Theme Of Racism In To Kill A Mockingbird

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“One time he said you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them,” (Lee, 374). This quote means people have to take the time to see where someone is coming from in order to understand them and make their judgments from there. Between 1877 to 1950, there were laws that discriminate dark skinned people. These were the Jim Crow Laws that restricted black people and segregated them from the rest of society. By putting in racism, it gives the story a more realistic atmosphere and helps display Harper Lee’s message. An examination of racism in To Kill A Mockingbird reveals people mainly judged others based on their race and never took the time to actually know the truth. To Kill A Mockingbird proves that people were…show more content…
People believed black people were dishonest due to the Jim Crow Laws and the many false assumptions. Atticus makes a great point in his closing statement about the false rumors of black people, “The evil assumption - that all Negroes lie, that all Negroes are basically immoral beings… Which, gentlemen, we know is in itself a lie … But this is a truth that applies to the human race and to no particular race of men,” (Lee, 272). People had always believed in these false rumors about Negroes. They have never questioned them and went along with it; even though everyone knew that they were false. People should not stereotype a group as not everyone's the same. There might be a small percentage that are actually like the stereotype, but there are all of these other people who are nothing like it. Even though this group of people have this one similarity, they have all of these other differences making them all distinctive individuals. Atticus told Jem and Scout, “In our courts, when it’s a white man’s word against a black man’s, the white man always wins. They’re ugly, but those are the facts of life,” (Lee, 295). In their society, people would always favor a white man over a black man. They treated Negroes like they were trash. Colored people were thought of as liars and that the white man is always right. Due to people never believing a black man is telling the truth, trials will end up with them guilty or the other party being found innocent. This will lead to many cases of innocent Negroes being killed and guilty white men being free. If there is a goal of a safe society, courts have to stop favoring a certain race and start judging without being bias. However, people still decided to listen to those rumors and never gotten to know the
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