Preview

Black Population In To Kill A Mockingbird Essay

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
504 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Black Population In To Kill A Mockingbird Essay
• The ladies (excluding Miss Maudie) view Maycomb’s black population with disdain, believing that they, as whites, are superior. o “We can educate ’em till we’re blue in the face, we can try till we drop to make Christians out of ’em, but here’s no lady safe in her bed these nights” (311).
 Mrs. Farrow is an example on how most of the white population of Maycomb will not trust a black person, thinking that even if a black person seems to be educated and a good Christian, they will never truly be, as they are black, and will always be a threat to safety of the white folk. o “If we just let them know we forgive ’em, that we’ve forgotten it, then this whole thing’ll blow over” (310).
 This comment is extremely insensitive and rude. Even though Helen’s husband just got convicted of a crime that he did not commit, Mrs. Merriweather believes that this great injustice to be unimportant and that since the white population “forgives” the black population for Tom’s “crimes,” the members of Maycomb’s black population should just forget about what happened and
…show more content…
She complains about how “a sulky darky . . . [j]ust ruins your day” (310). Not only is referring to Sophy as a “darky,” instead of by her name, extremely rude and disrespectful, but Miss Merriweather, despite her claiming to be a “good Christian” and being concerned about the wellbeing of everyone (like the Mrunas, an African tribe that J. Grimes Everett wants to convert to Christianity), doesn’t even try to understand why Sophy, and the other members of Maycomb’s black community is upset over the outcome of Tom Robinson’s case (it was unfair and the ruling was tainted by prejudice and racism). Instead, Miss Merriweather uses this as an opportunity to pontificate about how a “Jesus Christ never went around grumbling and complaining” (310), which is hypocritical of her, as she herself is complaining about Sophy’s

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Harper Lee’s “To Kill A Mockingbird” displayed a problematic state of affairs for the town of Maycomb. The events leading up to the court case foreshadowed the toughness of this case before it happened. The snowfall, Miss Maudie’s house burning down, and many other small disastrous things that occurred in Maycomb only furthered the proof that the court case wouldn’t end any easier than what Atticus tries to prove. The fate of Maycomb only makes us question what will happen next for the town’s people. The truth about the case might not even be known to others after the assumption that no black man can be…

    • 731 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Victoria was the one to point out the six boys who had raped her. Tom Robinson was also accused of rape a girl, Mayella Ewell. Just like in the case of Tom Robinson, this town is just a racist as Maycomb. Over a hundred men stood outside the jail hoping for a good “lynching”, compared to the few who were outside of Maycomb’s jail.…

    • 258 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    An example, is that Atticus’s children are bullied by townsfolk, because their father is a known lawyer for the black community. “Your father is no better than the niggers and trash he works for,” said Mrs.Dubose. (Lee 135) This shows that even associating and/or working with black people in Maycomb county makes you “trash” and is frowned upon. This example plus many others throughout the book proves Maycomb experiences racial prejudice in “To Kill A Mockingbird.”…

    • 453 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Mr Tom Robinson gets sent to jail do to a false belief the trial at the Monroe county courthouse on august 26 1935. Many are saying because he feels sorry for Ms. mayella ewells. that he deserves to be punished. Is feeling empathy for a white woman a bad thing ? we talked to Mr Robinson after the trial as he states “ just because i’m black, am i not allowed to feel sorry for a white woman ?” many people like him agree. Though mayella did state that he pushed himself on her and beat her up her last statement was "That nigger yonder took advantage of me an' if you fine fancy gentlemen don't wanta do nothin' about it then you're all yellow stinkin' cowards" (18.167).…

    • 355 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Being a Black man in Maycomb, Alabama was difficult; Maycomb was a racist town with people who did not want the Blacks to be equal to the Whites. People discriminated Robinson’s race to the point where his race was what defined his character. The Whites in Maycomb had a mentality that all blacks were not to be trusted. This affected Tom Robinson because during his rape trial his lawyer, Atticus Finch states “. . . You know the truth, and the truth is this: some Negroes lie, some Negroes are immoral; some Negro men are not to be trusted around women—black or white. But this is a truth that applies to the human race and to no particular race of men.” [Lee, 48] Atticus was trying to say that we need to judge people as individuals rather than by their race. Robinson’s race caused him to be discriminated against by the Whites in Maycomb, in particular Bob Ewell. Bob Ewell had seen that his daughter had kissed a Black man and was very upset. He said "I seen that black nigger yonder ruttin' on my Mayella!" [Lee, 84] Because Robinson…

    • 1213 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Who Is Mayella Powerful?

