Why Is To Kill A Mockingbird Still Relevant Today

The derogatory racial slur, n****r is written forty eight times in the highly challenged and banned novel, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. The novel is about the life of Jean Louise “Scout” Finch, a young girl who lives during the 1930s in the small fictional town of Maycomb, Alabama. Her father, Atticus is a lawyer, who takes on a case where an African American man, Tom Robinson is taken to trial for claiming to have a raped a white woman. The trial results in asserting how powerful and cruel racism is with a guilty verdict and later death of a man that was judged solely on his race and not on the substantial evidence indicating his innocence. In general, the trail illustrates how racism was an accepted societal norm during this time period and the many years to come in American society. …show more content…
To Kill A Mockingbird has been named one of the most challenged books in the United States for numerous decades now. According to ala.org, the novel has been challenged seventeen times by censor groups, individuals, and schools across the United States from the date it was published to today’s current year. The novel has gathered great backlash for the portrayal of racism and its content is often debated whether it is suitable for children to be taught at schools. Although people claim that To Kill A Mockingbird should not be banned (due to banning of the novel would be “whitewashing” history), it should be banned for prepubescent audiences because of the inclusion of stereotypes, racial slurs, and sexual