Examples Of Racism In To Kill A Mockingbird

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American Dream In today’s world, we are, as a society, fascinated with outlaws, and there is a heightened anxiety over becoming victims because criminals seem to be more and more prevalent with each passing year. It seems as though there is a new major shooting, supposed police brutality, or some other major violence being highlighted in the media each week. An occurring theme in this violence is that the victims are normal, everyday people which leads society to become anxious over the fact that the next victim could me or you. The citizens of Holcomb experienced this after the murders when suddenly people locked their doors for the first time because they felt that if the Clutters could have been murdered, then they themselves could be murdered…show more content…
In literature, characters often have some kind of a past that they’re either trying to grow from or get better in spite of. For characters such as those, their own history has become a nightmare. For example, Perry Smith tried to be and sound educated by constantly using big words in spite of the fact that he was never given the opportunity to get an education as a child. Although his method was slightly less legal, Dick Hickock also tried to overcome the adversity of not going to college and as a result having a low-paying job, by writing bad checks to get all the things he could not afford for him and his wife. Another theme in literature that shows history becoming our worst nightmare is the fall from grace. In novels using this theme, the main character starts off as a relatively good person until he or she does something awful which ruins others’ good opinions of them, and usually results in punishment. For characters such as these, their history is literally their worst nightmare because it’s what ruined their social standing and their reputation. The novel suggests that Perry’s fall from grace was mostly a result of his poor upbringing which included harsh treatment and alienation from kids his own age. Dick and Perry both fell from grace in In Cold Blood when they murdered the Clutters, and their punishment came in the form of
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