To Kill a Mockingbird: Racism in a “Free” Country
The hidden hypocrisy present in life today tells you many things about people. How they will often claim America as, “the home of the free”, yet “the free” carry a heavy prejudice against any that aren’t similar to them. This shows us times have not truly changed that much. This theme is prevalent in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (1960), a story about the viewpoint of a young girl, Scout, changing as she learns things from others, and from her own experiences. Scout lives in a small town, Maycomb, with her brother, Jem, and her father Atticus, a lawyer. When Atticus is chosen to defend a black man accused of raping a white woman, Scout starts to question everything she thought she knew. We see a dramatic shift in Scout’s perspective as she learns these new things, from lessons that other characters teach her to ones she learns herself; because she is an innocent young girl she sees things that others in Maycomb would not even bother to look for.
Our first glimpse into the town of Maycomb is from a description of the town from our main character, Scout. The description given is innocent: “But it was a time of vague optimism for some of the people: Maycomb …show more content…
It has finally dawned on her that blacks have an unfair life, and that they are just as innocent as any white folk are. Atticus raised her well though, and she can see past skin color: "I think there's just one kind of folks. Folks." (Lee, 304). The theory of Nature versus Nurture comes in here; we see that since Scout has not been raised on other beliefs, that she can accept black people, while someone like Mayella Ewell who is raised on the beliefs that blacks are inferior will continue to think this. Scout has the perspective of an innocent young girl, and because she has never been told otherwise, she believes black folk are no different than white
The hidden hypocrisy present in life today tells you many things about people. How they will often claim America as, “the home of the free”, yet “the free” carry a heavy prejudice against any that aren’t similar to them. This shows us times have not truly changed that much. This theme is prevalent in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (1960), a story about the viewpoint of a young girl, Scout, changing as she learns things from others, and from her own experiences. Scout lives in a small town, Maycomb, with her brother, Jem, and her father Atticus, a lawyer. When Atticus is chosen to defend a black man accused of raping a white woman, Scout starts to question everything she thought she knew. We see a dramatic shift in Scout’s perspective as she learns these new things, from lessons that other characters teach her to ones she learns herself; because she is an innocent young girl she sees things that others in Maycomb would not even bother to look for.
Our first glimpse into the town of Maycomb is from a description of the town from our main character, Scout. The description given is innocent: “But it was a time of vague optimism for some of the people: Maycomb …show more content…
It has finally dawned on her that blacks have an unfair life, and that they are just as innocent as any white folk are. Atticus raised her well though, and she can see past skin color: "I think there's just one kind of folks. Folks." (Lee, 304). The theory of Nature versus Nurture comes in here; we see that since Scout has not been raised on other beliefs, that she can accept black people, while someone like Mayella Ewell who is raised on the beliefs that blacks are inferior will continue to think this. Scout has the perspective of an innocent young girl, and because she has never been told otherwise, she believes black folk are no different than white