Lily Hoffman
Thematic Analysis Essay
Mr. Miller
4/31/15
Racism in To Kill a Mockingbird
The definition of Racism is the belief that all members of each race possess characteristics or abilities specific to that race, especially so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races. Harper Lee uses the idea of racism as a huge part of theme in To Kill a Mockingbird. Throughout this book Lee hints and creates symbols for this theme. Jem, Scout and everyone living in the fictional town of Maycomb during this story are affected by racism, which is the most important theme in To Kill a Mockingbird.
Maycomb County is a town in the South during the 1930s that is filled with very judgmental and prejudice people. Most of the people in this town are not very fond of the African Americans that also live in their community. One of the most racist characters in this book is Mrs. Dubose, an elder that lives next to the Finches. When Atticus decides to take the Tom Robinson case Mrs. Dubose was angered during a conversation with Jem and Scout and shouted “ Not only a Finch waiting on tables but one in the courthouse
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lawing for niggers!” (Lee, 135) Just by the language many of the characters use, you can tell that Harper Lee is making the big idea of this book racism. Harper Lee not only uses language to suggest theme, but she also creates different people and objects that symbolize racism. The biggest symbol Lee uses for racism is the fictional town of Maycomb, Alabama. Maycomb symbolizes racism because of the actions that citizens living in this town are responsible for. Mayella Ewell and her father, Bob Ewell try and succeed at convicting an African American man for one of the most unforgivable crimes known today. (Lee, 282) This shows that Lee is trying to add every action a character makes up into an even bigger idea of the story. Another symbol used for theme in To Kill a Mockingbird is the character Tom Robison. This character is not meant to be one of the average people living in Maycomb. Tom is a male. African American that has his innocence taken away from him when he is founded guilty for raping Mayella Ewell, when really Mayella’s father was the person who was responsible for assaulting Mayella. The sole reason Tom was founded guilty was the color of his skin. This shows that even though there was no evidence to prove Tom guilty, the citizens of Maycomb are so racist that they believed the Ewells because Tom was a different race. Mayella is trying to explain how she encountered Tom on the day she claimed to be sexually assaulted. Mayella states “I said come here nigger, and bust up this chiffarobe for me, I gotta nickel for you.” (Lee, 241) Not only does this prove that Mayella is extremely racist, it shows how poorly African Americans were treated in Maycomb. This quote alone shows that Harper Lee has made racism the biggest idea in To Kill a Mockingbird. The last symbol that is used to indicate racism is the rabid dog, Tim Johnson. Tim Johnson is a symbol of racism because when Atticus shoots the dog it suggests that racism, like the disease of rabies will continue to spread and get worse unless it is shot down. (Lee, 127) It also suggests that the dog will get sicker, become paralyzed, and eventually die. This is also was racism can do. It can paralyze the growth of a community and destroy the relationships between citizens that are different races. In To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee also hints countless times that racism is the main idea of her story. One hint Lee uses is when Scout says “Cecil Jacobs made me forget. He had announced to the whole schoolyard the day before that Scout Finches daddy defended niggers…” (Lee, 99) This quote suggests that racism is the main theme because not only does it show that the kids in Maycomb are racist, but it makes is completely obvious that their parents are the reason for them being racist. Children tend to believe anything their parents tell them, so many of them must hear their parents talking about African Americans In a negative way. Another hint that Lee uses in this story is when Scout is speaking with Atticus and asks “Do you defend niggers, Atticus?” Atticus responds with “Of course I do.
Don’t say niggers, Scout.” and Scout says “That’s common. It’s what everybody in school says.”(Lee, 99) This quote shows many different key items. The first thing it shows is that nobody in Maycomb can get away from racism. The second key factor that is shown in this quote is that Jem and Scout have had their own innocence taken away because of everything they have witnessed and heard about the Tom Robinson trial and the involvement of their father. The last key point this quote shows is that Harper Lee wants the readers to observe the fact that most of the adults in Maycomb are not trying to protect their children from all of the terrible things going on in the Tom Robinson
case. To conclude, Harper Lee uses a countless number of symbols and hints to show the idea of racism. Some of the symbols are little, such as the town of Tim Johnson. There are also very big symbols that show theme, such as Tom Robinson, and the town of Maycomb County. The theme of racism can also be found all throughout the story in the characters’ dialect. Although there is not one solid them for To Kill a Mockingbird, there are many different pieces of evidence that prove Harper Lee wanted the main idea of her story to be racism.
