Maycomb's Usual Disease
In my opinion the “Maycomb’s usual disease” is whites believing they have superiority over African Americans just because of their skin color. Over the course of the story you can tell that race plays one of the lead roles in most of the conflicts that take place in the book. Atticus is smart enough to understand that the “Maycomb’s usual disease” is not anything to be proud of, and doesn’t want to see his smart, innocent, and kind daughter cursed with such a illness. To prevent his kids from the disease, Atticus peaches kindness to them so they will never have to grow up having hatred in their hearts towards anyone no matter the color, age, or wealth.
In a town like Maycomb, catching the “disease” is not hard to do. The following quote
shows that Atticus was afraid that they would be introduced to the disease and has concerns if they trust him enough to come to him with questions. “Why reasonable people go stark raving mad when anything involving a Negro comes up, is something I don’t pretend to understand... I just hope that Jem and Scout come to me for their answers instead of listening to the town. I hope they trust me enough…” (p 91) If Scout were to start hanging around people with a strong bias or prejudice towards a minority group, in this case African Americans, then she too would soon feel inclined to act the same way, but thankfully we know that’s not the case.
Gladly, how Atticus has raised his children, one would think that they wouldn’t catch the “disease” that most of the caucasian citizens of Maycomb is infected with. I feel that the “Maycomb’s usual disease” is still very real in todays time as well. The new name for the “Maycomb’s usual disease” in my option is just flat out racism. It has slowly declined as time passed but is definitely very much alive. Though it still exists, it’s not as prevalent and it’s better hide by those who would havre back then had the “Maycomb’s usual disease.”
In a town like Maycomb, catching the “disease” is not hard to do. The following quote
shows that Atticus was afraid that they would be introduced to the disease and has concerns if they trust him enough to come to him with questions. “Why reasonable people go stark raving mad when anything involving a Negro comes up, is something I don’t pretend to understand... I just hope that Jem and Scout come to me for their answers instead of listening to the town. I hope they trust me enough…” (p 91) If Scout were to start hanging around people with a strong bias or prejudice towards a minority group, in this case African Americans, then she too would soon feel inclined to act the same way, but thankfully we know that’s not the case.
Gladly, how Atticus has raised his children, one would think that they wouldn’t catch the “disease” that most of the caucasian citizens of Maycomb is infected with. I feel that the “Maycomb’s usual disease” is still very real in todays time as well. The new name for the “Maycomb’s usual disease” in my option is just flat out racism. It has slowly declined as time passed but is definitely very much alive. Though it still exists, it’s not as prevalent and it’s better hide by those who would havre back then had the “Maycomb’s usual disease.”