Racism And Hatred In To Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee

In Harper Lee’s book To Kill A Mockingbird we are introduced to the racism and hatred in Maycomb. Readers later on meet Tom Robinson, a black citizen of Maycomb, who was falsely accused of raping a white woman. Even though Atticus, Robinson’s Lawyer, provides many good arguments, the jury still finds him guilty. The reason why was because of one small difference, he was black. Tom was just another person in a courtroom, but the jury saw someone different. The jury immediately saw him as a criminal and barely even saw him as a person. It was that small difference about him that made the jury believe he was guilty. In To Kill A Mockingbird it explains to the reader how throughout the years, many people have had conflicts with each other because …show more content…
Another character we are introduced to is a man named Mr. Dolphus Raymond. He is a wealthy white man married to a black woman which caused many citizens in Maycomb to be disgusted by him and his family. Raymond had many kids with his wife making a lot of mixed race children. Since they were mixed race both black and white communities shun them away. As Jem explains “They don’t belong anywhere. Colored folks won’t have ‘em ‘cause they’re half white; white folks won’t have ‘em ‘cause they’re colored, so they’re just in betweens, don’t belong anywhere” (Lee 215). In this quote it shows the reader how the citizens of Maycomb shun the mixed children away causing Maycomb to have a bigger division in their society. In the novel it is shown how Raymond would always carry a bottle inside a paper bag. Many started to assume that he was a drunk which was why he married a black woman. However, Raymond does not like alcohol but inside the paper bag is actually Coca-Cola his reason for doing this was to “give the people a reason to hate him”. When the community did not accept Raymond’s lifestyle he decided to put on an act for everyone. Instead of the community changing itself Raymond had to “change” himself for the …show more content…
When Boo Radley chose to not come out of his house the citizens rewarded him with hurtful rumors. Mr. Dolphus Raymond was happily married to a black women but when the community started to show disapproval he was forced to change, by pretending he was always drunk. If the citizens accepted their differences they would have known who Boo truly was and Raymond would not have to continue his act. By not accepting an individual's difference we can never truly know what kind of person they are but when we accept it we are able to understand others better and even make stronger