To Kill a Mockingbird Essay No person in Maycomb is born racist, it is the way they are brought up. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee presents Jem is an open minded person, and is not judgemental towards blacks. However, since Jem is surrounded by racism, he is losing a piece of his innocence as a child. As Jem is constantly exposed to racism throughout Maycomb, he begins to lose his innocence. While Jem and Scout are waiting for the verdict of Tom Robinson, Jem and Scout are so nervous they can hardly look.“I shut my eyes. Judge Taylor was polling the jury: Guilty… guilty...guilty...guilty...I peeked at Jem: his hands were white from gripping the balcony rail, and his shoulders jerked as if each guilty was a separate stab between them” (282). After this verdict Jem’s point of view on the world shifts, and Jem is slowly realizing that racism lives in the hearts of people in Maycomb. When Jem heard the word guilty he gives up a little bit of his innocent childhood because he is starting to notice how racist people are. When Atticus walks out of the courthouse to meet up with Jem and Scout, Jem is in total disbelief of what the verdict because he thought that evidence could win a case alone, “It was Jem’s turn to cry. His face streaked with angry tears as we made our way through a cheerful crowd. ‘It ain’t right’ he muttered all the way to the corner of the square where we found Atticus waiting. Atticus was standing under the …show more content…
Jem realizes that people aren’t open minded towards blacks, which causes him to grow up and to lose a piece of his innocence. Although Jem is surrounded by racist people in Maycomb, he is an exception because of the way he was raised. Since Jem is a kid and still developing he notices what is going on and can’t ignore it. Ultimately, when one is surrounded by racism from their role models, it can have a negative effect on that
To Kill a Mockingbird shows Racist themes throughout the book. To demonstrate, Jem and Scout were being reprimanded by Mrs. Dubose as they walked to the store, she told Scout that of she kept wearing overalls she’d have a bad life, she also said, “Not only a Finch waiting on tables but one in the courthouse lawing for niggers!” (Lee Unknown). This shows that some people in Maycomb are very racist. As another example, they use the phrase “Nigger Lover” (Lee 94-96) as an insult multiple times.
After hearing from Mr. Underwood that Atticus’ children are sitting in the colored balcony Atticus tells him to go home and eat supper, he adds that they can return to the courtroom after they eat. Tom Robinson is found guilty of Rape. Chapter 22: Jem finds thinks that the verdict is unfair and hearing about what will happen to Tom causes Jem to break down and cry. Jem has a different opinion on the people of Maycomb after the trial, before he used to think that the Maycomb people were amazing but after the trial his opinion takes a 180 turn.
Atticus says this so that some people may form a new opinion if Tom is guilty or not guilty. After Atticus’s closing argument prior to the verdict, Jem was very confident based upon the evidence presented that Tom would be not guilty, after the trial Jem was very upset and crying about the harsh reality of the case case, while he is talking to Atticus about this he says, “It ain’t right, Atticus”(Lee 242). Jem is finally maturing and realizing the harsh reality of Maycomb and the racism and prejudice in people's minds throughout their society. Jem learns that just because of the way you were born you are not given the same opportunities that others have just because of one factor, the color of your skin, not the way you act, or your reputation, but the color of your skin, something so little, but has such a massive impact on everyday life.
When the guilty verdict was returned, the severe injustice destroyed his childhood naivety. Obviously, the adversity in this scene is the extreme racial prejudice against Tom. Jem’s individual identity is shaped from this whole trial because of the unfairness of the racial prejudice of the jury in court, as it leaves him disillusioned and his childhood innocence lost. His faith in the Alabama justice system is diminished because he realises it’s very flawed. “It was Jem’s turn to cry” (p.284) “It ain’t Atticus.
