Topic > The theme of justice in Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird

Justice and its relationship to prejudice is the central theme of the timeless 1960 novel, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Its focal point is the trial of Tom Robinson, an African American wrongly accused of the rape of a white girl, Mayella Ewell. Racial prejudice is, of course, explored thoroughly in the novel. However, what originally appears as discrimination turns into a hell of injustice, particularly in the degradation and death of an innocent Samaritan, the impoverishment of his family, and the humiliation of his race. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay The story is narrated by the protagonist, Scout, as an adult woman who nostalgically remembers her early childhood over a period of two years. He is presented with the naivety and youth that characterize the remarks of an innocent. Because Scout neither perceives nor understands the full implications of what she sees and hears, Lee is able to contrast the children's consistency, justice, and honesty with the adults' double standards, prejudices, and sordid values ​​inherent in her revelations and mature characters. The first half of the novel revolves around Scout's childhood in Maycomb, a fictional "tired old town" in Alabama, before the alleged rape to enlighten readers about the entire social context and unconsciously prime children for the "usual disease of Maycomb". Throughout the novel, Lee uses the symbol of the mockingbird to articulate justice by highlighting the sin of killing one, as it is entirely innocent and defenseless. Tom Robinson, convicted of a crime he did not commit because of his race, and Boo Radley, imagined as a madman and a monster by citizens who view him as an outsider without attempting to seek the truth, are both metaphors for a slain mockingbird and the perversion of justice. The language is appropriate for the book's various contexts and speakers: similes and metaphors are constantly used to create imagery and emphasize main ideas, objects are personified to give a familiar impression, and a range of Southern dialects and colloquialisms are applied to confer authenticity. and construct a social commentary on a character. In particular, the prejudiced and unscrupulous characters differ in their description of African Americans and in determining whether their relative poverty is a social or racial dilemma. Lee places the plot during the height of the Great Depression, when most Southerners believed in the inferiority of African Americans and their desire for the possessions and status of whites, including Anglo-Saxon women. The classroom preaching of “equal rights for all, special privileges for none” was far from the practiced reality. Scout reflects on the hypocrisy of Miss Gate's revulsion at Hitler's persecution of the Jews, as well as her proclamation that "we do not believe in the persecution of anyone" and her prejudice against African-Americans. Likewise, he learns of prejudice from Dolphus Raymond, a white man who pretends to be a drunkard to provide the townspeople with an explanation for his residence with his black mistress. Meanwhile, racial segregation is implicitly applauded by most citizens, such as Scout's Aunt Alexandra, who believes that an individual's superficial attributes, such as race, gender, and class, place him or her within a defined rung in the hierarchy social. He discourages Scout from socializing with the Cunninghams, a lower-class family, and from visiting the home of the African-American Calpurnia. The conduct, 97(6), 1339-1362