The Importance Of Racism In To Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee

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

In Maycomb County, Alabama, the white community where the story takes place, blacks, such as Robinson, are seen as evil and as a disturbance. In a jury of all whites, Robinson’s truth of not raping Mayella is not justified in the courtroom. In his trial, Atticus, his lawyer, rhetorically asks the whites in the courtroom on what they think of Negroes; they are liars, deceitful, and immoral beings according to the jury, yet Atticus opposes this saying, “But this is a truth that applies to the human race and to no particular race of men. There is not a person in this courtroom who has never told a lie, who has never done an immoral thing..." (Lee 232). Atticus starts off by repeating the statement the white community addresses on Negroes, that they are evil in every aspect of life, and therefore they should not be trusted with women and in the community overall. Then, Atticus turns the tables on to the people of the courtroom, telling them that they must have lied or done evil before too, henceforth, making other people of different races evil. The racism toward Tom Robinson makes him feel as if he is guilty for his race. The white community makes Tom’s innocence feel obstructed because he has been accused of a rape as well as being told he is “evil” as well. The whites treat Robinson as if he is the worst sin,

Knowing that he will be in jail and that there is no hope of Atticus getting him out, Tom Robinson tries to escape in one last desperate attempt, which fails, leading to his death. As Maycomb hears this news, Scout says, “To Maycomb, Tom 's death was typical. Typical of a nigger to cut and run. Typical of a nigger 's mentality to have no plan, no thought for the future, just run blind first chance he saw" (Lee 322). Maycomb takes this news as “typical” daily events. They know that a Negro would try to run away, still failing, as he fails in life as well. The community is racist among Tom Robinson, and say that he is too illiterate and takes a run,because that what all Negroes would do. They are insulting the black and being racist over the fact that they are uneducated and their mentality is shows how illiterate they are. Even after his death, they still feel right enough to insult him, and make new notions of blacks. Maycomb does not understand that he is fed up with all the racism and unfairness, so he tries to get freedom and tries to tell himself maybe his faith can be restored if he actually escapes. Yet, the worst got the best of him, and he died under the impression of being a “typical