Then Steinbeck opened the character up by talking him to Lenny. Crooks felt as if he could be totally open with Lenny because Lenny couldn’t properly follow track of the conversation and wouldn’t tell anyone else what he has said. This showed the readers the suffering that black people suffered. For example Crooks says to Lenny “Spose you couldn’t go into the bunkhouse and play rummy ‘cause you was black.” This shows the social outcast that black people were. By including this character, John Steinbeck was protesting that treating black people as social outcasts and as second class was not fair.
Dubois's philosophy not only shows nihilism in the black race during this era but it also shows the same lack of progression in the black community in 2011. It reminds us of the lack of harmonious solidarity as well as the lack of intellect, high morals and spiritual insight affecting the Black masses today. His piece brings up an array of valid points on why the black community is its own worst enemy when it comes to building a new infrastructure of educational, historical and financial knowledge of self like the Jewish, Asian and Indian cultures. Dubois says “It is the problem of developing the best of this race that they may guide the mass away from the contamination and death of the worst, in their own and other races. Now the training of men is a difficult and intricate task.”(Dubois 1) I personally think that the contamination of most blacks today is from out dated teachings, some churches, politicians and most importantly, the entertainment business.
White people believed they were superior to the blacks and barely viewed them as human beings. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Lee writes accurate descriptions of how racism was ingrained in the daily lives of Americans such as Aunt Alexandra whose response to Scout as to why she cannot play with a black boy is "Because- he – is – trash, that’s why you can’t play with him". Alexandra is not giving Scout a real reason why because she has no reason other than she grew up with society telling her black and white children could not play together and was brainwashed into believing it. Another situation that shows the shocking segregation is when Cecil Jacobs asked a question about why the Jewish were persecuted in class "But that ain’t no cause to persecute ‘em. They’re white aren’t they?"
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.
He sets out on a personal quest to discover what it is really like to be a Negro. He experiences how, many freedoms and rights that he enjoyed as a privileged white are now forbidden to him. This is a grim and bitter eye-opener for him. In addition, he encounters many racial barriers that exist between whites and blacks, which totally destroys the dignity and self worth of the blacks. But he is unwavering in his will to explain and expose bitter racism.
For instance, even though the whites are clearly subordinate to the blacks in Edgewater, because of the “durability of racism in the United States,” the whites still believe that they are superior to the blacks, using “the word nigger routinely” (Bourgois & Schonberg 2009:30). Because of this false sense of supremacy, the whites tend to avoid interaction with the blacks and limit the time spent among them as much as possible. The irony of this was that the highest patron to the Edgewater homeless was an African American who provided a camper to sleep in when it rained heavily (Bourgois & Schonberg 2009). However, most of the Edgewater homeless tended to ignore this fact, making false assertions of various crimes, saying they were committed by the African Americans. There were still many instances in “Righteous Dopefiend” where many of the Edgewater homeless called the blacks no good thieves and scoundrels never to be trusted, even without any reason to do so.
When Mr Ewell takes the stand we see that he is not a soft hearted person because he is blaming Tom Robinson for something that he has not done, ?I seen that nigger yonder ruttin? on my Mayella? This shows a man?s racism and inhumanity towards another man. Tom Robinson hasn?t done the community any wrong but is a social outcast for being black which is not his fault. We also learn a bit about Mr Ewell.
Jim LaRose Professor Rollings Sociology 101 3/19/2012 The Social Construction of Parallel Worlds in the Jim Crow South There are two different worlds when it comes to White and Negro. They have different beliefs, different way of living, and a different way of treating people that aren’t the same. In the novel Black like Me it shows the reader the life style that black people had to live in the 1950’s. Racism was a normal thing back then and wasn’t dealt with the way it is now. Whites felt powerful and as if they were in control.
That depressed me.” This shows that Holden get depressed over the smallest things. This is concerning because it could lead to being depressed by bigger things. Another example is when Holden says “…I thought of her going in a store and buying it, and nobody in the store knowing she was a prostitute and all. The salesman probably just thought she was a regular girl when she bought it. It made me feel sad as hell – I don't know why, exactly”.
To Kill a Mockingbird shows mostly every person in the town is affected by prejudice. 1930s Maycomb is used by Harper Lee the author of the novel, to show that even those who aren’t targets of partial views are likely to have their reason changed by the suitability of being unfair to certain groups in the community and suffer from not being able to openly be themselves in an environment where blacks not a lot of power or hardly any rights, women are restricted to only a small amount of suitable roles, and anyone who does not behave not like the normality of that day and age are known to be excluded and are not accepted in the town. The black society is affected the most prejudice in To Kill a Mockingbird with the harsh and unreasonable effects of targeting and dividing others according to the difference of the colour of their skin, which was shown throughout the trial and death of Tom Robinson. Although Atticus Finch capably proves that with injured and unusable arm, Tom Robinson would have been unable of raping Mayella Ewell, Tom is however found