...said “As I often say, we have come a long way from the days of slavery, but in 2014, discrimination and inequality still saturate our society in modern ways. Though racism may be less blatant now in many cases, its existence is undeniable” While Sharpton claims we have come a long way in regard to prejudice of blacks, in the 1930s many blacks and whites who opposed the segregation of blacks felt the hatred produced by white southerners. In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, it is obvious that there are many issues in the small town of Maycomb, Alabama. In a time where segregation was more common than ever, many southerners began to form bias opinions towards African Americans. This unjust judgment of different...
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...In Harper Lee’s rites-of-passage novel ‘To Kill a Mocking Bird’, the theme of prejudice and injustice is portrayed in many aspects of the narrative, and suggests that out-casts and misfits of society cannot escape the callous effects of discrimination in the conventional town of Maycomb. Through the protagonist’s eyes Jean Louise Finch also known as Scout, we are shown the harsh and insensitive circumstances the victimized in Maycomb. Lee also gives us insight of hope and optimism through individuals who persevere for justice and equality. In the novel, we see Arthur (Boo) Radley constantly victimized by the prejudice of Maycomb’s society. Boo Radley is not accepted nor does he fit into society and from his unusual ways he is wronged and deceived. Boo Radley isolates himself from the people of Maycomb. If Boo chooses to go outside, he will be unfairly viewed as a visitor from abroad because of his mysterious ways. He remains in his home all day and all night because he knows that his society will ridicule him. After being isolated for so many years ‘Arthur Radley was not seen for fifteen years’, Boo is developmentally challenged and has lost his basic social skills. Boo is the object of rumours and is viewed as the town’s erratic figure. The town blames and accuses Boo for any petty crime or unexplained phenomenon. Under the influence of the adults we also see the children speculate over Boo. They describe him as a ‘malevolent phantom’ ‘six-and-a-half feet tall’ with ‘bloodstained’...
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...To Kill a Mockingbird Tiffin University Lisa Caskey September 28, 2012 Degree Completion Program English 365 Issues in Literature Discrimination and prejudice were very common in the 1900’s. Prejudice is defined in the Webster’s dictionary as “preconceived judgment; or opinion; an adverse opinion or leaning formed without just grounds or before sufficient knowledge”. (http://www.merriam-webster.com/). Discrimination is defined as “prejudiced or prejudicial outlook, action, and or treatment” (http://www.merriam-webster.com/). Discrimination and Prejudice run rampant in Maycomb County, Alabama. To Kill a Mockingbird is a story based in time of the Great Depression. The book displayed acts of hate based on the color of someone’s skin. Colored people were the main ones discriminated against. But there were instances where poverty stricken families were also discriminated against. The story begins in the summer in a small town called Maycomb County. The story is told from a child’s perspective. The child’s name is Scout finch. She is retelling the story of her and her brother Jem’s childhood. Their summer consists of playing games and acting out scenarios from different books. They also act out stories made up about people residing within their neighborhood. They do this along with “Dill” Miss Rachel’s nephew who comes to Maycomb for the summer. These stories are based on assumptions and judgments of what they believe...
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...But what happens when a white man stands up to defend a black man, in a society which is based on prejudices against blacks? And does moral even interfere? That is some of the question the author, Harper Lee, is answering in his novel "To kill a Mockingbird", published in the year of 1960. The story is about the siblings Scout and Jem Finch living in a small town called Maycomb. They have lost their mother but as a replacement they have their nanny, Calpurnia, to look after them. Their father, Atticus, does also take care of them while being one of the only lawyers in the county. One summer, the siblings become fascinated by their neighbor, Boo Radley, who never seems to leave the house. Scout and Jem spend most of the summer, in company of their friend Dill, trying to get a glimpse of their mysterious neighbor. After several attempts of getting near the house they must conclude that Boo Radley remains a puzzle as Jem and Scout goes back to school. The subsequent summer Atticus is struggling with a case, in which he is defending the black man Tom Robinson. Tom has been accused of raping the white girl Mayella Ewell. Atticus, as well as Jem and Scout, is assured that Tom is innocent in the case. However, Tom Robinson is still convicted and must therefore go to jail. A couple of weeks after the trial, Tom tries to escape but gets caught and shot. The following Halloween evening the two siblings are walking home from a party, when they suddenly are attacked by the father...
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...models. Scout Finch is strongly impacted by the “old traditions of the south” during her growth into womanhood and when she pushes against the stereotypes placed on her as a southerner and a young lady to find her gender identity. The beliefs of Atticus Finch and his involvement in the courtroom have had a big impact on Scout’s growth. Atticus’ beliefs were different than the beliefs of most people of Maycomb and he “bestowed a benevolent order on the Finch household by his example” which slowly shifted Scout’s views on their society’s division....
