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To kill a mockingbird a character study essay
Character analysis to kill a mockingbird
To kill a mockingbird book and social justice
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In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee she illustrates the role and effects of social injustices, which is still applicable in today's society. The novel takes place during the depression era, a time period of inequality and injustice. In To Kill a Mockingbird the story takes place in a racist Southern Town where a man named Atticus defends an innocent black man of rape. The role and effects of social injustice is demonstrated by this case and the effects it has on Scout and Jem. Scout and Jem are innocents in the beginning of the book seeing everyone as equals and the good in all. By the end of the book they gain a complex understanding of the world experiencing discrimination, hatred, and violence. These are the effects of social …show more content…
injustice Scout and Jem questioned as they lose their naive mindset into maturity. This is evident in many scenes in To Kill a Mockingbird. Discrimination as a effect of social injustice is depicted how Scout is fitted into a stereotypical box of being a girl. Similar to today with muslims labeled as evil, and violent. Hatred is demonstrated with Tom Robinson getting shot 17 times when he tried to escape seen today with Freddie Grey, a 25 year old black man who suffered spinal injury in police custody. Violence is depicted as an effect of social injustice when a lynch mob went to Tom’s jail threatening to kill Atticus and Tom. Similar to today in Europe with Anti Jewish conflict rising. The effects created by social injustice greatly cause evil and all avagrate social inequality. The effects of social injustice create discrimination in many scenes within the book. Scout is one of these characters that face discrimination by Mrs. Dubose. Harper Lee’s comment on discrimination by the court case is still seen today such as by the treatment Tahera Ahmad received for being Muslim. Scout is intelligent and in the time period a tomboy. The effects of social injustice is it causes discrimination especially on Scout who constantly gets labeled by society as a “girl”. The role that social injustice has on Maycomb is it makes people see themselves better than others. This is demonstrated by Mrs. Dubose who criticizes Scout for not being a typical girl. Scout walks with her brother Jem and are playing hooky seen by Mrs. Dubose. Mrs. Dubose berates the children for not reaching the expectation of society and screams at Scout why she is wearing overalls instead of a “ dress and camisole”, the standard dress for a young lady (135). Mrs. Dubose represents discrimination by social injustice, while Scout represents innocence destroyed by social injustice. In Maycomb discrimination plays a major role in this society by the hierarchy structure. Maycomb discrimination is seen in gender, race, and religion. All these factors and effects of social injustice stuff people in boxes and label people as groups. The discrimination Scout receives from Mrs. Dubose is due to the social injustice that does’nt recognize individuals or differences. Mrs. Dubose discriminates Scout by calling her a girl. She stereotypes Scout and labels her as a girl using the typical image for a girl labeled on Scout instead of accepting differences. Social injustice role in this society is to destroy pride by criticizing Scout for not being a normal girl, and not fitting into the gender roles. In today’s society the treatment that Scout receives from Mrs. Dubose is still seen today by labeling Muslims as evil. Tahera Ahmad is one of the unfortunate millions of Muslims who are labeled and fit into society’s boxes just like Scout. Tahera Ahmad was riding a American airline flight where she asked her flight attendee for an unopened can of diet coke for hygienic reasons. Her flight attendant denied her request because she was told she was going to use it as a weapon, “then preceded to bring an unopened can of beer to the man sitting next to her”( Ngongang). Tahera Ahmad was expecting people to speak out against this discrimination but got told by a fellow passenger to shut the f**k up. Tahera Ahmad is a muslim woman who wears a scarf and devoted to her religion. The discrimination and labeling she received from the flight attendant and fellow passengers is appalling. Similar to Scout social injustice puts labels on Tahera. Since she is muslim, society labels her as evil and violence willing to use a soda can as a weapon. Social injustice discriminates Tahera for being muslim and treats her differently from other people. This is an act of discrimination not a misunderstanding. Just like Scout who is devoted to her differences from other girls, Tahera got discriminated for not fitting in society based on prejudice and racism. Harper Lee’s greatest comment on social injustice is it prevails even in public spaces. Scout and Tahera are both daily reminders that inequality and discrimination is real and dangerous. This is more than Scout getting labeled as a girl and Tahera not getting a can of unopened soda. It’s about the social injustice that society practices and prevails around the world in the form of discrimination. In the novel by Harper Lee Scout gets labeled as a girl and rejected because of her differences. This is seen today with Tahera who is labeled as evil and violent for being a Muslim as an effect of social injustice. In Maycomb a southern town where racism is very well exposed and accepted by society.
