Stereotypes In To Kill A Mockingbird
Thursday, February 28, 2013
A One Dimensional Representation of African-Americans
From the beginning of human existence, people have always been discriminative towards one another solely based on race. The novel To Kill a Mockingbird was written by Harper Lee in the 1960’s, though the setting is based in the 1930’s.The novel challenges the false idea of the stereotypical African-American human being, as was typical in the 1930’s. It has been said that this novel portrays African-Americans as submissive, simple, and ignorant folk who need whites to protect them. To Kill a Mockingbird contains several black characters who are the complete opposite of these qualities. Tom Robinson is very polite and gentle, not docile, and Calpurnia is not simple minded, she is well educated. Considering these characters display a change in their stereotype, this novel is a powerful statement against racism. …show more content…
Tom Robinson does not need to have Atticus defend him; he would be found guilty either way. Tom could have a black man defend him, but there is no way that there is a remote possibility that Tom could have won his case. However, everyone knows there is no chance of him winning the case, and even Atticus knew this himself. We find this out when Atticus says, “There’s something in our world that makes men lose their heads-they couldn’t be fair if they tried. In our courts, when it’s a white man’s word against a black man’s, the white man always wins.” (295). He says this while explaining to Jem why they lose the court case. Even Atticus knows that they are going to lose the case, but he defends Tom anyway, because he is a strong advocate for equality and justice. This should not be a negative situation of blacks absolutely needing whites to protect them, but as displaying a select number of people who were willing to stand up, and take a stand to the customs of
A One Dimensional Representation of African-Americans
From the beginning of human existence, people have always been discriminative towards one another solely based on race. The novel To Kill a Mockingbird was written by Harper Lee in the 1960’s, though the setting is based in the 1930’s.The novel challenges the false idea of the stereotypical African-American human being, as was typical in the 1930’s. It has been said that this novel portrays African-Americans as submissive, simple, and ignorant folk who need whites to protect them. To Kill a Mockingbird contains several black characters who are the complete opposite of these qualities. Tom Robinson is very polite and gentle, not docile, and Calpurnia is not simple minded, she is well educated. Considering these characters display a change in their stereotype, this novel is a powerful statement against racism. …show more content…
Tom Robinson does not need to have Atticus defend him; he would be found guilty either way. Tom could have a black man defend him, but there is no way that there is a remote possibility that Tom could have won his case. However, everyone knows there is no chance of him winning the case, and even Atticus knew this himself. We find this out when Atticus says, “There’s something in our world that makes men lose their heads-they couldn’t be fair if they tried. In our courts, when it’s a white man’s word against a black man’s, the white man always wins.” (295). He says this while explaining to Jem why they lose the court case. Even Atticus knows that they are going to lose the case, but he defends Tom anyway, because he is a strong advocate for equality and justice. This should not be a negative situation of blacks absolutely needing whites to protect them, but as displaying a select number of people who were willing to stand up, and take a stand to the customs of