The main concern and issue in TKAM is the concept of prejudice. In the text, prejudice is represented mainly through the racial inequality in the town of Maycomb . In the text, we see Atticus' belief in treating and respecting everyone as an individual contrasted with a number of other wold views. The aspect of racism is shown when the people of Maycomb accept the testimony of an obviously corrupt white man. “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view... Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.”.
Anger is conceptualized as an instinctual drive (Hall, 1899) and Blacks are often stereotyped as angry and out of control with regard to their feelings and emotions (Franklin, 2004). Anger and its manifestations have been widely documented as a response to racism related experiences (Wade, 2006). Johnson and Greene (1991) found that for young Black men who were faced with a number of race-related anger-provoking situations; their feelings of anger were suppressed because of fear of negative consequences. Mabry & Kiecolt, (2005) have found that although Black Americans are consistently faced with situations that might provoke anger, they are more likely to suppress their anger for fear that the expression of strong emotions such as anger could have a potentially detrimental effect on their lives.
Through this kind of intimate and close to home story, Staples makes it clear that he himself came to the awful realization of “ the ability to alter public space in ugly ways” ( Staples, 19). He gives the reader that same sense of alienation that he felt at that moment; because of his skin color people automatically treated him different. Through this personal way of speaking he reached not only the white women, but black men, and American society as a whole. Staples makes the entire situation feel as though it were happening to you at that very moment; and that, no matter how hard you try, there is no changing the American way of discrimination. Staples also touched on situations that pertain to every audience mentioned above.
According to Du Bois the prejudices of white people elicit “self-questioning, self-criticism, and lowering of ideals” among black people. The internalization of anti-black sentiment from the outside world thus begins to shape the black American experience. Through the concept double consciousness DuBois becomes better able to explore the social problems he studied in his earlier work “The Philadelphia Negro”. Double consciousness also creates an element of conflict within the black American, as they struggle (often unsuccessfully) to reconcile their identity as a black person and as an American citizen. Dubois cites the example of the black artisan in “The Souls of Black Folk”.
In one confrontation involving Ras, Clifton, and the narrator, the Exhorter has many places where either his grammar is off or the words are spelled wrong for emphasis, “Come in with us, mahn. We build a glorious movement of black people/Taking their money is shit, mahn. Money without dignity- That’s bahd shit!” (371). The unnecessary presence of h’s in specific words only adds to the vision that Ellison makes. By including Ras in this fashion, he creates a stereotype view of the Black Race.
These oppressions can lead to very intense psychological issues. Throughout this paper there will be discussions on numerous angles of the psychological issues homosexual black males are being faced with on a daily basis. In addition to psychological issues homosexual black males develop; we will discuss how gender masculinity and appearance has a major influence over discrimination among these males. To discover our identity in a world where discrimination occurs on a normal basis makes it hard for some people to accept who they really are. “Individual qualities and experiences that constitute the unique makeup of every human being are often overlooked as a result of social stereotyping.” Whether these stereotypes are about religion, race, or even gender, it doesn’t help society prosper.
In fact, Parrillo explains in his essay “frustrations tend to increase aggression toward others” (583). He directed his anger to those he was always told to avoid which he stated, “I didn’t know who to blame. I tried to find somebody. I began to blame it on black people. I had to hate somebody” (593).
In Brent Staples’s essay “Just Walk on By: A Black Man Ponders His Ability to Alter Public Space”, Staples explains how black men are discriminated against in public through the events that happened in his own life and the lives of others. Brent Staple says that stereotypes usually mislead and have bad effects. He says that stereotypes affect the stereotyper. People perceived that Staples was - a black man - as a mugger or sometime even a rapist just because the color of his skin, especially white woman with well dressed, and in her early twenties. The author was known as a night walker.
The setting of the segregated south plays a key role in the illustration of the racial tension between blacks and whites. At this time, blacks became intolerant of abuse and punishment that white men inflicted upon them, and they were restless for change. The culmination of these tensions lead to an idea of a “new” black man. This “new” black man is unafraid to speak or to stand up for himself. For example, when questioned by Mapes about Beau’s murder, Uncle Billy
In Harper Lee’s compellingly poignant novel, ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ we witness various forms of racism and injustice. As the protagonist, Scout exposes the bigotry present in Maycomb County and what the characters endured because of it, particularly the African Americans. We also observe the discrimination that certain characters, such as Atticus Finch and Mr. Dolphus endure because of the racial stereotypes who couldn’t comprehend their belief for justice for all. Racism in Maycomb was the norm. Most of the people of Maycomb were unjust and ignorant when it came to the most basic rights of the African Americans.