Social injustice prevails and has many roles and effects on the denizens. The role social injustice has on Africans Americans is having them get treated with great disrespect and be seen as lesser humans. This is demonstrated with Tom Robinson how he is a innocent black man found guilty because he is against a white women. Social injustice effects on this town is hatred depicted through the death of Tom a mockingbird. This is seen in today’s society with Freddie Grey who just like Tom faced the evil hands and social injustices by white folk.The effects of social injustice is seen through the killing of Tom Robinson. Scout and Jem are truly affected by his death questioning why society is built on the social fabric it is. The death of Tom is an act of hatred and contempt that many blacks faced during this time due to social injustice. Atticus hears the news that Tom has been killed when he tried to climb over the fence. Atticus tells Calpurnia, Aunt Alexandra, and Scout they fired a few bullets in the air to warn Tom then shot “ seventeen bullets in him” (315). Social injustice effects on the views of black men are clearly demonstrated in the guards who shot Tom seventeen times. The guards have hatred for Tom simply because of his skin color. The guards did not see Tom as a innocent negro but an escaping prisoner. The hatred whites have for blacks by social injustice make many people in Maycomb see blacks just as another evil black man. The role of social injustice is greatly impacted by the shooting of Tom. Tom is crippled, and disabled with his left arm. The guards shooting a man seventeen times especially in Tom’s condition is an act of evil and hatred. In Baltimore Tom’s death by hatred can still be seen today with the death of Freddie Grey. Similar to Tom, Freddie Gray also had a illness. He was known for drugs and was in a coma when in police custody. Tom and Freddie
both died by hatred and the mistreatment they received from whites. In Baltimore Freddie Grey, a 25 year old black man who suffered severe spinal cord injury when in police custody. The city of Baltimore is one of the areas in this world where social injustice prevails seen with the death of many innocent blacks. Last month in Baltimore it experience 43 homicides, “the city has not seen these numbers since December 1971, when 44 were killed” ( Love). The hatred of many blacks resulting from social injustice is seen both with Tom and Freddie. Similar to Tom, Freddie is not seen by whites with equal rights. The hatred from social injustice results in evil and killing of innocent black people. The white policemen failed to properly take care of Freddie and did not care if one black man died. The hatred for blacks similar to Tom are by the major role social injustice and inequality play in everyday life. Numbers of innocent black people are dying because society is beginning to accept racism and social injustice in the form of hatred. Black lives are devalued and discounted seen with both Tom and Freddie death on a regular basis in today’s society. In the novel by Harper Lee social injustice effects of hatred are depicted through Tom’s death and in the present with the demise of Freddie Grey by policemen.
In the novel, ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ by Harper Lee some characters suffer in the hands of justice and fairness more than others. Many characters in the novel are discriminated against such as Calpurnia, Dolphus Raymond, Helen Robinson, Burris Ewell and more. However I will be focusing on the discrimination against Tom Robinson for his race, Walter Cunningham for his low socioeconomic status and Boo Radley for the rumors and supposed mental instability he holds. I chose those three because they are the most prominent and I will discuss how the discrimination against the characters therefore leads to their injustice or unfairness.
Tom Robinson was just a “respectable negro” with a kind nature who was accused in absence of wrong. Mr Robinson is immediately seen as an enemy by most in town of Maycomb. Is it because of his malicious personality? Is it because of his hair colour? Is it because he is arrogant? No, all of these are false he is instantly convicted because he is of a different ethnicity. It seems foolish but this is the reason why Maycomb has discarded a man who is of higher quality than the majority of the town. “Tom was a dead man the minute Mayella opened her mouth and screamed.” As soon as the trial began Tom’s opportunity for victory grew slimmer and slimmer and Maycomb knew that Atticus was fighting an unwinnable battle. But Atticus was determined to defend the ‘ultimate mockingbird’ right up until the end; even after the court case Atticus defends Tom at the jail. A final act of Tom’s innocence to prove his mockingbird status was whilst in court, he still didn’t want to accuse Mayella because “she seemed...
Injustices There have been many famous pieces of literature, but one that stands out is the 1960's classic To Kill a Mockingbird written by Harper Lee. Lee, who only wrote one book in her life time, wrote of prejudice, injustice, and racism in the 1930's. To Kill a Mockingbird takes place in the Deep South in the 1930's. To Kill a Mockingbird is a story in which a black mad is accused of doing something he didn't do. During the whole story some of the two of the main characters, Jem Finch and Jean Lousie Finch, grow up in there mind
To Kill A Mockingbird is a heroic tale of leadership and courage during racial times. In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Atticus, To, Jem and Scout are unfortunately exposed to a really racist and prejudiced society and town. Which ends up causing them to lose a case and really confuse Jem and Scout when they are young. In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill A Mockingbird, it uses characterization to help show a theme of loss of innocence when people are exposed to surprising and unfair situations.
In the book, To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, the story is told by a young girl called Jean-Louise Finch but also known as Scout aged five at the start of the book almost turning six who in the book is quite unique as she could read at the age of six and understand her fathers profession as a lawyer. The story is about Scout growing up in the southern state of Alabama in a small town called Maycomb with her brother Jem and her father called Atticus who is the lawyer. The main theme of the book is about Atticus defending a black man called Tom Robinson and he is accused of raping a white girl called Mayella Ewell and how it affects her, in the book she learns about racism and prejudice and the struggle of black men in life and she also learns about the ways of life and family traditions. The book is set in the late 1930’s so racial discrimination is at its peak in the southern states of America.
