Examples Of Discrimination In To Kill A Mockingbird

“In our courts, when it’s a white man’s word against a black man’s, the white man always wins” (Lee, 295). This statement from Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, exemplifies the theme of racial prejudice that Lee weaves into her story. Racism, defined by the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language as “discrimination or prejudice based on race”, has been a major social issue throughout American history, especially in the Deep South. There, for many years, white men and women wrongly regarded blacks as inferior, unintelligent, and sub-human. Harper Lee, a descendant of General Robert E. Lee, experienced first-hand racial tension and bias, while growing up in the South. She depicts these times of racial bigotry in the town of Maycomb, Alabama, revealing the dark past of American Southern villages during the 1930’s. Examples of racial bias contained in To Kill a Mockingbird include Tom Robinson’s trial, the townspeople’s view of Atticus Finch, and Maycomb’s social atmosphere.

Mr. Ewell had caught his daughter trying to convince Robinson to kiss her. In order to preserve his family’s honor, Mr. Ewell accused Robinson of raping his daughter. Atticus Finch informs his son, Jem, regarding the jury during Robinson’s trial that “Those are twelve reasonable men in everyday life, Tom’s jury, but you saw something come between them and reason” (Lee, 295). Racial bias always begins with assumptions about people of a different race; the men on the jury allowed their assumptions about black people to affect their courthouse decision. Finch, Robinson’s lawyer, provides the jury with undeniable evidence of Tom’s innocence. However, the jury’s prejudice had become so deeply rooted and built-up by years of false beliefs, they refuse to acknowledge the proof of Robinson’s innocence and rule him