Racism In To Kill A Mockingbird Analysis Essay Example

During this novel, I was able to find multiple times when the author hinted she was against racism. For starters, while the book uses language we have prohibited use of now, Atticus Finch tells the children to not use disrespectful terms towards the black folk. Atticus also is defending a black man in court after he is convicted of rape, even though he knows he is putting himself and his family in danger. He proceeds to keep this man safe before and after his trial begins,  and checks on the man’s wife once he is dead. He treats the family as if it is his own. We can also see throughout the book how Scout and her brother lose their innocence and become more and more aware of the racist world around them. The book takes place in Depression-era Alabama, and the town they live in is full of many conservative individuals, who believed race should still be a determination of who you were. Also, the book is written so that the racist citizens in the book are the protagonists. Just from these few examples, we can see how the author is trying to tell us she was against racism.

I find the ‘racist language’ necessary for children to understand how we have and are coming a long way from just a little over 100 years ago. While this stuff should have never happened in the first case, I believe that this book will show that the way people spoke back then towards people of color was repulsive and we should never refer to them that way again. I hope that this book would also show children what the wrong words are, and how we can treat everyone with more respect, as it should be. 

I would like to thank you for taking the time to read this letter. I hope that I have been able to change your opinion on whether or not highschoolers in our district should be allowed to read the novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. From my point of view, I believe there is a sufficient amount of evidence that this book was meant to assist with abolishing slavery and racism, even if you have to read between the lines to find some of them. I feel like this is one of the greatest books and I would be deeply saddened if kids in today’s generation were unable to experience it.