The Role Of Racism In To Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee

Many people, no matter their skin color, look down on others with different appearances. Racism ran rampant especially in the South until a few decades ago. In Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird, Scout, a young Southern girl during the 1940’s, tries to understand her world and the racism she sees in everyday life. She witnesses how adults speak to others concerning African Americans in the community of Maycomb. Scout’s father works as a lawyer and once defends a black man wrongly accused of rape. Because of the discrimination shown to Blacks by most of the other residents, they live in small cabins away from town. The Maycomb residents express their racism for the black community through their disregarding of Black life, their belittling attitude toward them, and the lack of consideration for their living conditions. This small town showers racism onto the heads of the colored community by disregarding the black’s lives. As human beings, Blacks have as much right to life as anyone else, but these white Maycomb residents feel justified in taking anger against them by pretending that Blacks have less rights then them. A black man named Tom Robinson, after having an accusation of rape thrust upon him, languishes in prison, waiting for his trial. A gang of men come to harm Tom for touching a white girl. These men came with the intention of bodily harm, without looking at all the facts first, just because of their anger. During Tom’s trial, Scout’s friend Dill starts to cry and when they …show more content…
Harper Lee uses To Kill A Mockingbird to bring attention to big issues. Racism, a very prominent one, appears not only from the white folks but also from colored characters as well, showing how this problem does not come from one side alone. This racial bias still affects America today and if not tames will rip this country