How Does Harper Lee Use Racial Injustice In To Kill A Mockingbird
A Study of Racial Injustice in Harper Lee’s TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD
Research Proposal
A. Background of Study
According to book “White Racism”, racism is the system of oppression of African Americans and other people of color by White Europeans and White Americans (Feagin, Vera, Batur 3). Racial discrimination is one of the social problem happen in the 20th century. It can be the oppression of a group of people on the basis of race and color. In the United States, racism is structured into the rhythms of everyday life. Whites are live, concrete, advantages, not for who are not white which is they just get the painful (Feagen 2). In the other book defines racism as the organized system of oppression of one so-called inferior racial group to the …show more content…
benefit of a superior group built into the institutional structure of society (Webb, Brown 7). The inferior racial group was oppressed by a superior group for built into the institutional structure of society. In addition the term race is false but racism is very real and has dreadful consequences for its victims (7). The discrimination can happen for everyone, specifically in America, racism happened because of the different color of skin, because of their color they cannot get formal education, put into the lowest level in the society, cannot join with white Americans, words cannot be trusted, not allowed to go to white’s American church, do not have right in the law.
The climax of the history of racism came in the twentieth century in the rise and fall of what I call “overtly racist regime” (Fredrickson 1). The term racism came in the early twentieth century where the extralegal execution were increasingly reserved for black accused of offenses against the color line and the victims were likely to be tortured to death rather than simply killed, it was because of the sexual contamination through rape or intermarriage (2). The racial discrimination was an action that disobeys the law. In addition, racial discrimination against African Americans is now illegal: according to the law, people of color may live, work, shop, dine out, and so forth where they please (Tyson, 2006). The racial discrimination happened because of the different of their race and different in types of their color; most Americans are white people so that they feel they are better than black people from African physically so that they get a different behavior in United States. From the 20s century, racism was be a strong issue in the literature. Issue about the equality and racial discrimination of black people was drawn in the some literary works, one of is to kill a mockingbird that the only works was written by the white people that include the image about racism against that was emerged by black people.
To kill a mockingbird was published in the throes of the Civil Rights Movement which was directly influenced by the tension of its 1930s setting (Wilson 28). Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird shows the theme of racial injustice in America. In To Kill a Mockingbird,Lee highlights racial injustice in the plot, setting, and characters throughout the book. To Kill a Mockingbirdwas written and published amidst the most significant and conflict-ridden social change in the South since the Civil War and Reconstruction. The novel tells about the race relation over Maycomb, particularly in the south. Here, there was a black character namely Tom Robinson, he is innocent of rape, the fact he is a black man accused of such a crime by white character make him guilty. Atticus tries to serve his problem event though has effect to his child that Jem and Scout get the dispute with their friend, neighborhood even their cousin. Lee modeled Tom’s case after a well-known case from history. In the 1930s, a major case comes to the Supreme Court, which starts as a court case in Scottsboro, Alabama, where black boys are wrongly accused of raping two white women (Wilson 29). In their retrial issued by the Supreme Court in 1932, the Scottsboro boys were acquitted. Just like Tom Robinson’s trial, the Scottsboro boys had no blacks on the jury.The phrase “to kill a mockingbird,” as presented in the novel, refers to the superstition which holds that killing such a creature is sinful act. Because the mockingbird’s sole purpose for existing is to sing, destroying it is an act of evil.
The racial injustice of the story happened in Tom Robinson that was accused of innocent man of raping white American, Mayela.
The researcher want to focus on the racial injustice that was concerned by Tom Robinson, the fact that he is a black man accused of such a crime by whites make him guilty. To kill a mockingbird also depict about the effect of racism for black people in the south of American. The novel occurred such a conflict between white and colored people in Alabama that is why the researcher wants to use the theory of …show more content…
conflict.