    • 372 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Even though Mayella is the poorest of her class, her living behind the dump and being considered “white trash” still ranks her higher than any and all African Americans, but only because she is white does this give her an advantage. (Class, Gender, and Race in To Kill A Mockingbird: Is Mayella Powerful? Page 7, DBQ)…

    • 372 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    townspeople. [1] While the racism and prejudice of the town was revealed through the Tom…

    • 631 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In “To Kill a Mockingbird”, Mayella Ewell has power when defined by race, class, and gender. Mayella uses her power against Tom Robinson an African American man, who has been accused of raping her. As a white woman in the south, the men are very protective. Therefore having relations with African Americans is prevented and frowned upon.Her class is low, as she is a poor white woman; however it is higher than an African American. Even though Mayella is considered white trash, she still has more power over negros.…

    • 566 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    During the trial, Atticus argues calmly but adamantly for Tom Robinson’s innocence, but also for the jury to give him fair trial. In his closing argument, Atticus reminds the jury that the “case [was] as simple as black and white” (Lee 207), and he also dispels the “evil assumption—that all Negroes lie, that all Negroes are basically immoral beings, that all Negro men are not to be trusted around our women, an assumption one associates with minds of their caliber” (Lee 208). For Tom Robinson, the case would have never gone to court if he was not black. This is a clear critique on the racism of Maycomb, which is only supported by the fact that Atticus had to remind the jury that African Americans are human beings of the same moral…

    • 615 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Truly Mayella lacks power because of her class.¨He thought he’d be a hero, but all he got for his pain was… okay, we’ll convict this Negro but get back to your dump (Doc A). ¨ shows she has little power because of her class and where she lived. ¨ As Tom Robinson gave his testimony, it came to me that Mayella Ewell must have been the loneliest person in the world… : white people wouldn't have anything to do with her because she lived among; Negroes wouldn’t have anything to do with her because she was white… Tom Robinson was probably the only person who was ever decent to her (Doc E). ¨ says that she lacks a chance or power, because of where she lives. ¨Mayella looked from under lowered eyelids at Atticus, but she said to the judge. ´Long’s he keeps on callin´ me ma’am and sayin´ Miss Mayella. I don’t hafta take his sass, I ain’t called upon to take it (Doc C). ´¨ Talks about how unfairly Mayella thinks she was being treated. Because of her class she…

    • 608 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The groups of people in Maycomb rarely allow different people to interact with each other. Sometimes, people get excluded because of the colour of their skin, or by the amount of money they carry in their pockets. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Helen Robinson, the wife of the convicted black man, can’t find a job after her husband gets accused of rape. She needed to support her family by getting a job, but nobody wanted to employ her because of what her husband was rumored to have done. Prejudice against Tom Robinson lead to his wife and kids not being able to get what they needed. Another example of exclusion in To Kill a Mockingbird is when Aunt Alexandra wouldn’t let Scout play with Walter Cunningham because he was poor. She says that his family is different from the Finches, and that he wasn’t as good as them. She also places certain families of Maycomb into groups that exclude the rest of the town from their activities. An example of this is when she ways that all Penfield women are flighty, after a Penfield girl giggled during church. According to her, all Maycomb families have a streak of their own, and that places them into their own groups. This lead s to exclusion from various other groups, because people don’t think you belong with them, and not being able to get what you want. If a person can’t feed their kids or support themselves, they can’t lead a good…

    • 966 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    What is a very apparent concept in the story is the inequality and prejudice that exist in the small town. In Maycomb, the wealth of an individual is a way that consistently divided the social status of the townspeople. For example, The Finchers and other middle class people have more prestige and social status over the lower class townspeople, such as the Cunninghams and the Ewells. The most common and discriminatory inequality in the town is that the race of an individual would unjustly determine their social status. For example, the blacks, despite having more amiable qualities than the Ewells, still remain at the bottom of the social hierarchy for the only reason being their race. This lead to the Ewells exploiting the town’s racial prejudices…

    • 138 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    After the outcome of the Michael Brown case, violent riots erupted in Ferguson. Although many people were infuriated, many others agreed with the court that there wasn’t enough evidence to prosecute Wilson. This was similar to how the community reacted to the Tom Robinson case. Many characters such as Atticus, Jem, Maudie, and members of the black community were angry with the outcome. While some were angry, there was also a faction who felt indifferent and felt that the black community shouldn’t be angry. An example of this opinion is the white women, such as Mrs. Merriweather and Aunt Alexandra. During one of the white women’s tea party Mrs. Merriweather says, “The cooks and the field hands are just dissatisfied, but they’re settling down now-they grumbled all next day after the trial” (Lee 310). This illustrates that the white women didn’t understand why the black people were sad and felt that the black people had no reason to be upset with the result of the case. This example from To Kill a Mockingbird reveals that the Tom Robinson case caused mixed feelings throughout his community, just as the Michael Brown case did in…

    • 1070 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Imagine you are in a town where racism is evident and you have been falsely accused of rape against a white woman, Mayella Ewell. You are an African American young man who has a beautiful wife and children, fighting for your freedom in a trial that could end with you being six feet underground. The evidence of the trial is to your advantage and your defending attorney is now presenting his closing argument that is sure to prove your innocence. The major conflict in the trial is the inequality you face because you are a colored man against a white woman. Racism was one of the many problems affecting the United States, especially in southern states, during the 1930’s. It is still a major issue in the United States today. In “To Kill A Mockingbird”…

    • 991 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Martin Luther King once declared, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. “ This widely known quote shows that the color of a person should not limit the from doing anything. The topic of racism is frequently visited in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, a novel that takes place during the Great Depression. It focuses on the life of Scout Finch, her brother and the neighborhood she has grown up in, Maycomb County. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Lee uses racism in the trial scene to show that some people are treated unjustly due to their status. This theme is used to represent characters in the novel to show how race creates tension between the people of Maycomb. The treatment of Tom Robinson during the trial scene reveals that people of the…

    • 1367 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays