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Discrimination In To Kill A Mockingbird Essay

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Discrimination In To Kill A Mockingbird Essay
In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee focuses more on the aspect of racial discrimination rather than “poor white trash” discrimination (Hovet 187). It is so conspicuous that a man loses his life because of it. While the discrimination is more prominent regarding race, the Finch family is also greatly discriminated against throughout the novel. Racism is very prominent in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, as evidenced when Tom Robinson, a black man, is accused of raping a white woman in the 1930s South; because of his innocence and untimely death, all lives in the novel will be changed forever, including Atticus Finch. While Calpurnia plays a major role within To Kill a Mockingbird, she is discriminated against because of her race. …show more content…
Although Dolphus is thought of as the town drunk, he actually only drinks Coke out of a brown paper bag. He says, “I try to give ‘em a reason, you see. It helps folks if they can latch onto a reason” (Lee 200). Dolphus is used in this novel as the other extreme of racism compared to the rest of the townspeople. He prefers spending his time with blacks rather than whites when the rest of the whites in Maycomb could not fathom ever even associating with blacks. While Dolphus represents the extreme of not hating blacks, Atticus Finch only tries to do the right thing by Tom Robinson, and because of that, is judged and looked down upon just as much. This character was yet another great idea by Harper Lee; she uses Atticus Finch is an upstanding lawyer, father, and citizen of Maycomb who must overcome the obstacle of defending Tom Robinson while still maintaining his stature in the town and remaining true to himself. He is also used as another example of a white person who does not hate blacks and actually helps them. Atticus describes the case of Tom as “something that goes to the essence of a man’s conscience” (Lee 104). Many people in the town are against Atticus defending Tom, such as Mrs. Henry

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