B. Statement of Problem
The researcher want to know the racial discrimination happen in the novel. So that the researcher tries to formulate the problem as follows:
1. How does racial injustice occurred in Harper Lee’s to kill a mockingbird?
2. What is the effect of racism for black people occurred in to kill mockingbird?
C. Objective of Study
The objective of this study are:
1. To know the racial injustice in Harper Lee’s to kill a mockingbird.
2. To know the effect of racism for black people in to kill a mockingbird.
D. Significant of Study
Theoretically: this study has significance to increase the literary understanding, especially in analyzing literary work which deal with racism by using theory of conflict, the theory used to explain a wide range of social phenomena, including wars and revolutions, wealth and poverty, discrimination and domestic violence.
Practically: this study can be used as reference for students of English department especially for students of State Islamic University who want to analyze literary work which deal with racism.
E. Scope and Limitation
The scope of the study is using to kill a mockingbird by Harper Lee, and focus on the black character namely Tom Robinson who get the injustice from white character.
The limitation of the study is only on describing the racial injustice in the novel and also the effect of racism for black American.
F. Literary Review
To be able to analyze the literary work, the researcher has found many related literary reading which are useful to produce literary analysis. As the main resource of data and information the writer use some previous study and books.
The first is the research was conducted by Linda AyuNornasari (2010) the student of UIN Malang. In her research “Racism in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird”, the purpose of her research is to understand well about racism in To Kill a Mockingbird used in Harper Lee’s narration connected to the real condition of social structure and social solidarity in Alabama, United States in 1930s. In her research she used Emile Durkheim theory which describes racism in to kill a mockingbird sentences by sentence even distinct racism even utterance form and attitudes form of racial discrimination. It is different with this research where the researcher is conducted using the theory of conflict.
The second is the research was conducted by AbrinaSimanjuntak (2011) the student of university of Sumatera utara.
In his research “An Analysis of Prejudice in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird”, he focus on the prejudice in To Kill a Mockingbird and also he want to prove the prejudice in the novel. He use the mimetic theory. Different from this research, the researcher focus on the racial discrimination in the form of justice by using theory of conflict.
The third research was conducted by Nora Ainul Farida (2011) the student of UIN Malang. In her research “Prejudice in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird”, she uses sociology of literature as a tool to look at prejudice in the novel. The results are there are some prejudices which are done by many Maycomb people against families with different or bad habit and against black people. Those prejudices are caused by the differences in custom and race. It is different from this research where she focus on the prejudice and this research focus on the racial
injustice.
Besides, the researcher use some of previous study, the researcher also use some books to analyze the problem. “Race and racism in literature”, by Charles E. Wilson Jr. (2005). The researcher use this book because it provides the general information about the novel, includes: the plot summary, historical background, and literary analysis. Also the researcher use the book of George M. Frederickson (2002) “Racism a Short History”, this book explain more about racism. It is emphasizing about the history of racism. The other book is “Critical Theory Today”, by Lois Tyson (2006). This book prepare about the critics in literature.
G. Theoretical framework
Wellek and Warren state that there are two kinds of approach in analyzing a literary work. They are first, intrinsic approach, is approach which emphasize on the element of literature itself, such a characters, theme, point of view, plot and others. Second, extrinsic approach, is an approach which relates to the literary works and the other subjects such as psychology, society, thought and biography.” (Wellek and Warren 50).
In this analysis, the researcherfocus on the racism happen in the story between white and black people in Alabama. To analyze the novel, the researcher will use theory of conflict. Without this theory the researcher could not analyze the problem of the analysis.
1. Theory of Conflict
Conflict is one of the important one in the novel, without conflict the story will not be interesting for the readers. According to Culp (35) conflict is essential element in the development of plot where its development is affected by its form and substance. Conflict can happen in personal or groups which is happen in two character or groups. It usually happen because of two opposition, it can be races and also classes.
