Racism and Discrimination theme of TKAM
Uploaded by 8drian on Jul 19, 2007
To Kill a Mockingbird written by Harper Lee is a Pulitzer Prize winning novel that offers a view of life through a young girl’s eyes. This novel focuses on two main themes being racism and discrimination.
Racism is undoubtedly the most prominent theme of the novel. It comes in an open and subtle manner that is displayed through speech and actions. The racism in Maycomb takes mainly the form of having white people against black people. There are many people in Maycomb that are racist because they think of Negroes as an inferior race and are often less reliable and trustworthy. Speech and actions are the most common forms of racism however the layout of the town is of racial discrimination as well. The Negroes are situated in a small camp quite out of the town “past the dump…five hundred yards beyond the Ewells (pg188)” which shows that they are somewhat less valued than the local dump. An example of a character who is severely racist is Mrs Dubose who lives next door to the Finches. Her intolerance of white and black people has become her characteristic. She insults people in many ways but becomes most vicious when it comes to matters of race. She once insulted Jem by saying that his father was “no better than the niggers and trash he works for! (pg113)” causing Jem to explode in a rampage through her garden. Eventually, the reader learns that Mrs Dubose suffers a life-threatening disease that explains some of her rages. This can excuse some of her judgement and intolerance but not all of her racial discrimination against Negroes. Although these issues are serious, the main racial conflict originates from the Tom Robinson court case. Some of the minor discrimination includes the absence of Negroes in the jury and the requirement of Negroes having to sit in the gallery of the court room. The more serious issues involve the injustice that Tom Robinson suffered in the case. Tom Robinson was accused of raping Mayella Ewell with weak evidence from her father but still won the case because the townspeople only believed Ewell’s story and since there were no Negroes in the jury, the case was immediately one-sided. Despite the similarities, racism is slightly different to discrimination which will be the next theme discussed.
Discrimination is the main focus of this novel. Racism may seem like the only form of...