To Kill A Mockingbird As a child we are too innocent to understand the wrongdoing of the world. Even harder, when we do start to realize what's going, we have so many question that might go unanswered until adulthood. The children in Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird, are thrown into a two year journey that unexpectedly uncovers the evil and injustice in the way their world is, all starting with the rape trial of Mayella Ewell and colored man, Tom Robinson. Before the Tom Robinson trial the children are very naive and don't accurately see the evil around them. The first example of this is when they go to Calpurnia's church and Lula fumed, "You ain't got no business bringin' white chillun here -- they got their church, we got our'n...(Lee …show more content…
117)" They saw that they did not want them in their church which was new to them because colored people very rarely commented on the ways of white people. The second example is when they are at Christmas dinner their cousin Francis calls Atticus a "nigger-lover." After Scout locks Francis in a closet and gets in trouble her Uncle Jack lets her tell her side of the story, "Francis called Atticus somethin' [...] A nigger lover.
I ain't very sure what it means but the way Francis said it--tell you one thing right now, Uncle Jack, I'll be--I swear before God if I'll sit there and let him say somethin' about Atticus" (Lee 86). The last example of this is that one day Jem and Scout were walking by Mrs. Layfette Debouse's house when she hollarad something about Atticus "lawing for niggers"(Lee 101). Trying to be a gentleman he just kept on walking. On their way back Jem had bought a stem engine for him and a baton for Scout. After seeing the Mrs. Dubose …show more content…
had gone inside, he grabbed Scout's new baton and began cutting the tops of every camellia bush in Mrs. Dubose's yard. In order to pay her back she insisted that he read to her everyday, since she was very sick and knew that her days were numbered. So, everyday Jem and Scout would go down to her house, she would say something insulting right as they walked in, then Jem would read to her until she told him to stop. This continued everyday up until the day she died. Atticus had told Jem that the only reason he had made him read to her was because, "I wanted you to see something about her--I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand [...] According to her views, she died beholden to nothing and nobody. She was the bravest person I knew"(Lee 112). Jem accepts this whole heartedly, which points out that he is growing up. During the Tom Robinson trial the children slowly begin to understand and notice that the world they live in is far from fair.
To start, Scout beings to feel sorry for Mayella because she thought that she must have been lonely. "When Atticus asked had she any friends, she seemed not to know what he ment [...] white people wouldn't have anything to do with her because she lived among pigs; Negroes wouldn't have anything to do with her because she was white." Then, Dill picks up on the ugly injustice of Mr. Gilmer's questioning. "It was just him I couldn't stand," Dill said. […] "That old Mr. Gilmer doin' him thataway, talking so hateful to him—[…] It was the way he said it made me sick, plain sick. […] The way that man called him 'boy' all the time an' sneered at him, an' looked around at the jury every time he answered-[…] It ain't right, somehow it ain't right to do 'em that way. Hasn't anybody got any business talkin' like that—it just makes me sick"(Lee 198-199). He's too much of a kid to accept the way the world is. Finally, once Scout and Dill step outside the courthouse they are confronted by Mr. Dolphus Raymond, who was sitting with the negroes in the far corner of the square, drinking out of a paper bag during the trail. After Scout asks Jem why hes sitting with the colored people, he begins to explain to her that, "He likes 'em better'n he likes us, I reckon. Lives by himself way down near the county line. He's got a colored women and all sorts of mixed chillun