According to Judy and Roy Eidelson (184) Conflict usually tries to explore the feeling of the authors. There some factors of conflict happened. They are: Superiority, injustice, vulnerability, distrust, and helplessness. Base on those theory the researcher want to explain about the factors of conflict in the story
2. Theory of racial discrimination
Simple definition, racial discrimination refers to unequal treatment of person or group on the basis of their race or ethnicity. According to Rothenberg (9-14), when an action limits opportunities available because of their race, sex, or national origin the problem discrimination arise. So, the racial discrimination means the prejudice treatment of different group to the other group based on certain characteristic (Stanfield 176). The Black Americans’ voice cannot be believed in the law. They also have to sit in separate section of the court room, away from white Americans. The white Americans, especially the children are forbidden to go to the black Americans church or house, neither are the black Americans. They are also not allowed to send their children to school. It means that they cannot get formal education. From my explanation above, it is clear that race discrimination which is actually based on the difference of human bodies has caused hatred between white and black Americans. It also has caused bad effects which dominantly exploited and embedded on every black Americans life.
H. Method of Study
In this research the researcher will use the qualitative descriptive as method of the study. The researcher will discuss what researcher want to do. It has divided into four main sub chapters. They are research design, source of the data, procedure of data collection, and procedure of data analysis.
1. Research Design
The researcher uses a library research and also uses theory of conflict and racial discrimination to deal with the data. It is because racism happens between two races they are white and black people.
2. Source of Data
The source of the data in this research is came from the text of the novel with the title To kill a mockingbird written by Harper Lee. The data will be taken by quoting the important sentences in the novel and also related to problem of the study.
3. Procedure of Data Collection
There will some steps to collect the data. First, reading and understand the story of To kill a mockingbird. Second, collecting the data based on the problem of the study. The researcher only focus on the racial injustice happen in the novel.
4. Procedure of Data Analysis
After collecting the data, the researcher will produce the data and divide into some steps. First, the researcher choose some sentences which show the racial injustice in the novel. The researcher choose the theory which is agree with the problem of the data. The last, the researcher analyze the data based on the theory.
I. Presentation
In writing this paper, the researcher will make this research consist of 4 chapters, they are:
Chapter I: introduction
This chapter will explain about the background of study. This chapter also consist of statement of problem, objective of study, scope and limitation, significant of the study, review of related literature, and method of study.
Chapter II: Theoretical Framework
This chapter will discuss some theories used to analyze the data.
Chapter III: Analysis
This chapter provide the explanation as analysis of the data. The explanation is based on problem statement and theories.
Chapter IV: Conclusion
This chapter is the conclusion of the analysis consist of the answer of the question demand in the research. This last chapter is the researcher will give the view about the main of the research explanation.
Work Cited
Banton, Michael. “Racial Theory: Second Edition”, United Kingdom, Cambridge University
Press, 1998.
Deutsch, Morton., Coleman, Peter T., and Marcus Eric C, The Handbook of Conflict Resolution
Theory and Practice, 2nd Ed, United States of America, HB printing.
Farida, Nora A., 2011, Prejudice In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Thesis, Malang, UIN
Malang.
Feagin, Joe R., Hernan Vera, and PintarBatur, 2001, White Racism: The Basic, 2nd Edition, New
York, Routledge.
Feagin, Joe R., Racist America: Root, Current Realities, and Future Reparations, New York,
Routledge.
Fredrickson, George M., 2002, Racism: A Short History, New Jersey, Princeton University press.
Lee, Harper, 1960, To Kill A Mockingbird, New York, Grand Central Publishing.
Maisaroh, Siti, 2014, An Analysis of Human Clash in Linda Hogan’s Mean Spirit Novel, Thesis,
Surabaya, UIN SunanAmpel.
Nornasari, Linda A., 2010, Racism In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Thesis, Malang, UIN
Maulana Malik Ibrahim.
Simanjuntak, Abrina, 2011), An Analysis of Prejudice in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird,
Thesis, Sumatera, University of Sumatera Utara.
Tyson, Lois, 2006, Critical Theory Today, New York, Routledge.
UND Writing Center, Modern Language Association (MLA) Format and Document, Pdf File.
Wellek, Rene and Austin, Warren. 1977. Theory of Literature. New York: Harcourt, Brace and
Company, Inc.
