To Kill A Mockingbird Quote Analysis

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A quote by Don King, “Hypocrisy is the mother of all evil, and racial prejudice is still her favorite child” aligns with the message in Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill A Mockingbird. King’s quote emphasizes the deeply rooted connection between hypocrisy and racial prejudice in society that leads to injustice. In the novel, Scout, the main character and narrator, is exposed to hypocrisy and racial prejudice. Scout’s father, Atticus Finch, takes the job of defending Tom Robinson, a black man accused of raping a white woman. There is a lot of controversy and racial prejudice in Maycomb due to this trial. Scout is exposed to this prejudice through people in her life. First, her third-grade teacher, Miss Gates, delivers a lesson on the injustice of Jewish persecution by Hitler. However, she was overheard making a rude and …show more content…

Merriweather responds, “‘Oh child, those poor Mrunas.’ Miss Merriweather’s large brown eyes always filled with tears when she considered the oppressed” (Lee 308). In this moment in the book, Harper Lee shows Merriweather as a sympathetic and caring individual. The fact that her eyes are “filled with tears” shows that she is expressing emotion and sadness. Crying is a way to express emotion, and because she started to cry, it shows how deeply she feels about the oppressed minority in Africa. Even though Ms. Merriweather expresses sympathy for an oppressed minority in Africa, she does not feel the same way about black people in her community, showing selective empathy and hypocrisy. Later, Merriweather talks to fellow Missionary Circle members about her feelings on African Americans: “Gertrude, I tell you there’s nothing more distracting than a sulky darky” (Lee 310). Despite her “eyes filling with tears” for the African tribe, her attitude and actions towards African Americans reveal her underlying hypocrisy. Her concern for the African tribe contrasts with her attitude towards African Americans in her

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