird. Harper Lee powerfully analyses the theme social prejudice, and its effect on people. Such as how the

¨Inequality is the root of social evil¨ (Pope Francis). In the book To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee shows that social inequality affects everyone. As the book goes on, Lee proves that racial inequality was one of the greater stresses in the 1930’s. Social inequality does not just exist only with race; it interferes with wealth, family backgrounds, age, and even your beliefs. Racism, family background, and wealth are the three main forms of social inequality that appear multiple times in To Kill a Mockingbird.

Cultural norms are what make and shape a society. They are the guidelines, and or patterns, that are to be followed, in order to be considered a normal, typical, everyday citizen. As such, it does not matter if the norms are right or wrong. As long as the citizen is still a part of their society, right and wrong does not matter, as far as they are concerned. In the case of To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, the cultural norm, of Maycomb County, embraces the wrong, in the form of extreme prejudice behavior. A behavior, of which, presents itself heavily while either talking, and or mentioning, the topics of religions, racism and classism.

In To Kill a Mockingbird there are lots of racial, gender, and religious, discrimination. Which is shown a multiple amount of times throughout the novel.

In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee there is an abundance of discrimination against race as well as social and gender discrimination. The main character Scout is judged for being a tomboy, while Walter is discriminated for being a part of the “Lower class” in Maycomb. In general, any type of discrimination can cause alienation, anger and hurt. No one should be valued by their race, salary,gender or education.

How does Harper Lee vividly capture the effects of racism and social inequality on the citizens of Maycomb county in ‘To kill a mockingbird’?

What if the world was still the same as it was back during the great depression. What if this was the truth. In To Kill a Mockingbird readers can see how prejudice affected people of color back then, and how it’s not so different from today. In the novel readers will find unfairness in court, hate crimes, and segregation. Today readers can still find these same issues, but in different forms. Prejudice towards race has changed very little from back then to now.

The novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee takes place in the town of Maycomb, Alabama during the Great Depression. The author Lee demonstrates some major themes such as social inequality, intolerance, education, legal justice and bravery through this character. The title To Kill a Mockingbird symbolises innocence where Lee explores this through the eyes of Jem and Scout who are kids of Atticus Finch. He is one of the most honest, patient, kind, fair, respected and admired men in Maycomb during the Great Depression. Atticus is known for his moral character throughout the book. He is a talented man, he is good at a variety of things from being the best checker player in the town to being an honest and fair lawyer, and he can even play the Jew’s harp. Atticus is seen as a great father even though the odds are against him he does not give up therefore he is admired and respected for his courage. His attitude and personality does not change. For instance Miss Maudie says, “Atticus Finch is the same in his house as he is on the public streets”

In Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird, undoubtedly there is more than one type of discrimination displayed. Before we get into that, what exactly is discrimination? Well, to discriminate means to treat someone differently based on what they believe, their age, gender, who they love, even their appearance. The forms that I will be talking about are Sexism, (Prejudice actions based on gender) Racism, (Prejudice actions based on race) classism, (Prejudice actions on those of a different social class) and discrimination on those with a disability.

In the early and middle 1900’s of American history, it was a very common and ordinary thing to have prejudice and discrimination amongst the community. Most southern states had bathrooms, drinking fountains, restaurants, churches and schools were segregated by color. A lot of the prejudice was aimed towards African Americans, but there were many incidents where families of low income were ridiculed and mocked. Discrimination within “To Kill a Mockingbird” emphasized the true definition of prejudice during this time period of America. The most evident appearance of discrimination in this novel is racism; however, amongst this there is moral development with characters Scout and Jem. Not to forget that setting plays a substantial role to the