To Kill a Mockingbird Essay
In the novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” written by Harper Lee the idea of racism was developed through the use of various symbols representing the views of the society on different races. These symbols include the courthouse signifying the inequality and unfairness experienced by the blacks, Tom Robinson himself with his withered arm representing the crippled powerlessness of the black community and the snowman showing the importance of eliminating the prejudice in the society. The author’s use of techniques such as dialogue, irony and contrast helps emphasise this idea and helps readers understand the degree of intensified racism during the 1930s not only in the fictional city of Maycomb but also reflects racism in America during the same period.
In this imperfect world where whites had seemed to have dominated for many decades, it is inevitable that every place would experience some form of racial discrimination. However, despite this fact, in Atticus’s opinion there is one place that should be exempted by this and that “one place where a man ought to get a square deal is in a court room”. This is true as for justice to occur everyone should be treated the same way. As Atticus says through his dialogue “some Negroes lie, some Negroes are immoral, some Negro men are not to be trusted around women, but this truth applies to the human race and to no particular race of men”. Ironically, though people might think that a court house should be a haven for equality, in the Maycomb county people still managed to “have a way of carrying their resentments right into a jury box”. Even little things such as segregation of seats where Negroes are to sit in the balcony while whites happily sit on the front row benches give us the idea of the unfairness of treatment of whites to the blacks. Furthermore, the fact that “when it’s a white man’s word against a black man’s, the white man always wins” help readers understand the awful truth about racism where it doesn’t matter whether
In this imperfect world where whites had seemed to have dominated for many decades, it is inevitable that every place would experience some form of racial discrimination. However, despite this fact, in Atticus’s opinion there is one place that should be exempted by this and that “one place where a man ought to get a square deal is in a court room”. This is true as for justice to occur everyone should be treated the same way. As Atticus says through his dialogue “some Negroes lie, some Negroes are immoral, some Negro men are not to be trusted around women, but this truth applies to the human race and to no particular race of men”. Ironically, though people might think that a court house should be a haven for equality, in the Maycomb county people still managed to “have a way of carrying their resentments right into a jury box”. Even little things such as segregation of seats where Negroes are to sit in the balcony while whites happily sit on the front row benches give us the idea of the unfairness of treatment of whites to the blacks. Furthermore, the fact that “when it’s a white man’s word against a black man’s, the white man always wins” help readers understand the awful truth about racism where it doesn’t matter whether