[...] That's just his way"(Lee 161). He offers Dill his paper sack with the straw sticking out. After Dill took a sip he and Scout were surprised to find out that is was just Coca-Cola. They then began to question why he just pretends to be drunk all the time. He then began to explain, "Some folks don't--like the way I live. [...] I try to give 'em a reason, you see. It helps folks if they can latch onto a reason"(Lee 200). After the Tom Robinson trial the children are bombarded with all the evil and injustice that they were blind to before. Foremost, Bob Ewell threatens Atticus that "He'd get him if it took the rest of his life," then continues spits in his face. Additionally, Tom Robinson gets shot trying to escape from prison. In conclusion, on their way home from the Halloween pageant, Scout and Jem are followed by Bob Ewell who attacks them, breaking Jem's arm and knocking him unconscious, then tries to strangle Scout. Then a man, who Scout finds out later is Boo Radley, comes out of his house and stabs Bob to death. He then carries Jem home, and Scout follows. Once they get inside they call Dr. Reynolds and Sheriff Heck Tate. After Dr. Reynolds looked at Jem's are Heck Tate asked Scout if she could tell him what happened. As she replayed the nights events, she says that as Bob was strangling her she could feel him being yanked back by who she thought was Jem, but the Sheriff says later that no boy "Jem's size with a busted arm had fight enough in him to tackle and kill a grown man in the pitch dark." The only person that leaves as a suspect is Boo Radley, but they know the last thing Boo would want is the whole neighborhood at his door, which Scout later realizes that, "It'd be sort of like shootin' a mockingbird"(Lee 276). So in order to preserve Boo's privacy, Heck Tate insist that Bob fell on his knife, making his death an accident. Scout, Jem and Dill are just untainted children who love to spend their summers playing games and messing around. That is until the trial that changed their views on the rightfulness of the way they live. Seeing an innocent man be convicted of rape just because of the color of his skin, truly altered the way they felt and acted, making them better understand the difference between right and wrong.
In the novel, ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ by Harper Lee some characters suffer in the hands of justice and fairness more than others. Many characters in the novel are discriminated against such as Calpurnia, Dolphus Raymond, Helen Robinson, Burris Ewell and more. However I will be focusing on the discrimination against Tom Robinson for his race, Walter Cunningham for his low socioeconomic status and Boo Radley for the rumors and supposed mental instability he holds. I chose those three because they are the most prominent and I will discuss how the discrimination against the characters therefore leads to their injustice or unfairness.
Accused of raping a poor white girl, innocent Tom Robinson is now faced with a desperate trial. “The evil assumption-that all Negroes lie, that all Negroes are basically immoral beings, that all Negro men are not to be trusted around our women, an assumption one associates with minds of their caliber.” (Lee 273). Atticus delivers a powerful speech to the courthouse audience highlighting the disturbing truth of the unfair society. Although there was substantial evidence proving Tom’s innocence against Mayella Ewell, Tom was convicted for the rape the Ewell’s made up to disguise their guilty faults. The stereotypical accusation of the unjustifiable verdict costed Tom his life, when he grew “tired of white men’s chances and preferred to take his own.” (Lee 315). There are always two sides to a story and specifically someone from the black community had their strong opinion on those of the white community. When Calpurnia brought Jem and Scout to her church, they were interrogated by an angered Lula. “You ain’t got no business bringin’ white chillun here-they got their church, we got our’n.” (Lee 158). Lula makes a stereotypical judgement, after seeing Jem and Scout she immediately labels them white, and we can infer her thoughts are pulled from her prior knowledge of the stereotypical racist white community. She has never met Jem and Scout yet is quick to group
Jean Louise Finch, known to Maycomb as Scout, is affected by racial discrimination in many ways throughout To Kill a Mockingbird. Although most discrimination appears as white people against African American people, there is one case where the discrimination appears as African American people against white people. On a Sunday when Jem and Scout’s father, Atticus, is not home, Calpurnia, their cook, takes the two children to her church. Once there they were confronted by a woman named Lula. She is racist against white people, and shows it by saying, “‘I wants to know why you bringin’ white chillun to n***er church’” (Lee 158). By writing this event into the story, Harper Lee shows how racial discrimination can affect anyone of any race. “The society that imprisons Tom Robinson is the same one that imprisons Scout…” (Durst Johnson 301). Although their reasons for being confined are different, the same society caused it.
