Racism In To Kill A Mockingbird

Joshua Bell was not born playing a million dollar Stradivarius violin whilst leading the New York Philharmonic Orchestra; he had to learn from people that he looked up to in order to reach that point of expertize. In the same way, not a single child is born with a racist agenda. The reality of life is quite simple, children are like sponges; they will take in any and all words and apply them to their own life even if they have no knowledge of what it means. This metaphor is especially prevalent in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird where it is displayed that racism is something that is learned, not something natural through the use of setting and contrasting opinions.

Lee stresses racism’s reliance on being taught through the use of contradicting

points of view between adults and children. This arises most prevalently during and after Tom Robinson’s trail. Whilst the trial’s short lifespan, Scout and Dill meet a man that chose to carry the title of town drunk, except he is not a drunk.

He then explains that he personifies a drunk so that the public could have a real reason to hate him besides the fact that he was married to a black woman. He explained that he let the children know his secret “Because you’re children and you can understand it,” (Lee 205) The children were not yet tarnished and spoon-fed distorted realities by the world around them. They still believed in love and compassion in their truest forms, in consequence racism had no hold on them. Children provide the purest sense of honesty that can see color but chooses to look beyond it to discover truth. No child is born believing that they are entitled to more than another; however every child is born with a tuned moral compass. Ultimately the trial ended in an unsurprising yet sickening verdict. After grasping what had just happened, Atticus consoles Jem with the possibility of “If you had been on that jury, son, and eleven other boys like you, Tom would be a free man. So far nothing in your life has interfered with your reasoning process.” (224) This quote shows the blatant difference between the thinking

process of an untarnished young mind and a corrupted mind. While the glimmer of hope that people may use their humanity shines bright, the reality is that humanity is only so much in a racist world. Atticus even went so far to say that “So far nothing in your life has interfered with your reasoning process” (224). The men of the jury had a certain something interfere with their reasoning processes, that something being hundreds of miniscule lessons on racism that added up to charging an innocent man. A child like Jem believes in the undisputable thought process that neglects to consider racism in any way, this compared to fully grown adults exemplifies that racism is taught.
Racism thrives in prejudice environments, and prejudice behaviors are the only cause of those environments.

Family gatherings are a source of political talks and arguments and the Finch family is no different. When Uncle Jack questioned how hard the trail could possibly be, Atticus counters with “It couldn’t be worse. The only thing we’ve got is a black man’s word against the Ewells’… the jury couldn’t possibly be expected to take Tom Robinson’s word against the Ewells’” (91). The significance of this response is embedded in “the jury couldn’t possibly be expected”, after years of living in the Three Fifths Compromise along with learning all the doctrines that racism provided there is no possible way that a jury of 12 white men could forsake the teachings of their childhoods. It simply could not be expected that they would choose turn towards truth over acknowledging the wrongs. Unlearning how to ride a bicycle is nearly impossible, so unlearning how to not be racist is nearly impossible. It’s a hard feat and the reason why slavery and segregation still exist. Where and when one grows up forms one in a way that cannot be fathomed. Lee reiterates this idea again with providing Francis the thought that “Grandma says it’s bad enough he lets you all run wild, but now he’s turned out a nigger-lover we’ll never be able to walk the streets of Maycomb agin. He’s ruinin‘ the family, that’s what he’s doin’.” (85) While it is disheartening that a mother would say such a thing about her

son, it’s even more disheartening that it was acceptable. There is no place for a black sheep to reside in a distinguished family founded on the ideals of a white world, such as the Finch family. Yet again it is shown that corruption of young minds comes from the people and setting that they are in. Francis was given this though process by his own grandmother, but he believed this because of the world around him. The matriarch of the Finch family had grown up in a time when slavery was expected and appreciated, because she grew up with believing fully that racism should be practiced she passed that idealism on to her grandson. While actions and words similar to these are frequently said in modern America, they are now faced with reprimands instead of greeted kindly. Lee shows in this quote that racism only thrives when you give it the environment that it can thrive in.
Lee presents the theory that racism is a taught reasoning process through the usage of setting and contrasting opinions between generations. The simple innocence of Jem and Scout contrasted with the comments of adults demonstrates how racism isn’t a natural behavior. What is natural and humane is empathy coupled with unwavering trust. Not a single human is born inhumane, it’s taught. Racism is taught not in unmitigated college style lectures, but in deep generational teachings of suppressing any feelings of empathy towards any person who didn’t resemble themselves.