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Racism and literature
Kill a mockingbird who was moral responsibility
African American literature between 1914 and 1945
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To Kill a Mockingbird
Society is responsible for the death of Tom Robinson.
To kill a mockingbird, written by the award winning author Harper Lee, is a story filled with stereotypes, misconceptions and racial prejudice. It is set in the mid 1930’s in the small town of Maycomb, Alabama. Much of the novel was based around a court case between Tom Robinson; a negro citizen of Maycomb, wrongly accused of the sexual assault of Mayella Ewell; a poor, mistreated and abused white girl, desperate for affection.
Tom’s death was a tragedy for many, although the responsibility did not lie solely with the bullet that ultimately ended his life, rather the society at the time.
Society is responsible for his death. The social attitude of the time, the
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bias of a random jury and the overall racial prejudices present, were all factors that contributed to the death of Tom Robinson. This novel was set in the devastating time of the Great Depression, a world wide economic downturn, which resulted in many men losing their jobs. Although many suffered majorly, the black community suffered the worst. There were numerous reasons for greater black suffering during this time, which are intertwined with racial discrimination. The attitude of the time was based on ‘white supremacy’. The white community aided the high black unemployment rate, due to the belief that they should not be without work while blacks were employed. To Kill a Mockingbird’s prejudice is based upon the basis of white supremacy. The attitude of the white community was fueled by the hatred of negroes, as a result, Tom Robinson became a victim of the discrimination and attitude of those that believed they were superior. “Real courage is when you know you’re licked before you begin, you begin anyway and see it through no matter what”. This quote is linked to the court case and the knowledge that although Tom was innocent, he would eventually be convicted guilty, due to racial discrimination. In conjunction with the racist attitude in the deep south of America in the 1930’s, the bias of a random group of white jurors was also a contributing factor to the conviction and later death, of the innocent Tom Robinson.
The justice system was not equitable towards negroes at this time and any case involving a white and black person, the black person was always found guilty. This was demonstrated in the novel. Although there was a large amount of evidence proving Tom’s innocence, he was still found guilty by each member of the jury. Atticus told Jem “if you had been on the jury son, and eleven other boys like you, Tom would be a free man”. This quote suggests the unfairness and injustice demonstrated in the courtcase. If Tom had not been convicted, he would not have tried to escape gaol, and therefore he would not have been shot dead.
One of the most prominent themes in To Kill a Mockingbird is prejudice. This is the overriding factor in the book, which is most obvious against Tom. Prejudice permeates Maycomb society, with each character either being a victim of prejudice or being prejudice against others. The major prejudice in Maycomb society is that of the negroes. Negroes were treated without respect, they were uneducated and had no civil rights, back then this was known to negroes as “American Hell”.
Those that were seen to respect or act kindly to negroes were known as “nigger-lovers”, Atticus was a prime example. He showed Tom Robinson kindness and respect, and as a result the rest of the white community thought less of
him. There are many examples of racial prejudice within To Kill a Mockingbird, such as the separation between the black and white’s of Maycomb, the negroes accommodation was of a lesser standard and most prominently the unjust court case convicting Tom Robinson. The racial prejudice that was spread throughout Maycomb society was one of the main reasons for Tom’s death. If Tom hadn’t been a negro he would not have been convicted guilty. Therefore his death wouldn’t have occurred. It was not the bullet or the gun that was responsible for Tom Robinson’s death but that of society at the time. The attitude in the deep south of America was especially bad towards the negro community, due to the strong belief in white supremacy. The bias jury also contributed hugely to Tom’s death, as even after being given firm evidence of Tom’s innocence he was still sent to gaol, on the basis of the colour of his skin. Lastly and most significantly the main cause of Tom’s death was the racial prejudice that had overtaken the conscience of Maycomb society. Society is responsible for the death of Tom Robinson, the stories mockingbird symbol. “Remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird”.
To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee is a remarkable novel following the childhood of Jem and Scout, the son and daughter of Atticus Finch. Living in a small and drama filled town of Maycomb County they encounter a great deal of people who do not stand by their word. Hypocrisy occurs throughout this novel first by a man named Dolphus Raymond, then by two women Mrs. Merriweather and Miss Gates.
Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird is based during the era of racism and prejudice. This era is commonly referred to as The Great Depression and is during the mid-late 30’s. The novel is set in a small town and county called Maycomb, Alabama. The novel follows the story of the Finch’s and their struggle before, during, and after a rape trial that is set against an African American by a white woman and her father.
'To Kill a Mockingbird' is a novel that was written in the 1960s, but Harper Lee decided to set the novel in the Depression era of the 1930s in a small town in Alabama. Lee provided her readers with a historical background for the affairs of that time and in doing so she exposed the deeply entrenched history of the civil rights in South America. Like the main characters in this novel, Lee grew up in Alabama; this made it easier for her to relate to the characters in the novel as she would have understood what they would have experienced during the period when racism, discrimination and inequality was on the increase within the American society.
Atticus shows great compassion and tolerance when he stands up for the Negroes. He stands up and represents Tom Robinson because he believes that everyone should be treated equally in the court of law. He knows that because Tom was a Negro there would be a slim chance of winning. That fact never discouraged him though because he says that the main reason he is representing Tom is because, ' if I didn't I couldn't hold up my head in town, I couldn't represent this county in the legislature'; (75). He recited a speech, which clearly states that Tom Robinson is not guilty. In that speech he says, 'our courts have their faults, as does any human institution, but in this courts are the great levelers, and in our courts all men are created equal'; (205). He believed that prejudice and stereotyping is wrong and he tries to teach these morals to Scout and Jem.
In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee writes about a small Alabama town. This story takes place in Maycomb County, Alabama during the Great Depression. It’s narrated by a little girl called Scout. The book tells the story of a family and their involvement in a trial with a black man being accused of rape. Scout’s father, Atticus is the accused man’s lawyer. In her novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee uses Fire, a Mockingbird and Camellias to foreshadow the loss of innocence.
The reader can then infer that in To Kill a Mockingbird, society believes that white people are a symbol of the superior race, and colored people are a symbol of the inferior race. Neither of which is true because no one person is one-hundred percent honorable or evil. Unfortunately, stereotypes and beliefs of the time lead the people of Maycomb County to be unable to view everyone as equal and instead only focus on race. Tom’s situation is an overall representation showing that when people treat others differently based on color that someone will have to face the consequences of this thought process. In the book, Tom fails to receive a fair trial just because he is black, yet many years earlier in the 19th century, Sir William Garrow coined the term “innocent until proven guilty.” The phrase itself never specifies only being true for white people or any certain group of people, for that matter. Due to personal bias, the people of the time are able to twist that phrase and unfortunately warp it into something closer to “guilty until proven innocent.” The reader can infer based on his actions of distancing himself that Atticus feels misunderstood and even alone. He is fighting a battle
Tom was very confused when he was accused of this incident because he had never been anything more to Mayella Ewell than an acquaintance. “The older you grow the more of it you’ll see. 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”(Lee 220). This is how Atticus described the trial to his son Jem because he could not comprehend how unjust the trial was unfolding on a daily basis. The proceedings were not equitable towards Tom Robinson because everyone should have realized at the trial that he had not done anything wrong. In the end, Atticus lost the trial. Not because the jury and judge thought Tom Robinson had committed the crime, but simply because he was black and they were racist. Tom was sent to jail for doing absolutely nothing wrong, except being black. He never had the luxury to grow into old age, as his life was taken from him when he was shot seventeen times during his attempt to escape from jail. Tom Robinson’s life would have been completely different if he had not been black. The discrimination would not have occurred and the accusations would not have been leveled or
To Kill a Mockingbird takes place in Maycomb, Alabama when segregation was popular in the southern states. This is a time period where women were supposed to be proper and the men were supposed to be complete gentlemen; while the black folk were supposed to stay separated from the rest of society. When the Blacks were accused of anything by Whites they would immediately would be pressed with charges. With To Kill a Mockingbird, the theme of the importance of moral education, the motif of small town life (everybody knowing each others business), and how a different time period or geographical location would affect the events within the novel; these few things have an important significance throughout Harper Lee's book.