Injustices There have been many famous pieces of literature, but one that stands out is the 1960's classic To Kill a Mockingbird written by Harper Lee. Lee, who only wrote one book in her life time, wrote of prejudice, injustice, and racism in the 1930's. To Kill a Mockingbird takes place in the Deep South in the 1930's. To Kill a Mockingbird is a story in which a black mad is accused of doing something he didn't do. During the whole story some of the two of the main characters, Jem Finch and Jean Lousie Finch, grow up in there mind
After the trial was completed and Tom was convicted guilty, Jem was devastated due to the realization that the court which was supposed to be “the one place where a man ought to get a square deal… be he any color of the rainbow”(pg.220,paragraph 3) was corrupt with racial prejudice and segregation. Atticus explains to Jem that “The one place where a man ought to get a square deal is in a courtroom, be he any color of the rainbow, but people have a way of carrying their resentments right into a jury box. 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 forget it- whenever a white man does that to a black man, no matter who he is, how rich he is, or how fine a family he comes from, that white man is trash.” (pg.220,paragraph 3) Atticus foreshadows to when he said that it was a sin to kill a mockingbird in this quote because he is saying that it is wrong to kill a mockingbird no matter who you are. This also helps the reader understand the racial segregation going on at the time. Lee once again reveals the dangers of being vulnerable and innocent by having Atticus say “As you grow older, you’ll see white men cheat black men every day of your life.” It shows how often white men take advantage of blacks who are vulnerable individuals
In the courtroom that night it is revealed that the alleged crimes of Tom Robinson, a decent Negro man, most likely did not happen. As Atticus says in his closing argument, "The state has not produced one iota of medical evidence to the effect that the crime Tom Robinson is charged with ever took place. It has relied instead upon the testimony of two witnesses whose evidence has not only been called into serious question on cross-examination, but has been flatly contradicted by the defendant. The defendant is not guilty, but somebody in this courtroom is” (Lee 271). Showing the clear innocence of Tom Robinson due to lack of evidence, Scout thinks that the white jury will do the right thing only to find out that they still, unfairly, accuse him of being guilty. Scout and her brother, Jem, get very upset when they hear the verdict, however, it allows them both to learn the lesson that the county is unfair towards anyone who is not white. The county demonstrates this evil racism due to the social divisions in Maycomb between the whites and the blacks and because the whites see the blacks as unworthy of rights and freedoms. It was not just the trial itself that displayed evil in the world, but the comments and arguments surrounding the case did
How would you like it if someone walked up to you and berated you based on the color of your skin? A characteristic like that isn’t even something you can control, so an insult of that nature can leave one furious and oppressed. Discrimination is inevitable in any culture, throughout history, in modern times, and even in ancient times. For example, the oppression and murder of 6 million Jewish people during the Holocaust, the African Slave Trade which occurred for multiple centuries, and more recently, the “ethnic cleansing” of Rohingya people in Myanmar, brought on by the government of the Asian nation, all of which are tragedies doomed to happen when history repeats itself and people do not learn
Throughout History, men have looked down on blacks and women. But this does not justify the view that blacks and women are below white men. When people look down on blacks and women, they preform injustice. Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is full of injustice. During this time period, everyone looked down on blacks and women, which makes Maycomb one in the same with the discriminators. In particular, the people in Maycomb looked down on Tom Robinson, and many others looked down on Scout. Around the Finch household, Aunt Alexandria always tries to do away with Calpurnia, the black housekeeper and cook as Alexandria says, “We don’t need her (Calpurnia) now.” (182). Injustices in Maycomb include the case of Tom Robinson, the way Aunt Alexandra treats Calpurnia, and the way people treat Scout.
