Examples Of Racism In To Kill A Mockingbird

Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is a classic literary novel written in 1960.To Kill a Mockingbird is a book written about a town called Maycomb County in the Great Depression. Throughout the novel, each character portrays actions that represent their thoughts on racism. Racism is a large issue in the novel, but it’s what makes the novel a classic.The novel demonstrates the difficulties of the time era in a way that the reader can feel more emotion to. Racism shows the negative side of people.

In Maycomb, it is unlikely to find people who believe in racial equality. When Tom Robinson’s trial begins, Atticus is worried for his children. “‘I hope and pray that I can get Jem and Scout through it without bitterness, and most of all, without catching Maycomb’s usual disease”’(Lee 117). Maycomb’s usual disease is referring to the racism happening in their town. As the trial proceeds, it becomes clear that the town of Maycomb is willing to put an innocent man in jail because of his skin color. The courtroom was divided into two balconies, the colored and the white. “The colored balcony ran along three walls of the courtroom like a second-story veranda, and from it, we could see

Jem strongly believes that Tom Robinson’s trial was unfair. ‘“You just can’t convict a man on evidence like that- you just can’t”’(295). Atticus gives Jem a response that makes Jem question why people like the Finches are never on juries. “‘As you grow older, you’ll see white men cheat black men every day of your life… whenever a white man does that to a black man… that white man is trash”’ (295). Considering that Atticus is a white man defending a black man in a town full of racists, he understands the difficulties of Tom Robinson’s case. He wants his children to understand that it’s wrong to falsely accuse a black man because of his skin color, and that it’s wrong to treat him as a lesser individual because of his skin