What Are The Effects Of Racism In To Kill A Mockingbird

There are many destructive forces in this world that may destroy our humanity, crush our beliefs and deplete our morals such as, greed, arrogance, anger, ignorance, etc… but none more powerful than racism. Racism is one of the worst kind of prejudice in society, and as illustrated in “To Kill A Mockingbird” by what occurred to Tom and Helen Robinson, and Bob Ewell, there’s no doubt that racism can ruin people’s lives. In some ways, everyone in Maycomb were more or less affected by racism. An unnecessary evil, it brought misery to all who harbour or are victims to it.

Due to the attitude throughout the United States in the 1930s, Tom Robinson could not get a fair trial because of the racism, discrimination and prejudice in Maycomb. "As you grow older, you'll see white men cheat black men every day of your life, but let me tell you something and don't you ever forget it - whenever a white man does that to a black man, doesnt matter who he is, how rich he is, or how fine a family he comes from, that white man is trash." Racism is shown through Tom Robinson's trial, and his falsely determined verdict. Discrimination is shown through Tom himself and his word over a white woman's. And finally, prejudice is shown with Boo Radley and the horrible things the people of Maycomb have to say about him. Racism is presented in this story in many ways, but the most outshining example is with Tom Robinson.

This is a passage from the book ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ written by Harper Lee. Tom Robinson has been charged of rapping Mayella Ewell, daughter of Bob Ewell. Atticus, advocate of Tom has done well to prove that Tom is innocent but the tension still exists as Tom Robinson is a black person. Racism against black people, which was present in huge volume in Alabama (where the story takes place), even in the courtroom shows how intense the situations were. This passage shows how an innocent child (Jean Louise) views the racism that is present within Maycomb and its citizens, which causes loss of innocence and hope in several characters. The racism in the passage connects to the idea that black people were considered inferior, which is not true.

Jem’s maturation process is accelerated by the Tom Robinson trial when he is forced to accept harsh realities. At the beginning of part one, Jem is completely innocent. His actions and his words show that he is immature and that there are many things he does not understand. He has great hubris, or pride, and that clouds his judgement. The first prominent signs of maturation are in chapter 7. The text says, “ ‘Yes,’ he said. ‘I filled it up.’ ‘Why’d you do it, sir?’ ‘Tree’s dying.’ … ‘Is that tree dyin’?’ ‘Why no, son, I don’t think so.’ … When we went in the house I saw he had been crying...” (pg 71) Scout and Jem had been finding items in a tree knot, and Mr. Radley filled the knot with cement. Jem realizes that Boo Radley had been leaving items in the

“ ‘… the evil assumption- that all Negroes lie, that all Negroes are basically immoral beings, that all Negro men are not trusted around our women, an assumption that one associates with minds of their calibre.’ ” (Lee 232).

“Maycomb was an old town, but it was a tired old town when I first knew it.” Harper Lee had used the tragic situation of Tom Robinsons trial to explore many themes including, racism and differences in privilege. “To kill a mockingbird” written by Harper Lee explores many situations linked to the broad idea of racism throughout the systems of Maycomb and differences in privilege in many different ways.

Integrity is the quality of being sincere and having powerful high-minded principles. Integrity is shown in To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, a book that took place in Maycomb County, Alabama where racism was profoundly entrenched. Atticus Finch, a character in the book, is a lawyer who is assigned the case of Tom Robinson, an African-American, who was unjustifiably accused of raping Mayella Ewell, a white woman. Arthur “Boo” Radley, his neighbor, is a mysterious person in the beginning of the book but ends up revealing his kindness. His children, Scout and Jem Finch, are following their father’s word of wisdom and learning about integrity throughout their experiences on the way. The amount of integrity can dictate someone’s reputation.

The oppressive feeling of racism has touched all in maycomb. None can ignore it. The effect of it is very obvious, corruption. Atticus’s goal is to stop his children from “catching Maycomb’s disease” (117 need citation) in hopes that Jem and Scout will grow into people with morals that all are equal, you don’t have to follow society's predetermined standards. Atticus sacrifices his reputation, safety and when undertaking the responsibility of defending a black man. In the 1930’s, when a black man's word was opposing a white man’s word, they always lost because people assumed that whites are always telling the truth and blacks always lie. When one of the kids(find out which one) asks atticus why he is even attempting to defend Tom when he knows

After the prosecutor’s witnesses have spoken and testified, the defense attorney, in the case, Atticus’s witness, Tom Robinson, goes up to the witness chair to testify. Atticus asks him a number of questions, and when Tom gets asked “Why were you scared?” his reply is “Mr. Finch, if you was a n*gger like me, you’d be scared, too.” Tom’s reason to be scared was simply that he’s black, which proves that the racism runs more than a layer thin, as a few words here or there would not make a person fear for their life simply because of the color of their skin. The racism threatens the lives of the blacks every day and every action that they make, for fear that they will be killed for stepping outside the line. If racism wasn’t present in Maycomb, the term n*gger wouldn’t be taken so lightly and the black community wouldn’t be scared to even seemingly step out of

To illustrate the black community’s admiration of Atticus, Reverend Sykes and the others in the balcony of the courthouse stand when Atticus passes. They show respect and gratitude towards him then and in the next days in the following ways. The fact that Atticus is defending Tom Robinson is a sizable reason why they respect him greatly. In past reading, Atticus shows that he took this case straight to the heart. Though it does not seem true, it deeply impacts Atticus to his core. An example being, “This case, Tom Robinson’s case, is something that goes to the essence of a man’s conscience...” (Lee 139). Atticus tells this to Scout because he knows that if he acts as if the case will ruin his career and reputation, she will see that she does

“Simply because we were licked a hundred years before we started is no reason for us not to try to win”. Atticus Finch decided to defend Tom Robinson when he was accused of raping a white woman. I would’ve done the same thing as Atticus because I believe that back then it wasn’t a very fair world. As soon as a white person blamed a black person Police or the Judge would automatically take the word or the white person. In my opinion that is truly unfair.

The aspects and backgrounds of racism in US influenced the novel “To kill the mockingbird”

Atticus Finch is a smart,passionate man looking to do what’s fair and what it takes to turn the heads of others, for not only a good way but influential way too. TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD By:Harper Lee Is a good classic novel made on July 11, 1960.This novel is about a middle aged man with two kids named Scout and Jem Finch.This novel is based around one main thing, taking a stand.Atticus is faced with a problem when a black man named Tom Robinson is accused of rape and the beating of a white woman, Atticus takes the case and is being bashed about it every day by the white community known as Maycomb.Atticus should have taken this stand because he is caring and has integrity.

It is The Great Depression, and an innocent black man has been accused of raping a white woman, nothing new. The novel, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, takes place in Maycomb, Alabama during The Great Depression. The novel covers the years where Boo Radley took over the Finch kids’ childhoods, and Atticus Finch, a respected lawyer, defends a black man. Scout and Jem, spend their years entangled in stories surrounding a man named Arthur “Boo” Radley by using their free time doing anything to see him in person. Amid their activities, their father, Atticus Finch, has to defend an innocent black man in a rape case against

Racism can be defined as a major problem in United States history, and can be dated back to the 1400’s. Racism can be viewed and defined in many ways, but most accurately is seen as the state of characterizing an individual based on his race, and or believing that one race is superior to another (Shah) . Racism is as big of a problem in the USA as anyone can think, starting way back to when the country had just began to form, when Europeans started settling into the 13 original colonies (Shah). Ever since then, it seems that the problem has only been on the rise, rather than the opposite. Racism has always been a major issue, although hundreds of years have passed since the birth of racism, the problem just seems to never go away.