Atticus Discrimination

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During the novel, To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, many events take place that show discrimination. Scout, the main character, is a little girl that doesn’t really understand all of the racism happening around her during her joyful childhood. While growing up, she slowly starts to notice racism due to the fact that a great deal of it is centered around her father, Atticus, because he is a lawyer defending a black man named Tom Robinson who was accused of raping a white girl. Even though most people in Maycomb believe that Tom is guilty, just because of the color of his skin, Atticus believes that Tom deserves a fair trial despite the opinion of some of the other people living in the town. In the novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, most of the people of Maycomb do not feel that white and black people should mix, but Atticus decides to defend Tom and tries to show people during the trial that everyone should be treated equally. First of all, Maycomb is segregated and most of the people in Maycomb think that it should remain that way. The novel states, “Lula stopped, but she said, “You ain’t got no business bringin’ white chillun here-they got their church, we got our’n. It’s our church, ain’t it, Miss Cal” (Lee 119). Even though white people are treated better than black people, the black people still want things to stay the same and stay segregated. It seems like things have always been segregated and the people living in Maycomb just don’t want it to change. Harper Lee also stated, “The Colored balcony ran along three walls of the courtroom like a second-story veranda, and from it we could see everything” (164). This shows how people in Maycomb really want to stay with their own kind and they don’t even want to sit next to people of other races, so they made a balcony in the courtroom that was only for black people. I think that people should get to know other people of different races, but I understand that they don’t want any change to happen that might make things worse. A better example of racism is how the people of Maycomb do not think that Atticus should be defending Tom, just because he is black, and they tell him and his kids that he shouldn’t. …show more content…
“Your father’s no better than the niggers and trash he works for” (Lee 102). This shows how Mrs. Dubose thinks that Atticus should not be defending Tom just because of the color of his skin. She is not the only person that thinks this way. “Atticus,” I said one evening, “what exactly is a nigger-lover?” Atticus’s face was grave. “Has somebody been calling you that?” “No sir, Mrs. Dubose calls you that. She warms up every afternoon calling you that. Francis called me that last Christmas, that’s where I first heard it” (Lee 108). This illustrates how even Atticus’s relatives don’t think he should be defending Tom. Even though people that should be helpful and supportive aren’t supporting Atticus, he still sticks with his beliefs. Atticus wants to show everyone in Maycomb that they should be treating everybody else equally despite their race and that everyone is the same on the inside. The novel stated, “The evil assumption-that all Negroes lie, that all Negroes are basically immoral beings, that all Negro men are not to be trusted around women, an assumption one associates with minds of their caliber. “Which, gentlemen, we know is in itself a lie as black as Tom Robinson’s skin, a lie I do not have to point out to you. You know the truth, and the truth is this; some Negroes lie, some Negroes are immoral, some Negro men are not …show more content…
Atticus defends Tom Robinson and tries to prove to everyone that black and white people are equal. He believes that people should just look beyond skin color and treat people based on their personalities and the kind of people they are. Atticus doesn’t care if other people don’t think that he should be defending Tom because he knows that he is doing the right thing. I believe that Atticus was right to defend Tom because everyone should have an equal chance at

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