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.”.
Sargent Shriver once stated,” The roots of racism lie deep in man’s nature, wounded and bruised by original sin.” So if racism is deeply embedded into “men”, wouldn’t women have the power to undo this sin? In How to Kill a Mockingbird, Calpernia Tate and Lola are two feminine representatives contributing to black rights. Lula’s sense of loyalty is admirable although futile due to her abhorrent tone, enraging white society more than impressing them. While, Calpurnia’s rational approach emphasizes the equity between the white and black races. Showcasing intelligence, manners, and loyalty: Calpernia portrays the perfect black representative, revealing the humanity Negros.
As the reader begins to see the unfairness of the actions against black people, mostly because of Atticus’ speech, the theme of discrimination is developed through the motive of ‘walking around in their shoes.’ The title, To Kill A Mockingbird is very symbolic and meaningful. The quote which corresponds with the title is also said by Atticus and is, ‘Shoot all the blue jays you want if you can’t hit ‘em, but it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.’ There are two characters in the text which are metaphorical to the mockingbird. One is the obvious one, Tom Robinson, a black man accused of the rape of a white girl, whom Atticus defends, and the other is Boo Radley. Just like a mockingbird, Tom Robinson only did good and in the end was accused of a crime he didn’t commit. He helped Mayella Ewell every time she asked, for free, and for it he was accused of raping her.
He provides readers with a definition of this term that may seem unfamiliar to many – “the ability of our unconscious to find patterns in situations and behaviour based on very narrow slices of experience”. The author goes on to discuss how these impressions can be changed with much concerted effort. The subject matter remains of current interest as the issues of racism, social inequality and stereotyping that are still very prevalent in societies of today come to the forefront when he states, “if you are a white person who would like to treat black people as equals in every way, it requires more than a simple commitment to equality. It requires that you change your life”. This statement may also suggest that while the article is written for a wide audience, the style is more geared towards the attitude of Caucasians to black minorities.
Craniologists, eugenicists, phrenologists, and Social Darwinists, at every educational level, buttressed the belief that blacks were innately intellectually and culturally inferior to whites. Pro-segregation politicians gave eloquent speeches on the great danger of integration: the mongrelization of the white race. Newspaper and magazine writers routinely referred to blacks as niggers, coons, and darkies; and worse, their articles reinforced anti-black stereotypes” (Pilgrim). The system of Jim Crow was reinforced with racial viewpoints and stereotypes: “whites were superior to blacks in all important ways, including but not limited to intelligence, morality, and civilized behavior; sexual relations between blacks and whites would produce a mongrel race which would destroy America; treating blacks as equals would encourage interracial sexual unions; any activity which suggested social equality encouraged interracial sexual relations; if necessary, violence must be used to keep blacks at the bottom of the racial hierarchy” (Pilgrim). “The Jim Crow laws and system of etiquette were
Bigger’s actions and thoughts were driven by a fear that was established by psychological and sociological damage. From the beginning of the novel the reader is aware of the relationship between the whites and the blacks. The first scene to show the damaged psychology of Bigger and all African Americans is when Bigger and his black friend Gus act as though they were white. They pretend they are white people in different situations and take turns becoming the “leader”. This scene is crucial in showing how obvious the social fractures are and the damage it has caused to African American sociology.
Therefore, Morrison uses “whiteness” as a symbol in the novel so she can criticize the treatment of African-Americans by the whites and the legacy of slavery. The whiteness symbol is used by Morrison to develop her criticism against segregation and racism throughout the book by representing everything that is bad in the novel. One of the ways that Morrison uses the symbol to develop her critique to the society of the time is by creating the majority of the characters in the novel black, and the few white people present are always representing violence and wrongdoing. For example, the accident that led to the death of Guitar’s father was in a white man’s mill. This scene can serve as a representation of how the white man treats the black man and by describing Guitar’s
In contrast, Black Americans perceive that racism is a constant reality in their lives, White individuals continue to respond toward them. Micro-assaults are probably most similar that what has been called “old fashion racism because of their expression is deliberate, conscious, and explicit as seen in many countries around the globe. Racial micro-aggressions are use today towards blacks and Hispanics world-wide. Micro-aggressions reflect an unconscious worldview of White supremacy that directly assails the racial reality of non-White people. Racial micro-aggressions have an accumulative and harmful impact on people of color invalidating them as racial/cultural beings, undermining their spiritual and mental capacity, imposing a false reality on them.
Examples and illustrations will be shown to compare and contrast Disparity versus Discrimination, Bigotry versus Racial Discrimination and how both are applied in the criminal justice system. Disparity and discrimination seems to be similar in terms but this essay will prove that to be untrue. Bigotry and racism is sometimes misunderstood to be interchangeable, but it is not. ~ “It was a wise man who said that there is no greater inequality than the equal treatment of unequals.” (Felix Frankfurter1882-1965) Pseudospeciation begins with facts that cultural differences cause humans to separate into different social groups with different language, dress, customs, and etc. Erik Erikson (1966), was known as the first person to used this term.
A native son is a product of the violence and racism that suffused the devastating social conditions in which he was raised. By no means does Wright downplay the oppression of blacks by whites, but he does demonstrate that much of the racial inequality was due to the profound lack of understanding, among both blacks and whites, of the other social group. Bigger’s misunderstanding of whites binds him to a self-fulfilling insight, because as he behaves according to what he believes is his racial destiny. An important quote that can describe the racism in the story as well as the racism during that time is when Wright writes, "We live here and they live there. We black and they white."