Wilson, Charles E., 2005, Race and Racism in Literature, Conneticut, Greenwood Press.
Research Proposal
A. Background of Study
According to book “White Racism”, racism is the system of oppression of African Americans and other people of color by White Europeans and White Americans (Feagin, Vera, Batur 3). Racial discrimination is one of the social problem happen in the 20th century. It can be the oppression of a group of people on the basis of race and color. In the United States, racism is structured into the rhythms of everyday life. Whites are live, concrete, advantages, not for who are not white which is they just get the painful (Feagen 2). In the other book defines racism as the organized system of oppression of one so-called inferior racial group to the …show more content…
benefit of a superior group built into the institutional structure of society (Webb, Brown 7). The inferior racial group was oppressed by a superior group for built into the institutional structure of society. In addition the term race is false but racism is very real and has dreadful consequences for its victims (7). The discrimination can happen for everyone, specifically in America, racism happened because of the different color of skin, because of their color they cannot get formal education, put into the lowest level in the society, cannot join with white Americans, words cannot be trusted, not allowed to go to white’s American church, do not have right in the law.
The climax of the history of racism came in the twentieth century in the rise and fall of what I call “overtly racist regime” (Fredrickson 1). The term racism came in the early twentieth century where the extralegal execution were increasingly reserved for black accused of offenses against the color line and the victims were likely to be tortured to death rather than simply killed, it was because of the sexual contamination through rape or intermarriage (2). The racial discrimination was an action that disobeys the law. In addition, racial discrimination against African Americans is now illegal: according to the law, people of color may live, work, shop, dine out, and so forth where they please (Tyson, 2006). The racial discrimination happened because of the different of their race and different in types of their color; most Americans are white people so that they feel they are better than black people from African physically so that they get a different behavior in United States. From the 20s century, racism was be a strong issue in the literature. Issue about the equality and racial discrimination of black people was drawn in the some literary works, one of is to kill a mockingbird that the only works was written by the white people that include the image about racism against that was emerged by black people.
To kill a mockingbird was published in the throes of the Civil Rights Movement which was directly influenced by the tension of its 1930s setting (Wilson 28). Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird shows the theme of racial injustice in America. In To Kill a Mockingbird,Lee highlights racial injustice in the plot, setting, and characters throughout the book. To Kill a Mockingbirdwas written and published amidst the most significant and conflict-ridden social change in the South since the Civil War and Reconstruction. The novel tells about the race relation over Maycomb, particularly in the south. Here, there was a black character namely Tom Robinson, he is innocent of rape, the fact he is a black man accused of such a crime by white character make him guilty. Atticus tries to serve his problem event though has effect to his child that Jem and Scout get the dispute with their friend, neighborhood even their cousin. Lee modeled Tom’s case after a well-known case from history. In the 1930s, a major case comes to the Supreme Court, which starts as a court case in Scottsboro, Alabama, where black boys are wrongly accused of raping two white women (Wilson 29). In their retrial issued by the Supreme Court in 1932, the Scottsboro boys were acquitted. Just like Tom Robinson’s trial, the Scottsboro boys had no blacks on the jury.The phrase “to kill a mockingbird,” as presented in the novel, refers to the superstition which holds that killing such a creature is sinful act. Because the mockingbird’s sole purpose for existing is to sing, destroying it is an act of evil.
The racial injustice of the story happened in Tom Robinson that was accused of innocent man of raping white American, Mayela.
The researcher want to focus on the racial injustice that was concerned by Tom Robinson, the fact that he is a black man accused of such a crime by whites make him guilty. To kill a mockingbird also depict about the effect of racism for black people in the south of American. The novel occurred such a conflict between white and colored people in Alabama that is why the researcher wants to use the theory of …show more content…
conflict.