This shows us a deeper meaning of the theme because Jem is deeply upset about this ruling because he thought that it was self-explanatory that Tom was innocent, but he didn’t realize that the town would never let a black man win a case over a white man. Harper Lee uses effective ideas in this scene because Jem’s outburst of tears shows us how much it means to him instead of not showing how Jem felt at
After hours of waiting, the jury came back in. Scout explains how “A jury never looks at the defendant if it has convicted, and when this jury came in, not one of them looked at Tom Robinson… Judge Taylor was polling the jury; ‘ Guilty...Guilty...Guilty’”(211) When Scout and Jem hear the verdict, they are distraught. As they were walking home, “It was Jem’s turn to cry.. ‘It’s not right, Atticus’”(212)
Jem also opposes the town’s racism. He instead sees the incorrectness of the town in a logical standpoint. During the trial of Tom Robinson, Atticus brings up solid evidence that the attack was not from Tom, but her father Bob Ewell. Jem believes that there is no way that Tom would be declared guilty, he still believes that the town is not racist and thinks that the jury people will think logically about the case. “I peeked at Jem: his hands were white from gripping the balcony rail, and his shoulders jerked as if each “guilty” was a separate stab between them.”
In To Kill A Mockingbird, Scout and Jem Finch discover that personal prejudice can influence justice, or the lack thereof. Growing up with Atticus in Maycomb is a contradiction in itself. Atticus encourages equality and raises his kids to be moral beings. However, the rest of Maycomb is very biased and racist. On page 296 Atticus tells Scout and Jem, “‘With people like us- that’s our share of the bill.
In Maycomb County, the Negroes are viewed as inferior, and in addition, the Jim Crow laws are enforced to ensure segregation. As a result, they do not have equal rights as the other citizens. When Atticus is asked to defend Tom Robinson, a Negro man accused of raping a white girl, he accepts. To the community this was improper. The community’s disgust at Atticus’ decision is expressed when Scout is irked by Cecil Jacobs, a boy in her class, when he announces that, “Scout Finch’s daddy defended niggers.”
As Sheriff Tate is reading the jury’s votes,”Guilty...guilty...guilty...guilty…,”(Lee 240) Scout describes Jem gripping the balcony railing so tight his knuckles turn white and wincing at every “guilty” he heard. The ruling ruling is very unfair. On the other hand , for many reasons, it could have been predicted. Then when Jem makes it outside to Atticus, he is saying,”It ain’t right.”(Lee 242) over and over again.
After Atticus loses his trial, Jem notices that the Maycomb County justice system is broken and it needs help, “Then it all goes back to the jury, then. We oughta do away with juries. ”(294) This shows that Jem now understands that people are racist in everything and racism needs to be fought. On top of realizing that the justice system is in shambles, Jem realized that Tom Robinson’s case was very good at showing that.
Throughout the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Jem and Scout 's perception of courage drastically changes their behavior as they mature. They learn a lot about courage throughout the novel from their father Atticus and what they learn from him influences their choices and opinions. Although Jem is older than Scout, they both experience change in their behavior. At the beginning of the novel, Jem is still a young boy. He is defiant towards Atticus, he plays all the usual childhood games with Scout and Dill, and he engages in the younger children’s obsession with Boo Radley.
She is constantly learning how racism affects the community through different altercations in Maycomb. She realizes that racism shouldn’t exist due to the side effects. In To Kill A Mockingbird Harper Lee conveys that racism causes inequality between people, isolation, and injustice. Racism affects the individuals of maycomb by creating an unfair and non welcoming area for people.
This was a huge deal and everyone was going to watch it. The trial was such a massive deal because it was extremely rare to see a white man defending an African American man in court. Also, the fact that the case was local made it even bigger because it affected many people in Maycomb. Scout shows the importance of the verdict when she says, "Guilty... guilty... guilty... guilty... I peeked at Jem: his hands were white from gripping the balcony rail, and his shoulders jerked as if each guilty was a separate stab between them."
Though most of the town Maycomb feels negatively and discriminates the African-Americans, characters like Atticus show us how one person can impact his surroundings if he has high morals. Although he couldn’t change the mindset of the other town residents , he made sure that his own children didn’t discriminate people, purely on the basis of their skin colour. Racism can be seen even in the first few chapters of the book. These racist comments by nonracist children typify the culture in which they were growing up.