Racism In To Kill A Mockingbird

474 Words2 Pages
In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, racism plays a key role in how events in these people’s lives turn out: Tom Robinson, almost every other African American in Maycomb, and Helen Robinson. Racism in To Kill a Mockingbird plays a key role and affects the events in the novel by deciding how people live the way they live and how most events in the novel turn out. Racism affects the life of Tom Robinson through his trial. He is only accused of rape because he is black and supposedly “rapes a white girl”, Mayella Ewell. In the book, Atticus says, “To begin with, this case should have never come to trial. This case is as simple as black and white” (205). This proves that the case is already decided before it even begins because of racism. This case only goes to trial because Mayella and Bob, her dad, already know that Tom will be guilty just because he is black. Racism affects Tom Robinson in a negative way, costing him his life just because he us black.…show more content…
Mrs. Merriweather says, “Gertrude, I tell you there’s nothing more distracting than a sulky darky. Their mouths go down to here. Just ruins your day to have one of ‘em in the kitchen” (234). This helps prove that racism affects many people in the novel, especially the black women that have to work in the white women’s kitchens. According to the women at the tea party, seeing a sulky darky will ruin your day; this is how racism has an effect on the blacks in the novel and how most events they are involved in go against
Open Document