Racism in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird

Abstract

Racism and prejudice in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird shows the different ways in which white and black people were treated in 1930s, Alabama. Lee addresses these issues specifically to Tom Robinson’s court case, where he was wrongly accused of raping Mayella Ewell. Using Wayne Flynt’s online Encyclopaedia of Alabama, Austin Sarat’s and Martha Umphrey’s ‘Temporal Horizons’ essay, I argue how the topic of race creates a peripheral voice in Maycomb’s society. I analyse closely Tom Robinson’s testimony, the children’s reaction to the court case and the differing opinions on racism of Atticus and Bob Ewell.