To Kill a Mocking Bird - Essay Example

Racism refers to the belief that there are differences in the ethnic groups on the basis of people’s characters, abilities and status. Racism, hence, classifies people in different groups and considers some races as superior to the others. The concept of racism is losing its colour. It is, however, not justifiable to believe that racism has been eliminated completely from the society. The literature is full of such works which identify the instances of racism in the society from the 20’s till now.

Throughout history there have been many forms of racism against different groups of people. One way we can really know is by the writers word in literature or school books. One way has been exposed is in "To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee in which she depicts the racial problems of the Deep South in 1930 (Thernstrom 1997; Claudia 1994; Lee 1960). In To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee uses many characters in the book, including Atticus, Jem, Scout and Tom to convey the major themes of the story regarding courage, racism and stereotyping to the reader.

The story clearly describes the issue of racism as it was in the 1920s and 1930s in America. It is a story which revolves around a black named Tom Robinson who is accused of raping a girl which he has not even done. Racism can be seen in the very core of the theme of the story. The story shows that blacks have always been treated inferior to other races and because of their ethnicity and colour they have always been blamed for things that they have not even done (Lee 1960). The story shows how a town gets one sided when it comes to the issue of rape of a girl by a black.

The black named Tom Robinson provides with enough evidence that he is not committed the crime but no one believes him because of his colour. The treatment of Tom Robinson in the story can clearly tell that the jury was being biased only because he was a black. Not only this but racism is also showed in the words of the characters in the story. As at one instance Scout clearly states that “He’s just a nigger’ (Lee 1960). Racism as practiced in the society against blacks is seen in the courtroom as told by Lee.

This can be clearly seen in the character of Mr Gilmer when he cross examines Tom Robinson. It is seen how Mr Gilmer makes a mockery out Tom’s story. It is seen that even the judge is not objecting to Tom Robinson’s treatment by Mr Gilmer. These racist comments passed by the lawyer against Tom Robinson clearly depict the theme of racism as being practiced in the society against the blacks. Similarly Stereotyping also can be witnessed here as the judges in the courtroom were not paying any particular heed to Tom Robinson’s plea as blacks automatically are considered to be criminals.

Therefore it can be said that Chapter 19 is the amalgamation of all these themes together to give out a masterpiece which co-relates the judgment and the main theme of the whole story (Lee 1960; Thernstrom 1997). The story tells as to how stereotyping against the blacks or inferior class is being done in the society and how it is actually affecting the lives of many individuals living in this world. An example of stereotyping is the way people think about Dolphus Raymond without even knowing him.

For example in chapter 20 Scout says “somehow, I didn’t think Atticus would like it if we became friendly with Mr. Raymond, and I knew Aunt Alexandra wouldn’