How Does Lee Present Racism In To Kill A Mockingbird

In the book To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee there is a major theme. Racism is present everywhere throughout this book, from the beginning to the end. This theme is developed by all the people in the town of Maycomb being racist towards African Americans, and some African Americans are being racist towards white people. Harper Lee has made Maycomb townspeople racist to show that this book was set during the Great Depression. We can tell it’s during this time period because of the way people lived and how the author uses language to create the sense of the book being set in that time. Therefore, the most important theme in the book is racism because of the way everyone in the town acts towards each other and treats each other.

The first key point, is when racism is developed early in the book when Atticus Finch, who is a lawyer and the father of the narrator, decides to defend an African American man named Tom Robinson. The townspeople were against Atticus for defending Tom because he was an African American. Atticus didn’t care what anyone said about him and continued to defend Tom. For example, in the book, Atticus states “The jury couldn’t possibly be

expected to take Tom Robinson’s word against the Ewells...”(Lee, 88). What Atticus means by this is no matter how innocent Tom is the jury will still find him guilty and take Mr. Ewell's word instead of Tom’s because Tom is black. Atticus had tried the best he could to prove Tom was innocent because he isn’t racist and thinks everyone deserves the same amount of respect as everyone else no matter the color of their skin. Even when Tom was declared guilty Atticus still tried to see if he could get another trial to prove that he was innocent. (Lee). It doesn’t just stop here in the book for racism there is more all throughout the book.
Another key point is, Mrs. Dubose, the Finch family's neighbor doesn’t like African Americans and is greatly against what Atticus is doing to help Tom Robinson. For example, when Atticus’ kids Scout and Jem are reading to Mrs. Dubose, she states “Your father’s no better than the negroes and trash he works for. ” (Lee, 102). Mrs. Dubose talks poorly about Atticus because she wants his kids to think that their father is wrong for defending an African American. Mrs. Dubose shows great racism towards African Americans because she’s mostly saying that African Americans are less superior and they aren't good for anything.
The third key point is, when Scout and Jem’s cook Calpurnia takes them to her African American church, and the kids meet a racist African American lady named Lula. An example of her racism is when she states, “You ain’t got no business bringin’ white chillun here - they got their church, we got ours.”(Lee, 119). Lula was talking to Calpurnia in front of the kids when they all walked into the church, named The First Purchase. Lula is expressing her racism towards white people because she thinks that they are all racist towards African Americans and doesn’t care if Atticus is helping Tom. She believes that since Scout and Jem are white they shouldn’t be in an African American church and should just leave and go back to their own church.
In conclusion, the book To Kill A Mockingbird portrays the racism from people all through the town of Maycomb during the Great Depression.

In the beginning and middle of the book you will find racism when Atticus knows the jury for Tom Robinson's trial will decide that Tom is guilty. Later on in the book Mrs. Dubose goes through great lengths letting Scout and Jem know that she is against anything Atticus is doing to help Tom Robinson just because he's African American and Lula from Calpurnia’s church, was being racist towards Scout and Jem just because they are white. Therefore, racism was a very important theme during this entire book and Harper Lee made it this way so we can all get an understanding of how this book was to be set up and to show you how unfair it was back then during the Great

Depression.