Examples Of Racism In To Kill A Mockingbird
“Racism is still with us. But it is up to us to prepare our children for what they have to meet, and, hopefully, we shall overcome.” (Rosa Parks) This quote is a very accurate representation of what life for people is like today. Yes, you heard that right. Today's society is not truly equal like it is portrayed to be. There are several authors that have written about what their life has been like, such as, How to Kill a Mockingbird, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian are all good examples of stories that portray how the world today is different, but still similar in many ways. How to Kill a Mockingbird is a very good example of how equality was in the past. This book was written in the time period of 1830-1840’s. During this time in history, blacks weren’t really accepted in the world. Scout is a white girl, her father Atticus is a lawyer. Atticus takes a big step in his world and puts himself, and his family in danger. Atticus decides to defend
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a black man, Tom Robinson.. Everybody is accusing him of raping, and abusing Mayella Ewell. There is plenty of evidence that proves that Tom is innocent such as, it is said that Mayella had bruises on the right side of her face. Jim was in a horrible farm accident which enabled him to use his left arm. During the trial, Atticus proves that Tom couldn’t have done what everyone thought they did because he throws him a glass jar and Tom automatically catches is with his right hand. After Atticus proves that Tom can’t use his left hand. He turns to Bob Ewell, Mayella’s father. Atticus asked Bob to come forth to the witness stand to be questioned. Atticus goes to prove that Bob Ewell would be the ideal rapist and abuser of his daughter. Atticus asks him to write his name. Bob takes the pencil with his left hand, which means that he would be a better suspect than Tom. This court case is very unfair, and is discriminatory. The court jury is an all white jury, and in this case they are all racist. However, at the end of the case Tom is found guilty. It is obvious that the jury had no evidence that he was truly guilty. All of the evidence that Atticus uses proves that Bob Ewell was really the abuser. But since Tom is an African American, they will always take a white man’s word over a black man’s group.
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian is the most modern stories of the three.
This story takes place around 2007. The story still depicts the discriminatory views and actions as like in To Kill a Mockingbird. However the story isn’t nearly as racist and unjust as the other. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian is about this about a boy named, Arnold Spirit Jr. Junior is a fourteen year old Spokane Indian that lives on a reservation in Washington. Junior is an unusual kid. He is very strange and everyone thinks he has major problems. I mean Junior does have a problem, he was born with water on the brain. Everybody makes fun of Junior for the way he is. They don’t make fun of him because of his brain condition, but of his appearance. Junior is a very scrawny, nerdy looking boy. However, Junior makes one of the most risky decisions of his life. He decides to leave his reservation school at Wellpinit and transfer to an all white school at
Reardan. Junior’s life at Reardan at the very start of his transfer is not the best time of his life. The white people at Reardan just see him as a poor, no-good Reservation Indian. They don’t see him as much more than Arnold. However, when Junior goes back to the reservation he is frowned upon for leaving and is made fun of more than usual. There is only one person on the whole reservation outside of his family that doesn’t make fun of him and mean it, and that is his best friend, Rowdy. But when Junior decides to go to Reardan, Rowdy isn’t so happy about his only best friend leaving him.
Even though Rowdy doesn’t really approve of Junior’s decision, Junior does it anyways. And when Junior gets to Reardan people constantly make fun of him for the color of his skin. They make fun of him saying that he isn’t the only Indian at the school, by this they mean the school mascot which is an Indian. They continue to nag at him calling him mean names such as, Redskin, Tonto, and Chief. Even with all the people pushing him down, he decides to do something good for himself. And that idea was to join the basketball team. The basketball team was probably one of the best things to happen to Junior. He experienced some hard times when Reardan traveled to Wellpinit for their game. The crowd at the Wellpinit game were mainly full of all of Junior’s reservation family. This made it very hard for him, especially when they all yelling at him. “ARNOLD SUCKS. ARNOLD SUCKS.”
When Junior wasn’t at Reardan he was home on the reservation. The people on the reservation make fun of him calling him an “apple” because he is red on the outside and white on the inside.
a black man, Tom Robinson.. Everybody is accusing him of raping, and abusing Mayella Ewell. There is plenty of evidence that proves that Tom is innocent such as, it is said that Mayella had bruises on the right side of her face. Jim was in a horrible farm accident which enabled him to use his left arm. During the trial, Atticus proves that Tom couldn’t have done what everyone thought they did because he throws him a glass jar and Tom automatically catches is with his right hand. After Atticus proves that Tom can’t use his left hand. He turns to Bob Ewell, Mayella’s father. Atticus asked Bob to come forth to the witness stand to be questioned. Atticus goes to prove that Bob Ewell would be the ideal rapist and abuser of his daughter. Atticus asks him to write his name. Bob takes the pencil with his left hand, which means that he would be a better suspect than Tom. This court case is very unfair, and is discriminatory. The court jury is an all white jury, and in this case they are all racist. However, at the end of the case Tom is found guilty. It is obvious that the jury had no evidence that he was truly guilty. All of the evidence that Atticus uses proves that Bob Ewell was really the abuser. But since Tom is an African American, they will always take a white man’s word over a black man’s group.
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian is the most modern stories of the three.
This story takes place around 2007. The story still depicts the discriminatory views and actions as like in To Kill a Mockingbird. However the story isn’t nearly as racist and unjust as the other. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian is about this about a boy named, Arnold Spirit Jr. Junior is a fourteen year old Spokane Indian that lives on a reservation in Washington. Junior is an unusual kid. He is very strange and everyone thinks he has major problems. I mean Junior does have a problem, he was born with water on the brain. Everybody makes fun of Junior for the way he is. They don’t make fun of him because of his brain condition, but of his appearance. Junior is a very scrawny, nerdy looking boy. However, Junior makes one of the most risky decisions of his life. He decides to leave his reservation school at Wellpinit and transfer to an all white school at
Reardan. Junior’s life at Reardan at the very start of his transfer is not the best time of his life. The white people at Reardan just see him as a poor, no-good Reservation Indian. They don’t see him as much more than Arnold. However, when Junior goes back to the reservation he is frowned upon for leaving and is made fun of more than usual. There is only one person on the whole reservation outside of his family that doesn’t make fun of him and mean it, and that is his best friend, Rowdy. But when Junior decides to go to Reardan, Rowdy isn’t so happy about his only best friend leaving him.
Even though Rowdy doesn’t really approve of Junior’s decision, Junior does it anyways. And when Junior gets to Reardan people constantly make fun of him for the color of his skin. They make fun of him saying that he isn’t the only Indian at the school, by this they mean the school mascot which is an Indian. They continue to nag at him calling him mean names such as, Redskin, Tonto, and Chief. Even with all the people pushing him down, he decides to do something good for himself. And that idea was to join the basketball team. The basketball team was probably one of the best things to happen to Junior. He experienced some hard times when Reardan traveled to Wellpinit for their game. The crowd at the Wellpinit game were mainly full of all of Junior’s reservation family. This made it very hard for him, especially when they all yelling at him. “ARNOLD SUCKS. ARNOLD SUCKS.”
When Junior wasn’t at Reardan he was home on the reservation. The people on the reservation make fun of him calling him an “apple” because he is red on the outside and white on the inside.