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...main character Scout is a young girl in 1993 Alabama. Her father, Atticus Finch, is a successful lawyer defending a black man accused of rape. Scout’s brother, Jeremy Finch, who is four years her senior is her companion throughout the story. The main idea of this story would about scout losing her innocence. In the first chapter of this story Scout recalls the summer when her brother broke his arm and she looks bad at the incidents that lead up to the big bang. As scout starts school she has a teacher that’s new to Maycomb with a different teaching style. Scout does not have a good first year at school experience. She gets her hand spanked by the teacher for explaining another student’s financial problems (he couldn’t pay the teacher back for lunch)....
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...On July 11, 1960, Nelle Harper Lee published one of the most influential books of all time and oddly enough, most of that book was based on her life as a young child. The protagonist of To Kill a Mockingbird, Jean Louise “Scout” Finch, is the daughter of a lawyer, a single father who raises both her and her brother, Jem. Nelle Harper Lee was also the daughter of a lawyer, Amasa Coleman Lee, who raised her, two sisters, and a brother, while their mother was suffering from a bipolar disorder. By just describing their immediate family situations, there is already a few similarities between both families. Harper Lee’s book, To Kill a Mockingbird, is not an autobiography, but there is no doubt there is a strong sense of relativity between Harper Lee and the young Scout Finch. One of the similarities between Scout and Lee is their early exposure to racism as young children. Lee has a very strong experience with racism or segregation, due to the fact of her father being a lawyer who represented all kinds of black clients, and the developing chaos of discrimination, riots, and racism. On March 25, 1931, nine young men were accused and arrested for rape of two white women, which means that Lee would have been around at that time. Both women denied having been raped by any of the men. After a period of five trials, five of the men were sentenced to long prison sentences and many lawyers thought the sentences were motivated by racial prejudice. Harper Lee addresses this in her novel by...
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...Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Atticus Finch plays an important role in influencing Scouts education, Morals, and her overall development. He does so through his words and actions. Atticus Finch plays an important role in educating Scout through out the book. He teaches her many subjects such as the importance of education. Atticus told Scout, “If you'll concede the necessity of going to school, we'll go on reading every night like we always have. Is that a bargain?” (P.41) Atticus comprehends that education is extremely important consequently leading him to bargain with her although he could be in trouble by doing so. Scout then learns the importance of education because although she knows he'll get into trouble, he'll do anything so she'll continue to attend school. He also thought her indirectly how to read. Scout says, “I never deliberately learned to read... I could not remember when the lines above Atticus's moving finger separated into words... everything Atticus happened to be reading when I crawled into his lap every night.” (P.23) Scout never directly learned from Atticus how to read, “ I never deliberately learned to read” but he indirectly thought her to read by always having her while he read. As she said that the “words above Atticus's fingers separated into words.” He always thought her the best way to solve any problem. Once Atticus started to defend Tom Robinson, people start to call him a “nigger love,” so he tells Scout that "…You might hear some ugly...
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...toward Negroes is still prevalent and critiques society on actions such as that. Next, Although the issue of racism is mostly focused on how the African Americans were victims, Lee also showed that it may happen on both sides. Because of being the only white people to attend, Finch and Scout were...
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...Racism is defined as discrimination against someone of a different race based on the belief that one's own race is superior. Racism has been around as long as humanity has existed. There has always been division between groups of people. Harper Lee used the critical race theory in To Kill a Mocking Bird as a framework to explain how racism has an effect on society. The novel, To kill a Mocking Bird, was written in the 1930’s. During this time period the United States was in the deepest and longest lasting depression in history of the Western world. It came to be known as the Great Depression. The depression was caused by the stock market crash of 1929, which wiped out millions of investors. At this time nearly half of the country’s banks had failed. It was not until 1939 that the economy began to fully turn around. The 1930’s was also a time of racial inequality. Although slavery no longer took place in the United States, African Americans were still treated differently. Examples of racial inequality is represented in Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mocking Bird. To kill a Mocking Bird, was an award winning novel. It took place in an Alabama town...
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...In 2016 two black women were targeted in Burlington, Vermont by a white man leaving Ku Klux Klan papers on their doors. Susan Carlo, daughter of one of the girls targeted said: “‘It's very well known what the KKK stands for — hatred, discrimination and sometimes extreme violence," Carlo said. "We were so alarmed we went to the point of hiring a private security person,” according to The Burlington Free Press. Vermont is one of the most homogeneous states in the country. According to The United States Census Bureau: “The total percentage of black people in Vermont in 2015 was 1.3% whereas the total percentage of white people in Vermont was 94.8%.” In Vermont, people who are not white stand out and are sometimes not accepted. Similarly, discrimination...
