Both the book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee and the movie A Time To Kill, an adaption of the book by John Grisham, portray racism is similar and different ways. They represent racism through the themes of Justice, Violence, Prejudice, and Compassion, but have comparable differences, due to the time frame, setting, and storyline.
Racism is portrayed through the theme of justice, or the lack thereof, in both To Kill a Mockingbird and A Time To Kill, which is primarily evident in the court cases of both texts. Both text types include a black man on trial, charged with a serious offence. The trials differ, however, with one man being charged with rape, and the other with murder. The lack of justice due to skin colour is evident in these …show more content…
In both texts, there is a social barrier and segregation between the black and white communities, with the segregation being more evident in To Kill a Mockingbird. In the courtroom scene, the black people are placed in a separate area of the courtroom, on a balcony above the white people. This level of segregation is not evident in A Time To Kill however, as the crowd is mixed in the courtroom. Both texts, however, do have similarities. Black people are discriminated against, with the KKK in A Time To Kill evidence of the racial hate within the community. In A Time To Kill, Carl Lee says to Jake ‘You’re one of the bad guys, you don’t mean to be, but you are. It’s how you was raised. Nigger, Negro, black, African-American, no matter how you see me, you see me as different’, which shows the underlying prejudice towards black people in Clanton, Mississippi, and how racism is bred into the white people in Mississippi country. In the courtroom, prejudice is prevalent, with the jury in particular. In To Kill a Mockingbird, the white jury, and most present in the courtroom, believe that Tom Robinson is guilty because he is black, and are unable to be convinced otherwise because of the prejudice that has been breed into white folk in Maycomb County, Alabama. This prominent theme of prejudice is presented through
Racism is portrayed through the theme of justice, or the lack thereof, in both To Kill a Mockingbird and A Time To Kill, which is primarily evident in the court cases of both texts. Both text types include a black man on trial, charged with a serious offence. The trials differ, however, with one man being charged with rape, and the other with murder. The lack of justice due to skin colour is evident in these …show more content…
In both texts, there is a social barrier and segregation between the black and white communities, with the segregation being more evident in To Kill a Mockingbird. In the courtroom scene, the black people are placed in a separate area of the courtroom, on a balcony above the white people. This level of segregation is not evident in A Time To Kill however, as the crowd is mixed in the courtroom. Both texts, however, do have similarities. Black people are discriminated against, with the KKK in A Time To Kill evidence of the racial hate within the community. In A Time To Kill, Carl Lee says to Jake ‘You’re one of the bad guys, you don’t mean to be, but you are. It’s how you was raised. Nigger, Negro, black, African-American, no matter how you see me, you see me as different’, which shows the underlying prejudice towards black people in Clanton, Mississippi, and how racism is bred into the white people in Mississippi country. In the courtroom, prejudice is prevalent, with the jury in particular. In To Kill a Mockingbird, the white jury, and most present in the courtroom, believe that Tom Robinson is guilty because he is black, and are unable to be convinced otherwise because of the prejudice that has been breed into white folk in Maycomb County, Alabama. This prominent theme of prejudice is presented through