He is almost completely shunned from the town because he is trying to help a black man accused of rape. Mayella had told Tom, “I said come here, nigger, and bust up this chiffarobe for me, I gotta nickel for you.” (p.241) She had tricked him to coming over to her. Then that’s about the time when she accuses him of rape. He had felt sorry for her, which is why he was falsely accused in the first place. Courthouse segregation was one of the biggest bits of racism I found in this book.
Therefore, the black community in Maycomb was crippled with fear. A fear that they will get lynched for a crime they did not commit. Stereotyping is a human instinct. We will always stereotype people's race, class and families. When Aunt Alexandra lived with the Finches, she said this to Scout about the Cunninghams, "Because he is trash, that's why you cant play with him.
Miss Gates talks about how Hitler is evil for killing all the Jews, and how being prejudiced against someone for their religion is wrong, yet she is racist against black people. So, she is a hypocrite for saying it is wrong to judge someone by their religion, but it’s ok to judge black people for their colour. Her ideas are widely the same as the people of Maycomb making it a racist and hypocritical community. 33. Bob Ewell attacked and followed Jem and Scout home, he jumped out in front of them but Jem pushed him which then made him fall on his own knife, which then killed him.
Monday, June, 18, 2012 "To Kill A Mockingbird" The Injustices of Racism The novel "To Kill A Mockingbird" written by Harper Lee is about the life of a family living in a small town in Alabama. In the 1930s a person could be hated, outlawed and wanted dead because of the colour of their skin. The main topic is injustice. First Tom Robinson is wrongly accused and convicted because he is a black man, then Atticus, Scout and Jem are made fun of and gossiped about by the town. Next the mixed children are completely alone and ignored because of their background.
From the racial prejudice used against Tom Robinson, to the economical prejudice against the Cunningham family, To Kill a Mockingbird has shown how people in Maycomb look at people. This book truly shows how the people in Maycomb Alabama are prejudice towards each other. It is very devastating that people would ever treat people like this and be prejudice like they are in this
In the case of the black community, they were often discriminated against just because of the color of their skin, this showed the racism present during the time. Likewise, with Aunt Alexandra, when she called the Cunninghams trash because of their low place in the social hierarchy in the town. Both of these examples showed just how much prejudice there was during the 1930’s. Furthermore, there were the foolish rumors of Boo Radley circulating around the town, this symbolized the pettiness and the amount the town judged others based on their differences. Along with the fact that Atticus shot the infected Mad dog, Tim Johnson, which symbolized the death of the town’s madness.
It occurs because of people having prejudice and stereotypes or generalised opinions about others. In To Kill a Mockingbird there is racial separation between the Negro and the white population. Negroes are pushed to the worst areas “Outside the southern town limits across the old sawmills tracks” (pg 122). We see that a Negro family The Robinsons lived “Beyond the town dump” (pg 83). The white population are separated because they believe the Negroes are filthy and are worthless.
Tom Robinson had been accused of raping a white woman in the town of Maycomb. Due to Tom Robinson being a black male, he was found guilty of crime despite the fact that he was actually physically unable to do it because of his crippled left arm. Atticus had been very disappointed in losing the case, even though he knew that it was going to happen because of the racism. Malcolm X stood up for social injustice against the black community. He chose to join a religious group that was made up of men who were against the whites.
There was racism that was directed towards the whites when Jem and Scout were brought to First Purchase and were not welcomed by Lula. Negroes didn’t want to be near whites and vise versa. This affected the children of Maycomb County, going back to when Jem cries because he was aware that the jury knew Robinson was innocent and wasn’t given justice. Therefore, there was a time where racial prejudice was to blacks and as well as whites. Social prejudice was also a big topic in To Kill A Mockingbird.
Mayella Ewell, a white girl, often asked him to help her with her chores and he of course did. One time when he was helping her she kissed him but when her father saw she was embarressed and said he raped her and beat her up. The thing was she had bruises on the left side of her face but Tom was paralyzed in the left arm after he got stuck in a cotton making machine, so he could not have done it. Still the jury convicted him guilty of all charges. Its very likely that he was only found guilty because he was black.