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...Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is set in Maycomb, a small town in Alabama, during the 1930s. It portrays the story of a young girl, Scout Finch, and the obstacles, prejudice, and findings she encounters during her early childhood. Her older brother, Jem Finch, is a usual companion and joins her in most of her wanderings. Their father, Atticus Finch, is a defense attorney and works in the state’s legislature. During the course of the novel, Atticus encounters a difficult case he needs to defend. Tom Robinson, a black man, is accused of raping Mayella Ewell, a white woman. This case gains lots of attention. Atticus and his children soon becomes the victims of strong hatred and harassment from whites of the town because many believe Atticus should not be defending this case. The family also has a housekeeper, Calpurnia. Calpurnia is black, yet still very educated. Calpurnia is seen not only as their...
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...the cause of freedom, safety, and liberty? Would you sacrifice yourself for others? You may think you know, giving your only piece of pizza to your friend is an act of bravery to sacrifice. Each Individual including you; can make choices. It depends on where the mind and heart set is. In the Novel by Harper Lee, “To Kill a Mockingbird”, she brings us in the 1960s, it took place in Maycomb Alabama where the narrator Scout illustrate her two years of events that took place during her childhood. Throughout the novel, It talked about the hierarchy between “White” and “Black” people. “White” people are superior while the “black” people are the inferior or the servants. These two race cannot be integrated and unfortunately, the inferior population suffers. However, they are some people in the story that shows courage. An example of Tom Robinson, Atticus Finch and Dolphus Raymond which I am going to explicate their concept of courage. Among by the novel, Tom Robinson is one of the black people who undergo the test of Maycomb’s racism. Tom was accused of raping Mayella Ewell. Mayella is lonely and unhappy. She has never had any friends, nor any love or affection in her life, and the only person who has been decent to her is Tom Robinson. In Chapter 19, Mr. Gilmer asks Tom,...
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...Mockingbird. In the novel the author uses the perspective of the novel’s storyteller, Miss Jean Louise Finch, more commonly known as Scout, and her brother Jeremy, nicknamed Jem, to highlight the blind innocence that comes as a byproduct of childhood. It is this innocence that also disappears from the children’s perspective in the novel. At least at first the two, blinded by their innocence, are unaware of the more mature and even sometimes ominous events and actions that eventually occur in the novel’s unveiling plot. It is because of their unwearied characters that Lee is able to best show how the events that occur in the lives of young characters causes blind innocence to disappear over time. Throughout the novel, there is a constant turn of events that ultimately leaves the children disillusioned with all their preconceived notions of all that is morally just and good. As Yeats said, time indeed proves to be the enemy for the children’s innocence, and by the novel’s end their worldly perspective is irreversibly changed. In the opening of the novel, Jean Louise Finch is revealed to be a grown woman looking back on her youth. The focal point of the narrative in particular is an innocent period from her childhood when she is six years old, just before starting school and her remembrance continues until the time of her life when she was eight years old. Early in the novel, Scout and Jem begin to lose part of their innocence, as although they’ve each begun to realize differences...
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...mockingbird symbolizes Boo Radley, Atticus Finch and Tom Robinson, who were peaceful people who never did any harm. To kill or harm them would be a sin. Scout's father, Atticus, tells Scout and Jem, “Shoot all the blue jays you want, if you can hit'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird." Atticus is portraying that they are innocent and to harm them would be a sin. The mockingbird symbolizes these three characters because it does not have its own song, the mockingbird only sings other birds' songs and is seen through the other bird’s voices. The people of Maycomb only knew Boo, Atticus and Tom by what others said about them. These characters do not really have their own voice or song, they are only known for what others say about them. Atticus is a lawyer in Maycomb, a typical southern town where racial discrimination is the normal behavior. When he decides to defend Tom Robinson a black man, the people in the town were threatening him for doing so. Though Atticus never showed any sign that he doubted what he was doing. Atticus saw the evil in his world and was only trying to protect his children from it. He simply denied the natural behavior to colored people and fought against it. Atticus took the hatred, pushed it aside, kept his head high and stayed true to himself. He never hurt a soul and was just as innocent as a mockingbird. Boo Radley went through his life never wanting to hurt a fly. He left gum, pennies, and wax dolls for Scout and Jem. He also saved Scout's and...
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