Racism in To Kill a Mockingbird Essay

Racism In To Kill A Mockingbird

The award winning novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, is a story about young girl, Jean Louise Scout Finch who is talking about the happenings around the time when Atticus, her father was defending a black man, who was about to go to trial for raping a white girl. She describes the bad effect racism had on people in the town, Maycombe. By this time, in the early 1930s there was alot of racism. White people were certainly not suppose to be in a relationship, of any kind with the blacks. In the following essay I will make an attempt to discribe the prejudice that took place in the story.

Fear and ignorace seem to bee the main reason for the racism that took place in Mycombe, the town that the story happens in. Many people in the town were racist and even more were effected badly by it. For example Scout, the kids in her school called her father, Atticus nigger lover and even her teacher had bad influence. It was almost reasonable to have prejudice for black people, it was the norm, at that time of course. If you would help a black man with something, start chatting with them og even say hello, you could almost count on that somone would call you nigger lover. Atticus was a great, decent man who tought his children that the phrase nigger lover was completly ridiculous and meaningless. He said ; ."..nigger-lover is just one of those terms that don't mean anything - like snot-nose. It's hard to explain - ignorant, trashy people use it when they think somebody's favoring Negroes over and above themselves." When Calpurnia took Scout and Jem to her church. Scout and Jem were told to go home and stay with their own kind. They were judged strictly by their race and how the people at Cal's church felt about whites. It was also very difficult for poor little Scout to understand and experience why people would talk badly about Atticus and her family, because her father was defending a black man. She picked a fight in school, to defend herself from bad saying. Even her teacher was prejudiced and told her that Atticus couldnt teach her anything.

When it came to Tom Robinson trial you could see all the right faces of the people in Maycombe. The Ewells lied themselves and others full of indecency about Tom Robinson to hide their own guilt while Atticus and Tom Robinson told the truth and were and honest about what had happened on the night of the so called rape. They even put out alot of evidence that showed Robinsons innocence. But no, of course he was convicted guilty as charged. It just could not happend that a white woman had made a move on a black man, he must have raped her. He was convicted because of his skin color, skincolor for crying out lout! The Ewells would late be called gentlefolk though. Bob Ewell and his team were just as much lowlives, on another level I guess. They were the lowest of the whites in Maycombe, people despised them also, they were just remotely above the black people. Bob was always drunk. As a single parent he was providing all his seven children and had to use every penny he made and stamps he got to be able to feed them, but he spent it all on whiskey. They were the most disastrous people in the book.

My bottom line is that, the story throws a light on the fact how just awful racism is, and how seriously it can affect the victem and ruin its life. Unfortunatelly prejudicem has always been a part of human behavier and persecution of the white people against black people are terrible stigma of the whites activities. The fact that a black man has for the first time in history become the President of United States brigs many people hopes to that prejudicem and racism will decrease alot and bring us all a better future.