In the town of Maycomb, a man who stands up against racism forever changes people’s views on racism. Scout, Jem and Atticus Finch all stand together against racism and prejudice in the tiny town of Maycomb. In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, in the town of Maycomb, prejudice is a disease, but Jem, Scout, and Dill are immune to this illness because of the people who raise them. For example, when Cecil and Francis told Scout that Atticus was a disgrace to defend Tom Robinson, even though Francis is Scout’s cousin. When Scout and Jem hear the verdict of Tom’s case, they both cry and are angry about the sentence while the rest of the town is ecstatic.
In the novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, racism is a major theme. Atticus Finch, the narrator’s father, defends a negro, Tom Robinson, in the court of law against a white man, Bob Ewell. Robinson had reportedly raped a young white girl, Mayella Ewell. But according to Robinson he had gone to help Mayella, as he often did, with work around the house. As he starts helping Mayella, she tries to get Tom to kiss her and will not let him out of the house. Bob Ewell sees this and chases Tom out of the house and accuses him of raping his daughter. Atticus goes against almost everyone in Maycomb County’s opinion in defending Tom Robinson. Throughout the course of the novel, racism effects many characters such as Tom and Helen Robinson, Scout and Jem Finch, and Mayella and Bob Ewell. All these characters had there lives
Hypocrisy is as much a part of Maycomb’s society as church and community spirit. For example, Mrs. Merriweather talks about saving the poor Mruans from Africa, but she thinks black people in her community are a disgrace (p.234). The hypocrisy of this teaching is shown as soon as she mentions the word ‘persecution’. This is due to the fact that she herself is persecuting the black people of Maycomb by not raising an eyebrow at the killing of innocent black men. Furthermore, it is obvious Bob Ewell is abusive to his daughter, Mayella, and that he is the one who violated her, not Tom Robinson (p.178). Since there is such hypocrisy in Maycomb, there are excuses made for whites. The jury probably thinks that if they pronounce Tom innocent the citizens will mock them as they do to Atticus. Harper Lee uses hypocrisy to show how the people of Maycomb are so engulfed in a variety of elements that they unknowingly complete acts of unjustified discrimination.
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”-Martin Luther King Jr. This quote shows how racism is like darkness and hate and love and light are the only way to drive racism out. The story takes place at the time of the great depression. Scout lives in a very racist and judgement city in the south. A black male is accused of raping a white woman. Scouts dad Atticus gets appointed to be the defendant's lawyer. Racism is an antagonist in To Kill A Mockingbird because the white people of Maycomb discriminate the blacks and make them feel lesser. The theme racism can be harmful to everyone is shown by many characters throughout the book.
Reassuring that Tom Robinson’s case is dealt seriously, Atticus exchanges his identity as the noble man he is for the reputation of a villain that the town flames and calls names such as “nigger lover”. Sacrificing Atticus’s identity does not give him much room to speak during the case, in fact, without his title as an intelligent, helpful, and wealthy citizen, the people of Maycomb could potentially harm Atticus, which forces him to take a slightly more cautious approach with the people of Maycomb. Concerned with the matter of how her father finds that his actions are right when the majority of the town finds it is wrong. Atticus then responds strongly to Scout, saying that he could not live with himself or tell her and Jem to do the right thing if he did not take the case seriously himself. Atticus’s identity sacrificed for the intention of saving his kids from “Maycomb's usual disease” which is racism.
