Scout’s View on Race in To Kill A Mockingbird
In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout’s view on race changed dramatically throughout the novel. Scout goes from being unaware of racial factions to becoming painfully aware of the separations that society had created because of race. One of Scout’s first encounters with race is when Cecil Jacob, a boy from her class, calls out Atticus to Scout, calling him a “nigger-lover”. Not knowing what it means Scout denies it. After asking Atticus if he was one, he replied that he is, and Scout was confused about why being a “nigger-lover” was a bad thing. Scout’s view on race changed there because she learned that being associated with a different race can lead to controversy. Atticus explained first that the word “nigger” was a mean and low word when he said, “Don’t say nigger, Scout. That’s common”(99). Then he explained that people were going to talk about him in an ugly fashion for defending Tom Robinson when he stated, “You might hear some ugly talk about it at school, but do one thing for me if you will: you just hold your head high and …show more content…
Even though this conversation doesn’t directly discuss race, it changes Scout’s point of view because it gives Scout the understanding that where you are born and what you are born into determines the type of education available to you.. This can be supported by when Jem proposed, “I think it’s how long your family’s been readin’ and writin’”, and Scout responds, “No, everybody’s gotta learn, nobody’s born knowin’. That Walter’s as smart as he can be, he just gets held back sometimes because he has to stay out and help his daddy. Nothing wrong with
In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout’s view on race changed dramatically throughout the novel. Scout goes from being unaware of racial factions to becoming painfully aware of the separations that society had created because of race. One of Scout’s first encounters with race is when Cecil Jacob, a boy from her class, calls out Atticus to Scout, calling him a “nigger-lover”. Not knowing what it means Scout denies it. After asking Atticus if he was one, he replied that he is, and Scout was confused about why being a “nigger-lover” was a bad thing. Scout’s view on race changed there because she learned that being associated with a different race can lead to controversy. Atticus explained first that the word “nigger” was a mean and low word when he said, “Don’t say nigger, Scout. That’s common”(99). Then he explained that people were going to talk about him in an ugly fashion for defending Tom Robinson when he stated, “You might hear some ugly talk about it at school, but do one thing for me if you will: you just hold your head high and …show more content…
Even though this conversation doesn’t directly discuss race, it changes Scout’s point of view because it gives Scout the understanding that where you are born and what you are born into determines the type of education available to you.. This can be supported by when Jem proposed, “I think it’s how long your family’s been readin’ and writin’”, and Scout responds, “No, everybody’s gotta learn, nobody’s born knowin’. That Walter’s as smart as he can be, he just gets held back sometimes because he has to stay out and help his daddy. Nothing wrong with