To Kill A Mockingbird Racial Injustice Analysis

Words: 1733
Pages: 7
Open Document
In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Atticus Finch explains his reasons for defending Tom Robinson, a black man who is unjustly accused of raping a white girl, even though he knows he will lose the case; “simply because we were licked a hundred years before we started is no reason for us not to try and win” (Lee82). This passage illustrates the evils of racial prejudice, social prejudice and gender prejudice, all of which lead to some form of injustice that needs to be corrected in the novel.
The most prevalent prejudice, racial prejudice is when an opinion (usually a bad one) is formed on a person for no reason other than their race. This is present when Tom is convicted even though all of the evidence says he is innocent, solely …show more content…
Stephanie Crawford who describes Boo to the children as a sort of ghost, telling the children she caught him watching her through a window. Miss Maudie also reinforces the point that Arthur was not crazy but was made crazy or anti-social by his strict father who locked him away in their home. Another time when social prejudice occurs in the novel is Aunt Alexandra classifying who is a good or bad person based only on their family name and station. Scout asks Aunt Alexandra why she can not invite Walter Cunningham over to their house, “But I want to play with Walter, Aunty, why can’t I?” she took off her glasses and stared at me. “Ill tell you why,” she said. “Because-he-is-trash, that’s why you can’t play with him” (301). Even though aunt Alexandra has never met Walter Cunningham, she describes him as trash just because he is a Cunningham who are a lower class family. She wont allow Scout to play with him for no reason other then the fact that the Cunningham’s are lower on a lower social level than the Finch’s. Another occurrence of social prejudice is how the Ewells are described in the novel, they are described as trash and many rumors, some accurate, are passed on about them. They are considered to be on the lowest part of the white social ladder among the people of Maycomb. Scout asks Atticus about the Ewells, “Atticus said the Ewells had been the disgrace of Maycomb for three generations. None of them had done an honest day’s work in his recollection” (40). Although the things Atticus is telling Scout may be true, he is still pushing his thoughts on to her, thus making her create an opinion before she has really had any interaction of first hand experience with the members of the Ewell family. Gossip is extremely common in Maycomb county, which is why it leads to false or exaggerated opinions being described as accurate, creating
Show More

Related Documents: To Kill A Mockingbird Racial Injustice Analysis

how to kill a mocking bird Essay

To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel by Harper Lee published in 1960. It was immediately successful, winning the Pulitzer Prize, and has become a classic of modern American literature. The plot and characters are loosely based on the author's observations of her family and neighbors, as well as on an event that occurred near her hometown in 1936, when she was 10 years old. The novel is renowned for its warmth and humor, despite dealing with the serious issues of rape and racial inequality. The narrator's…

Words 396 - Pages 2

Archetypes In To Kill A Mockingbird

Literary criticism is an informed, written analysis and evaluation of a work of literature that is based on a literary theory. A literary theory is a means to understand the various ways people read and connect with texts that usually leads to a new perspective. In To Kill a Mockingbird (TKAM) by Harper Lee uses a literary theory known as archetypal criticism. This criticism shows how recurring characters, symbols, and themes help develop a story. The author’s use of loss of innocence, weather as…

Words 1494 - Pages 6

Examples Of Racial Injustice In To Kill A Mockingbird

mighty, for just as Americans claim freedom, all too often this country’s history has included grave injustice. American literature has often exposed this struggle, illuminating the plight of those groups who had to wait patiently for full acceptance. Author Harper Lee ranks highly among those authors whose work has served a greater social purpose. Her novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, confirms the injustices of the male-dominated, racist culture of the pre-Civil Rights American South. Lee presents her protagonist…

Words 1880 - Pages 8

1TKAM ESSAY PRACTICE

TKAM ESSAY PRACTICE Does To Kill a Mockingbird deserve its title as a classic of American Literature? Refer to the novel’s narrative elements in your response. Harper Lee is an American author of the novel called ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ set in the quite town of 1930s Maycomb and published in 1960. To Kill a Mockingbird deserves its tittle as an American classic novel. This will be proven through an exploration of the novel’s themes: loss of innocent, prejudice, moral education and courage. The Pulitzer…

Words 1570 - Pages 7

Analysis Of Changes By Tupac Changes

The song “Changes” by Tupac is mainly about African-American injustices. Within the song, he gives us a look inside the life of a African-American during that time. He touches basses with the racial-profiling, the poverty, and the racism that usually comes with describing an African-American . In the song, he starts off saying “I see no change”, which says that since the civil rights movement in the 1950’s and 60’s, there has been little or no improvement as to how they are treated. He seems to…

Words 1416 - Pages 6

Great Gatsby Review

accidentally hits a Mrs. Myrtle Wilson. Myrtle happens to be Tom’s mistress. When Tom arrives at the scene he is devastated and he tells Mr. Wilson that it was Gatsby’s car that hit her. This drives Wilson to take a gun and go in search of Gatsby. He kills both Gatsby and himself towards the end of the novel, all while Daisy makes plans with Tom to go away on a vacation. Only two people apart from Nick attend Gatsby’s funeral, and Nick’s loss of his friend causes him to move back West. 3) Major Conflicts:…

Words 9628 - Pages 39