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
A small city nestled in the state of Alabama, Maycomb has got its faults, just like any other place in the world, but one of its main faults or (pg.88) “Maycomb's usual disease,” as Atticus calls it in the book is prejudice. Jem and Scout learn a lot about prejudice when a black man named Tom Robinson is accused of raping a white woman named Mayella Ewell and their father, Atticus, is called on to be his lawyer. They realize the hate that people have buried deep within their heart when they see a black man accused of doing something only because of his color. On pg.241, Scout starts understanding this and thinks, “Atticus had used every tool available to free men to save Tom Robinson, but in the secret courts of men's hearts Atticus had no case. Tom was a dead man the minute Mayella Ewell opened her mouth and screamed.” As the case continues, up until the death of Tom Robinson, Jem and Scout learn more and more about prejudice and how the hate that people have towards others causes them to take wrong actions. They also see how unfair it is that a white man can get treated better and think of himself better than a black man only because he was born white. This prejudice and the trial cause Jem and Scout to get in argum...
The hatred that the citizens of Maycomb felt towards the black community extended to anyone who became involved with them, especially the Finch family because Atticus was appointed to defend Tom Robinson. Scout and Jem suffered the most from this hatred because their peers were children, who are nearly always less candid than adults. Most of the people who were unhappy with Atticus would just try to keep away from him, which was bad enough. The children however, verbally abused Scout and Jem. Scout responded to this with physical violence, even though it was discouraged by her father. The sad thing is that they were mistreated even by members of their family, like Scout’s cousin Francis.
In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, many different themes come into view. One major theme that played a big role in the character’s lives is racial prejudice. Racism is an unending problem throughout the book. The song “Message from a Black Man” by The Temptations has many similarities to the theme of racial discrimination. Therefore, both the novel and the song prove that racism was a great obstacle for some people at a point.
Racism obstructs a person 's innocence making them feel as if they are held guilty for their race. As one author 's says, “Race doesn 't really exist for you because it has never been a barrier. Black folks don 't have that choice” (GoodReads). She simply implies that race of a non-black person does not matter because it’s the only race that is conflicted with. Black people, in the early 1800s until the late 1980s, were judged solely based on their race. Two authors relate their characters on racism and how the white community obstructed the significance of their black characters. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, she introduces a fictional town, in which the white community shows inconsideration towards the blacks. Lee focuses on one
Racism was a huge issue during the plot and events through the entire book. Many characters were either slightly or majorly affected by racist actions or being verbally attacked. Racism puts people in uncomfortable situations all being citizens in the society and part of the nation but were still discriminated against because the color of skin. This shouldn 't define your future, decisions, or future. The people in the world’s history have made skin color and race such a huge issue when it really wasn’t and shouldn’t be to this day but sadly is. In the book To Kill a Mockingbird there were three main people affected by racism that was in a way life changing or ruined the opportunities in their lives. These three characters that faced racism were Tom Robinson, Atticus Finch, and Helen Robinson.
In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee shows how prejudice in the south affects men, women, children, blacks, and whites through the thoughts of racism, social class, and sexism. She makes it possible to understand what prejudice was like and how harmful it can be, but also that despite all the tensions in the south that there are always people who are willing to help when others are in need. There are many examples of prejudice throughout the book and it is still happening in real life.
Race and Class define society and making it so that society loses itselfs world of connection. In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee, the novels shows and gives people an understanding of the time. To begin, during the Tom Robinson trial, Tom was convicted as guilty due his class standing and his skin colour. Secondly, there are many families in Maycomb who stand in a different class. Finally, the segregation in Maycomb is very harsh and can show an issue with race and class. Race and class keeps society apart, resulting a very negative understanding of people.
This is because Scouts childlike perspective isn’t understanding enough to know the racial prejudice in that time. Blacks were segregated by whites. So by using Scout as the narrator we get an idea of the racism present in Maycomb. Whilst throughout the story we see racist remarks occur repeatedly. Unfortunately in society today, there are still racist opinions about blacks and commit
To Kill a Mockingbird: Race Relations Race relations have been happening for many years. Race relations is the difference in how people treat different races or religions in a community. Racism is not only present between the African-Americans and Caucasians, but it is also present between many other races and even religions. If you are not white, there is a chance that you will run into racism sometime in your life.