To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee's only novel, is a fictional story of racial oppression, set in Maycomb, A.L. in 1925 to 1935, loosely based on the events of the Scottsboro trials. Unlike the story however, the racial discrimination and oppression in the novel very accurately portrays what it was like in the 1920's and 1930's in the south. Tom Robinson, the black man accused of raping a poor low class white girl of 19, never stood a chance of getting a fair trial. This can be supported by giving examples of racially discriminatory and oppressive events that actually took place in the south during the time period in which the novel is based. In addition to actual historical events, events and examples from the book that clearly illustrate the overpoweringly high levels of prejudice that were intertwined in the everyday thinking of the majority of the characters in the book supports the fact that Tom Robinson never stood a chance of getting a fair trial.
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee is a story of a young black man convicted of assault by a girl that he helped and her father who are white in Southern America. At that time racial prejudice was accepted in the modern society and no one opposed it. The story takes place in Maycomb, Alabama where Scout Finch and her brother Jem overcome many troublesome events and experience improbable situations. The children are exposed to the reality outside of their childhood, and they discovered the truth about their community and the lies that they tell the children. By brainwashing them with diabolical disinformation about black people and how they should be treated. They also witnessed how the community segregated and confined people like Boo Radley and Tom Robinson because of their colour and how they acted. It portrays that once people had an idea or a belief about a certain thing, they wouldn't second guess it and question if it's right or not.In the novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee develops the idea that prejudice is contagion, and that leads to more people following and believing in that an idea whether if it's true or not.
"Prejudices, it is well known, are most difficult to eradicate from the heart whose soil has never been loosened or fertilized by education; they grow there, firm as weeds among stones"- Charlotte Brontë. Nearly every problem and unfortunate mishap in Harper Lee's, To Kill A Mockingbird, has been somehow revolved around prejudice or discrimination. Many different forms of prejudice are found throughout the novel, with racism, sexism, and classicism the most common. The residents of Maycomb have discrimination running through their veins and were raised to be racist and sexist, without realizing. They see nothing wrong with judging other people and treating people that they find inferior harshly. Prejudice is a destructive force because it separates the people of Maycomb, both physically and mentally.
To Kill a Mockingbird, both as a novel and as a film, shows how time can change the way society views the importance of certain issues, such as racism. Because it was written during the civil rights movement, many people protested against it for conveying issues of prejudice between the north and the south. However, after time, the novel gradually became accepted. It is now a world-renowned classic, and it has won the Pulitzer Prize, as well as having made its way to the big screen. The author, Harper Lee, sets the story in a small town in Alabama. The narrator is a 9-year-old tomboy, whose father was a widowed lawyer. Herbert Mitgang wrote in the New York Times on July 13, 1960:
While he was in the prison, Tom tried to escape and got shot to death. Being shot for escaping maybe a little bit over the top, but Tom was shot 17 times for trying. Being shot that many times may have been uncalled for, the first shot could have killed him, and living after a few shots is unlikely. Angel Alvarez holds the record for being shot 21 times and surviving. Angel was very luck to survive, and the 21 shots were necessary for the police to bring him in, but Tom being shot was not necessary and he was not as lucky as Angel. Toms shooting may not have been because the guard was part of the KKK, but tom being shot 17 times may have been because he was
Harper Lee’s most popular novel is To Kill A Mockingbird. The novel is set in a town in southern Alabama called Maycomb County, during the Great Depression. The main character Scout Finch is a young white girl who learns valuable lessons throughout the story. Since the novel is set from a child’s perspective there are many things she does not understand, and we see her grow up and learn from her experiences. Throughout the story we see Scout starting to understand what her town and the people in it are really like.
In To Kill A Mockingbird Atticus was moral to take the case of Tom Robinson even though he was black and the white community would look at him as a black lover. During the case he says to the jury, “do what's right not because of the skin color but what god knows it's right” Atticus did not care about the opinions of white people,the skin of color but of what was the moral thing to do.