B. Statement of Problem
The researcher want to know the racial discrimination happen in the novel. So that the researcher tries to formulate the problem as follows:
1. How does racial injustice occurred in Harper Lee’s to kill a mockingbird?
2. What is the effect of racism for black people occurred in to kill mockingbird?
C. Objective of Study
The objective of this study are:
1. To know the racial injustice in Harper Lee’s to kill a mockingbird.
2. To know the effect of racism for black people in to kill a mockingbird.
D. Significant of Study
Theoretically: this study has significance to increase the literary understanding, especially in analyzing literary work which deal with racism by using theory of conflict, the theory used to explain a wide range of social phenomena, including wars and revolutions, wealth and poverty, discrimination and domestic violence.
Practically: this study can be used as reference for students of English department especially for students of State Islamic University who want to analyze literary work which deal with racism.
E. Scope and Limitation
The scope of the study is using to kill a mockingbird by Harper Lee, and focus on the black character namely Tom Robinson who get the injustice from white character.
The limitation of the study is only on describing the racial injustice in the novel and also the effect of racism for black American.
F. Literary Review
To be able to analyze the literary work, the researcher has found many related literary reading which are useful to produce literary analysis. As the main resource of data and information the writer use some previous study and books.
The first is the research was conducted by Linda AyuNornasari (2010) the student of UIN Malang. In her research “Racism in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird”, the purpose of her research is to understand well about racism in To Kill a Mockingbird used in Harper Lee’s narration connected to the real condition of social structure and social solidarity in Alabama, United States in 1930s. In her research she used Emile Durkheim theory which describes racism in to kill a mockingbird sentences by sentence even distinct racism even utterance form and attitudes form of racial discrimination. It is different with this research where the researcher is conducted using the theory of conflict.
The second is the research was conducted by AbrinaSimanjuntak (2011) the student of university of Sumatera utara.
In his research “An Analysis of Prejudice in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird”, he focus on the prejudice in To Kill a Mockingbird and also he want to prove the prejudice in the novel. He use the mimetic theory. Different from this research, the researcher focus on the racial discrimination in the form of justice by using theory of conflict.
The third research was conducted by Nora Ainul Farida (2011) the student of UIN Malang. In her research “Prejudice in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird”, she uses sociology of literature as a tool to look at prejudice in the novel. The results are there are some prejudices which are done by many Maycomb people against families with different or bad habit and against black people. Those prejudices are caused by the differences in custom and race. It is different from this research where she focus on the prejudice and this research focus on the racial
injustice.
Besides, the researcher use some of previous study, the researcher also use some books to analyze the problem. “Race and racism in literature”, by Charles E. Wilson Jr. (2005). The researcher use this book because it provides the general information about the novel, includes: the plot summary, historical background, and literary analysis. Also the researcher use the book of George M. Frederickson (2002) “Racism a Short History”, this book explain more about racism. It is emphasizing about the history of racism. The other book is “Critical Theory Today”, by Lois Tyson (2006). This book prepare about the critics in literature.
G. Theoretical framework
Wellek and Warren state that there are two kinds of approach in analyzing a literary work. They are first, intrinsic approach, is approach which emphasize on the element of literature itself, such a characters, theme, point of view, plot and others. Second, extrinsic approach, is an approach which relates to the literary works and the other subjects such as psychology, society, thought and biography.” (Wellek and Warren 50).
In this analysis, the researcherfocus on the racism happen in the story between white and black people in Alabama. To analyze the novel, the researcher will use theory of conflict. Without this theory the researcher could not analyze the problem of the analysis.
1. Theory of Conflict
Conflict is one of the important one in the novel, without conflict the story will not be interesting for the readers. According to Culp (35) conflict is essential element in the development of plot where its development is affected by its form and substance. Conflict can happen in personal or groups which is happen in two character or groups. It usually happen because of two opposition, it can be races and also classes.