In a desperate attempt to save his client, Tom Robinson, from death, Atticus Finch boldly declares, “To begin with, this case should never have come to trial. This case is as simple as black and white” (Lee 271). The gross amounts of lurid racial inequality in the early 20th century South is unfathomable to the everyday modern person. African-Americans received absolutely no equality anywhere, especially not in American court rooms. After reading accounts of the trials of nine young men accused of raping two white women, novelist Harper Lee took up her pen and wrote To Kill a Mockingbird, a blistering exposition of tragic inequalities suffered by African Americans told from the point of view of a young girl. Though there are a few trivial differences between the events of the Scottsboro trials and the trial of Tom Robinson portrayed in To Kill a Mockingbird, such as the accusers’ attitudes towards attention, the two cases share a superabundance of similarities. Among these are the preservation of idealist views regarding southern womanhood and excessive brutality utilized by police.
In chapter 10 of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, an allegory for racism, prejudice, and injustice is created through the mad dog Tim Johnson as he wanders through the small southern town of Maycomb to find a place to die. The mad dog's physical descriptions, his death by Atticus's gun, and his disposal after death all combine to shape him to be a symbol for the injustice and racism that occurred during the Great Depression. Tim Johnson plays a pivotal part in Lee's narrative and portrays the story's central themes of justice and morality.
Scout develops throughout To Kill a Mockingbird a similar belief in human rights and respect like her father, Atticus. In her own way, she begins to comprehend the cruelty and inequality thrust upon black people. Scout has many epiphanies throughout the book that give her a better understanding of the racism in Maycomb. Scout's views on racial prejudice are largely formed as a result of the trial of Tom Robinson. Scout's life is relatively sheltered until the trial. She knows that blacks are segregated but their lives do not touch Scout except for Calpurnia. Scout really isn't exposed to the harsh realities of bigotry until the trial. She endures remarks about her father being a "n lover" and then finally the travesty of injustice that happens to Tom Robinson. For the most, Scout is confused by the racism. She just does not understand where the hate and bigotry comes from. Scout loses much of her innocence because of racial intolerance, but she matures at the end of the book and is not a racist.
“There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest” Ellie Wiesel. Readers may find the amount of injustice in Harper lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird a little shocking. This could be why it’s such a popular book. People like the suspense of knowing someone’s right, but still being found guilty for something they did not do. There are many times throughout the book when people are powerless to prevent injustice but they still protest it. This shows that even when people unjustly punish there should always be someone to protest it. The theme of injustice is a common one in harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, whether it be through racism, misinformation, or Arrogance.
In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird, it was considered a sin to kill mockingbirds, the question most people ask is: “why?” The answer, as some know, is that mockingbirds are considered a blessing to people through their beauty in song, and they do not interfere negatively with people’s lives, unlike some other birds. So in regards to that, to kill a mockingbird would be injustice. There is an attribute that is worth learning from a mockingbird, and that would be the way they bless others with their gifts, and in some way, serve the community. In the novel, Atticus, who is the lawyer and father of Jean Louise, gives another good example of service to the community and being a blessing to others. Atticus has the characteristics of great
To Kill A Mockingbird, a novel by Harper Lee, takes place in the 1930s during the Great Depression (a time of prejudice and discrimination), which opens up as an account of injustice to the most polite, yet unjustly blamed citizens of the town of Maycomb. The kind hearted, African-American Tom Robinson is unfairly put on trial for the alleged rape of young Mayella Ewell. Despite racial injustices, Boo Radley is mistreated by the community based on the town legends and stories the citizens of Maycomb have created about him, forcing him to live inside his house. Atticus Finch (a strong figure in Maycomb) is made fun of by its people for being a decent human being and sticking to his morals in defending an innocent coloured man. It also features
“To Kill a Mockingbird” is a heroic tale of leadership and courage to those who face society’s inequalities. Harper Lee uses the theme of injustice throughout the novel of “To Kill a Mockingbird” to voice her concerns about the wrongdoings taken place in America at the time of civil unrest and suggest ways they can be corrected in her book, “To Kill a Mockingbird”.” Lee holds up a mirror to society and teaches her readers valuable lessons concerning prejudice, injustice, and moral courage. Lee explains this process through the voice of character Atticus, “You will never understand a person until you consider things from his point of view […] until you climb into his skin and walk around it.” (pg.374).