Racism Theme of TKAM
Uploaded by 8drian on Jul 19, 2007
The novel To Kill a Mockingbird demonstrates many themes but racism is strongest. Racism in the book takes the form of physical, emotional and institutional discrimination. The three main discriminations in the novel include the unfair life of a Negro in Maycomb, Mrs Dubose’s attitude towards the Finch family when the court case started and the Tom Robinson’s case.
In the small town of Maycomb, the white people lived in the centre where there was the bank, courthouse, Tribune Office, Hardware store and the post office. There was a dirt road that “ran from the highway past the dump, down to a small Negro settlement some five hundred yards beyond the Ewells (pg188).” The Ewells were known as severely poor and mean people but the Negroes were thought to be even more inferior so they were positioned further away from the town central which is unreasonable and racist. There were many unoccupied spaces in the town yet the Negroes were forced to live on the outskirts of the town. Secondly, Negroes were also expected to exit and enter from backdoors of houses. When Calpurnia was alerting the town about the mad dog by knocking on the front doors, Scout said “She’s supposed to go around in back.” This is quite offensive because the backs of houses are often the filthy side and are usually not accessed from. This also shows that children were wrongly taught about Negroes at an early age. Religion-wise, the Negroes and the whites both worship the same god but they have separate churches. The Negroes worshipped in this “First Purchase” African M.E. Church on Sundays “and white men gambled in it on weekdays (pg130).” Having the white men gambling in the Negroes’ church is very disrespectful to their god and the Negroes that worship in the church because gambling is often thought of as sinful because the gamblers usually smoke and get drunk which is the opposite of god’s teaching is.
Apart from the physical discrimination, emotional discrimination was also present in the novel. Jem, Scout and Atticus were often verbally abused by Mrs Dubose causing emotional stress and uncontrollable anger. Mrs Dubose had always insulted Jem and Scout when they walked past her house but her comments got stronger when Atticus started to defend Tom Robinson. Mrs Dubose went as far as saying “Your father’s no better than the niggers and trash he works for!...