The modern day novel and movie The Help shows many similarities that were portrayed in the classical novel To Kill a Mockingbird. Both The Help and To Kill a Mockingbird go into depth about the struggle humanity has been threw over the years. Although they both contain the same themes the way the authors create the situations and display the harsh reality of society’s make these two stories very different. During the depression prejudice was at its peak, with the Jim Crow laws and no rights for blacks it made it near impossible for the African American community to live a normal life. In the book To Kill a Mockingbird the rape trail of Tom Robinson vs Mayella Ewell, an African American man accused of raping a white teenage girl was held in a bias court room of Maycomb County.
It is a recount of her childhood in the 1930’s represented through the character Scout and is centered on the conviction of a black man stating that he has raped a girl. Representation of the loss of innocence is shown through the topic of the ‘mockingbird’ aspect, prejudice and the experiences of the families and children. They all have specific parts in the novel that make us lose certain pieces of innocence in our lives. Our loss of innocence through reading this text is because of certain people perspectives and experiences and the growing up is a part of becoming an adult. The aspect of the ‘mockingbird’ in the text occurs frequently.
The Significance of Symbolism in “To Kill a Mockingbird” toward Social and Racial Prejudice The novel by Harper Lee, “To Kill a Mockingbird” mainly discussed about prejudice in many aspects. One aspect is about the prejudice against Tom Robinson, a black man who is falsely accused of raping a white woman and convicted to be guilty by all white jury because of the custom of the society and the racism of the people. Harper Lee uses symbolism which carries the message better than words to signify the prejudice that can be seen as symbols throughout the story, mostly about the problems of social and racial prejudice in the South in 1930s. The use of prejudicial symbolism can be studied by looking through symbols from the book. The paper will be discussing about symbolization of the prejudice against Tom Robinson, the causes from historical context and the evidence of prejudicial thought which is upheld by people in Maycomb society.
The Effect of Racism on Maycomb County Atticus Finch once stated, “The evil assumption that all Negroes lie, all Negroes are immoral beings; all Negroes should not be trusted around our women. Whoever came up with that is very uneducated.” Atticus’s opinion on racism in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is voiced many times throughout the novel. The novel is set back in the 1930’s and during that time racism in Maycomb County was a big issue. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee uses the perspective of Atticus’s six year old daughter and son to reinforce the moral theme that it is children who have the most effect and who are at most risk for their development in Maycomb County, and therefore need to end racial segregation. The presence of racism in Maycomb County has a big impact on many of its citizens and is very evident throughout the novel.
The Great Depression is evident throughout the novel through the hardships that the people of Maycomb experience. America in the 1930s was also a time with much violence and injustice against not only against black people, but also those who were different. In the 1930s many races were still treated as inferiors, especially the African Americans. Despite the rights that the African Americans were suppose to have, many white people tried to intimidate and suppress their rights. Throughout America, there were laws enforcing racial segregation and discrimination, particularly in the south.
Discrimination based on socioeconomic status involves judging someone by the “individual’s or group's position within a hierarchical social structure. Socioeconomic status depends on a combination of variables, including occupation, education, income, wealth, and place of residence.” To Kill a Mockingbird demonstrates how discrimination has always been here, and always will be. Racism is the most obvious form of discrimination represented in the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. The main character is a six year old girl named Scout Finch. Her father, Atticus, is a lawyer for Maycomb County, Alabama.
Discrimination Discrimination, surely everyone has heard of it, but in To Kill a Mockingbird, everyone somehow experiences it. The story takes place in Maycomb, Alabama in the 1930's during the Great Depression. This, of course, is a fictional place, but the discrimination we see here is a reflection of what happened in the South during the 1930's. There are various forms of discrimination in this book some examples of these are racial, religious, age and gender discrimination. Racial discrimination was very prevalent during the 1930's especially in the South.
Both authors illustrate the idea that because of oppression the victim develops a self-hatred that enforces a desire to change. Within The Bluest Eye, Morrison utilizes the Breedlove family as a prime example of people who desire to be anyone but themselves. Cholly, Pauline, Sammy and Pecola Breedlove have all experienced different devastating and painful moments in their life, but they all are unified by one idea: they are ugly. As the narrator explains, “you looked at them and wondered why they were so ugly; you looked closely and could not find the source. Then you realized that it came from conviction, their conviction.
Both are horrific practices prominent across the world and evident throughout history. Alice Walker, an African American author and activist, who grew up in the South, witnessed the effects of domestic violence and racism firsthand. Both domestic violence and racism are cyclical practices that play a prominent role in Walker’s debut novel, The Third Life of Grange Copeland. Under the domination of white men in the sharecropping system, Grange Copeland begins the pattern of domestic abuse, eventually driving his wife to commit suicide. The cycle continues with Grange’s son, Brownfield, as he brutally abuses his wife and children—murdering his wife in the end.
In the novel, The Bluest Eyes, by Toni Morrison, there are a lot of different issues that arise. The one thing that stood out the most to me was the sort of racism that goes both ways, throughout the book. Toni Morrison brings out the racism from the 1950’s and shows that "It is the blackness that accounts for, that creates, the vacuum edged with distaste in white eyes" Pecola, driven to want blue eyes by her observations that is is those with blue who receive and thus "deserve" love, eventually loses her mind after she experiences repeated violence at home, at school, and on the street. These violences are all rooted in racism. Pecola begins to believe the lie of racism: that to be black is to be "ugly," undeserving, and unloved.