Throughout History, men have looked down on blacks and women. But this does not justify the view that blacks and women are below white men. When people look down on blacks and women, they preform injustice. Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is full of injustice. During this time period, everyone looked down on blacks and women, which makes Maycomb one in the same with the discriminators. In particular, the people in Maycomb looked down on Tom Robinson, and many others looked down on Scout. Around the Finch household, Aunt Alexandria always tries to do away with Calpurnia, the black housekeeper and cook as Alexandria says, “We don’t need her (Calpurnia) now.” (182). Injustices in Maycomb include the case of Tom Robinson, the way Aunt Alexandra treats Calpurnia, and the way people treat Scout.
Social Justice There are many responsibilities and duties that one should fulfill to rid the world of social injustices and inequalities but if no one doesn’t step in then how is this issue supposed to be put to rest? In To Kill a Mockingbird, the fictional town of Maycomb County isn’t a perfect little town but one that is filled with racist, critical, and judgmental people with no morals. On the other hand, there are people like Atticus Finch who do what they believe is right. Atticus filled his responsibility for this issue by defending Tom Robinson, a black man accused of raping Mayella Ewell. This was a pivotal moment in the book because Atticus took the case when no one else in Maycomb would because they are too afraid and racist to defend a man like Tom Robinson, an African American.
The novel "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee is a simplistic view of life in the Deep South of America in the 1930s. An innocent but humorous stance in the story is through the eyes of Scout and Jem Finch. Scout is a young adolescent who is growing up with the controversy that surrounds her fathers lawsuit. Her father, Atticus Finch is a lawyer who is defending a black man, Tom Robinson, with the charge of raping a white girl. The lives of the characters are changed by racism and this is the force that develops during the course of the narrative.
In Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird, the story is about a man named Atticus Finch, who defends an African-American man named Tom Robinson who was wrongly accused of rape. Atticus’s children Scout and Jem are exposed to racism for the first time in the Tom Robinson case. Meanwhile, Scout is dealing with her own issues of sexism and gender roles. There is also a big problem with social class, with some people living in extreme poverty.
In a desperate attempt to save his client, Tom Robinson, from death, Atticus Finch boldly declares, “To begin with, this case should never have come to trial. This case is as simple as black and white” (Lee 271). The gross amounts of lurid racial inequality in the early 20th century South is unfathomable to the everyday modern person. African-Americans received absolutely no equality anywhere, especially not in American court rooms. After reading accounts of the trials of nine young men accused of raping two white women, novelist Harper Lee took up her pen and wrote To Kill a Mockingbird, a blistering exposition of tragic inequalities suffered by African Americans told from the point of view of a young girl. Though there are a few trivial differences between the events of the Scottsboro trials and the trial of Tom Robinson portrayed in To Kill a Mockingbird, such as the accusers’ attitudes towards attention, the two cases share a superabundance of similarities. Among these are the preservation of idealist views regarding southern womanhood and excessive brutality utilized by police.
Think back to a time when you have felt utterly powerless. That was the same feeling that many African Americans felt in the first half of the twentieth century. The time period was filled with hate and ignorance towards minorities, especially in the American South. This is the setting of Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. Characters like Tom Robinson are subjected to the community’s hate and arrogance and end up in situations with little or no control of their fate. The central theme, racism, in To Kill a Mockingbird shows that African Americans were not accepted as equals in Maycomb County, the geographical location the story occurs, children like Jem and Scout Finch who were left perplexed by inequality and prejudice, and the citizens of the county who accepted racism and did nothing to better the situation for African Americans.
According to Google a social class is a division of society based on social and economic status, and has been a system implemented in the world for hundreds of years. Our story To Kill a Mockingbird has many different social classes and is a common theme of the story. The main character and narrator of the story, Scout, learns of social classes through Calpurnia, Walter Cunningham and Bob Ewell.
“There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest” Ellie Wiesel. Readers may find the amount of injustice in Harper lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird a little shocking. This could be why it’s such a popular book. People like the suspense of knowing someone’s right, but still being found guilty for something they did not do. There are many times throughout the book when people are powerless to prevent injustice but they still protest it. This shows that even when people unjustly punish there should always be someone to protest it. The theme of injustice is a common one in harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, whether it be through racism, misinformation, or Arrogance.
To Kill a Mockingbird revolves around a family living in a small town in the midst of the Great Depression and times of racial tension. Scout Finch is a quirky and bright young girl that lives with her younger brother Jem, and her widowed father Atticus who is a lawyer. Atticus is one of the few men in town who stands up for racial justice, and throughout the story instills morals of justice and fairness in his sharp minded children. When he takes on a case of a black man, Tom Robinson, accused of raping a white woman, Atticus shows his children what it means to be just, even in the face of the unsupportive town members.
Prejudice has been present from the early reaches of history till the present day. The prejudice faced in the modern day is similar to how it was portrayed in Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird. In this novel the main character and narrator Jean Louise Finch or Scout recalls a story of one summer she had as a child. During this summer the themes of prejudice and bias are ever-present in Maycomb County affecting the everyday lives of multiple people though in a few cases the prejudice is overcame allowing the people to live better lives.