According to Judy and Roy Eidelson (184) Conflict usually tries to explore the feeling of the authors. There some factors of conflict happened. They are: Superiority, injustice, vulnerability, distrust, and helplessness. Base on those theory the researcher want to explain about the factors of conflict in the story
2. Theory of racial discrimination
Simple definition, racial discrimination refers to unequal treatment of person or group on the basis of their race or ethnicity. According to Rothenberg (9-14), when an action limits opportunities available because of their race, sex, or national origin the problem discrimination arise. So, the racial discrimination means the prejudice treatment of different group to the other group based on certain characteristic (Stanfield 176). The Black Americans’ voice cannot be believed in the law. They also have to sit in separate section of the court room, away from white Americans. The white Americans, especially the children are forbidden to go to the black Americans church or house, neither are the black Americans. They are also not allowed to send their children to school. It means that they cannot get formal education. From my explanation above, it is clear that race discrimination which is actually based on the difference of human bodies has caused hatred between white and black Americans. It also has caused bad effects which dominantly exploited and embedded on every black Americans life.
H. Method of Study
In this research the researcher will use the qualitative descriptive as method of the study. The researcher will discuss what researcher want to do. It has divided into four main sub chapters. They are research design, source of the data, procedure of data collection, and procedure of data analysis.
1. Research Design
The researcher uses a library research and also uses theory of conflict and racial discrimination to deal with the data. It is because racism happens between two races they are white and black people.
2. Source of Data
The source of the data in this research is came from the text of the novel with the title To kill a mockingbird written by Harper Lee. The data will be taken by quoting the important sentences in the novel and also related to problem of the study.
3. Procedure of Data Collection
There will some steps to collect the data. First, reading and understand the story of To kill a mockingbird. Second, collecting the data based on the problem of the study. The researcher only focus on the racial injustice happen in the novel.
4. Procedure of Data Analysis
After collecting the data, the researcher will produce the data and divide into some steps. First, the researcher choose some sentences which show the racial injustice in the novel. The researcher choose the theory which is agree with the problem of the data. The last, the researcher analyze the data based on the theory.
I. Presentation
In writing this paper, the researcher will make this research consist of 4 chapters, they are:
Chapter I: introduction
This chapter will explain about the background of study. This chapter also consist of statement of problem, objective of study, scope and limitation, significant of the study, review of related literature, and method of study.
Chapter II: Theoretical Framework
This chapter will discuss some theories used to analyze the data.
Chapter III: Analysis
This chapter provide the explanation as analysis of the data. The explanation is based on problem statement and theories.
Chapter IV: Conclusion
This chapter is the conclusion of the analysis consist of the answer of the question demand in the research. This last chapter is the researcher will give the view about the main of the research explanation.
Work Cited
Banton, Michael. “Racial Theory: Second Edition”, United Kingdom, Cambridge University
Press, 1998.
Deutsch, Morton., Coleman, Peter T., and Marcus Eric C, The Handbook of Conflict Resolution
Theory and Practice, 2nd Ed, United States of America, HB printing.
Farida, Nora A., 2011, Prejudice In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Thesis, Malang, UIN
Malang.
Feagin, Joe R., Hernan Vera, and PintarBatur, 2001, White Racism: The Basic, 2nd Edition, New
York, Routledge.
Feagin, Joe R., Racist America: Root, Current Realities, and Future Reparations, New York,
Routledge.
Fredrickson, George M., 2002, Racism: A Short History, New Jersey, Princeton University press.
Lee, Harper, 1960, To Kill A Mockingbird, New York, Grand Central Publishing.
Maisaroh, Siti, 2014, An Analysis of Human Clash in Linda Hogan’s Mean Spirit Novel, Thesis,
Surabaya, UIN SunanAmpel.
Nornasari, Linda A., 2010, Racism In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Thesis, Malang, UIN
Maulana Malik Ibrahim.
Simanjuntak, Abrina, 2011), An Analysis of Prejudice in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird,
Thesis, Sumatera, University of Sumatera Utara.
Tyson, Lois, 2006, Critical Theory Today, New York, Routledge.
UND Writing Center, Modern Language Association (MLA) Format and Document, Pdf File.
Wellek, Rene and Austin, Warren. 1977. Theory of Literature. New York: Harcourt, Brace and
Company, Inc.
Wilson, Charles E., 2005, Race and Racism in Literature, Conneticut, Greenwood Press.