Prejudice is Everywhere “There’s nothing more sickening to me than a low-grade white man who’ll take advantage of a Negro’s ignorance” (Lee 221). Atticus, the narrator’s father in To Kill a Mockingbird, expresses his disgust in the manner of how white men treat the African-American race. This part of the novel is only one example of the prejudices observed in To Kill a Mockingbird, as the novel highlights the issue throughout. Racism was a major issue a large number of men, women, and even children had to face during the time periods of the novels To Kill a Mockingbird and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Scout, the protagonist of To Kill a Mockingbird, is a young girl living in Maycomb, Alabama.
Both examples show how prejudiced the city in the South actually was. b. Depression happening at the time as well. j. In a court case, a black man named Tom Robinson was ruled guilty by an extremely racist jury. He was obviously (due to the evidence) innocent, but racist southerners of the jury ruled him guilty anyways.
A prejudiced society is usually ignorant of its flaws, many prejudiced people do not realise the extent of their hypocrisy. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird (1960), Scout and Jem encounter prejudice in their little southern town of Maycomb, in which many social divisions exist. Maycomb County harbours many kinds of prejudices, and this lack of acceptance negatively affects many characters, which are stereotyped based on their race, economic status and level of education. Firstly, the 1930’s have large amounts of racial tension between strangers, neighbour, and even fellow family members. The white community feels that the black people are beneath them in the world.
Black boys: Women: “Animalistic persona” “Racism of his time in a satirical tone” “Turn reader to the derogatory treatment of African Americans” Introduction: The Aides in Kesey's novel, who are also called "black boys," negatively portray blacks as inferior to white people in society. The aides had a poor, rough childhood growing up as seen by their lack of education as seen in the quote "`Why, who you s'pose signed chief Bromden up for this foolishness? Inniuns ain't able to write'" (191). Their aides' hatred of the patients stems from their rough childhood. They are also cast as irresponsible and unable to carry out simple jobs.
They discriminate against blacks, mulattos, the poor, and people they do not even know any information about. Blacks encountered most of the discrimination, by the people of Maycomb. Tom Robinson is a black man that is accused of raping a poor girl names Mayella Ewell. Atticus Finch the father of Scout and
She shows it through Atticus, Tom Robinson and the Negro community and Arthur “Boo” Radley. Social inequality can happen to someone because of a choice they made like Atticus or because of his or her color like the Negroes in the book or even because you are antisocial like Arthur. The era of the story had a big affect on all the examples because in the thirties it was wrong for a white man to actually try to defend a black man and, it was expected that Negroes were bad people when they were not. With Arthur’s case it is different, his was because of the fact they lived in a small town where everyone was in each others’ business
He is at the bottom of the hierarchy of Maycomb…when it comes to the white community. In the socially backward town of Maycomb, blacks are considered the bottom of the barrel, regardless of any other factor. Bob Ewell exerts his importance, or lack thereof, over the black community throughout the book. Even though he is reviled throughout the community, Bob is still considered to be of greater importance, when compared to Tom Robinson. The black people in Maycomb are put in a situation where it is nearly impossible to raise their social status.
Atticus Speech “Our courts have their faults, as does any human institution, but in this country our courts are the great levelers, and in our courts all men are created equal.” “Gentlemen, we are living in times of racism, in times of poverty, in times of cruel judgement. But let me ask you gentlemen, how are negroes worse than caucasians? How does the color of your skin determine whether you deserve to live or not? Think about these questions to yourselves. Everyone knows this case should not have taken place.
The only reason Tom was found guilty, was because he was black and Bob Ewell was white. A white man’s lie always beats a black man’s truth. What happened in the courtroom that day was lack of equality. The black man was treated differently because of the color of his skin, which makes it unfair to Tom. The second example of equality occurs when Tom Robinson was in jail waiting for his appeal.
Racism has been more of a social norm during the Great Depression than as an injustice, specifically the treatment towards African Americans. For example, in Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird Atticus states, " There's something in our world that makes men lose their heads –they couldn't be fair if they tried. In our courts, when it's a white man's word against a black man's, the white