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Post by judithmills on Jul 31, 2016 3:53:57 GMT
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee is told from Scout’s point of view. From Scout, the readers learn about the social aspects of race, class, and gender. The novel continues to teach about society's bias, predjudice, and|or influence on race, morality, and innocence. In the novel, the character Tom Robinson is convicted of the crime of raping and beating Mayella Ewell based solely on the color of his skin. Atticus Finch, who works for the sake of fairness, explains that, "In our courts, when it's a white man's word against a black man's, the white man always wins." (Pages 251, 252.) His revulsion towards the white people taking an advantage towards the black people in the courts is also clearly shown. Also, along with the discrimination of race, Harper Lee also discusses discrimination against gender. After Tom Robinson's conviction, Atticus explains that Miss Maudie cannot be on the jury because she is a woman, and the jury is to be only men. Not only are gender and race discriminated in To Kill A Mockingbird, but so is class. For example, when Walter refuses to take lunch money from Miss Caroline, Scout explains to Miss Caroline that the Cunninghams suffer from poverty. Also, another textual example of this is when Harper Lee writes a description of Burris Ewell: "...his neck was dark grey, the backs of his hands were rusty, and his fingernails were black..." which tells the reader that Burris and his other family members live in poor conditions. This also gives a discrimination of race here. Even though they lack education and money, they still hold a higher place on the social class pyramid because of their skin color. Also, since To Kill A Mockingbird was the second of the assigned books I read, I also noticed that both books are about discrimination. In Brave New World, they discriminate against the lower castes, and in To Kill A Mockingbird, they discriminate against race, gender, and social ranking. This is because Harper Lee and Aldous Huxley were both trying to demonstrate struggles that their generation were either already going through, or hypothesize the way society might end up in the future.
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Post by torytherit on Jul 31, 2016 15:56:45 GMT
I strongly agree that discrimination in all forms are the basis of the story here. Though mostly in the form of racism, sexism is also a very prominent theme in To Kill A Mockingbird. The idea of sexism is very evident in the disapproval most women hold against Scout. From the way she dresses, in jeans and T-shirts, to the way she talks, cussing mostly, she isn't what society expects her to be. She was supposed to be a "lady" and eventually probably a trophy wife.
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beau
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Post by beau on Aug 2, 2016 18:43:42 GMT
I agree one of the main points of this novel is to unveil the true discrimination at the time. really no matter what an argument or case was about, if it was a black man versus a white man, the white man would win. This book does a great job of showing what standing up for what you believe in looks like. Even in the face of adversity. Reading this makes me think how so many people could treat someone like they are worth nothing, and believe they are worth so much more. At the time though, it was the usual. The authors of both books show discrimination and bring it to a new light very well.
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Post by ariellebakken on Aug 2, 2016 19:45:32 GMT
I agree with the idea that the novel majorly delt with numerous forms of discrimination such as sexism, racism, and classism. Additionally I think that why To Kill a Mockingbird is such an important novel is because it's not "just" a book about descrimination but instead makes its point subtely though the viewpoint of Scout. By telling the story through Scout's point of view the issues about discrimination become much more personal to the reader. An instance of this is when Scout is forced to wear dresses and "act like a lady" the reader can empathize with Scout because it is an unfair standard Scout did not agree with.
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Post by ryleabaumberger on Aug 2, 2016 21:11:33 GMT
Throughout this book there is no doubt that there was a lot of prejudice on people of Maycomb. You brought up that some of the main prejudices against people are race, gender, and rank of class, which is very true, and I think that it is wrong to put something like that against somebody. Although it does not feel good to be on the out's, I feel that it would be especially difficult to be a black, poor girl, which there are many in this town. Those three things are the main reasons people would be mean to someone else, and they are all three in one. Most of the black kids to not get to go to school, which means they get no education, which leads to poor jobs, with little money, and being low in class. So ultimately as you can see, all of this just snowballs into a bigger mess for the people living this life. Another good point you brought up is how both of the summer reading books judge people based on their rank in society, which is very unfortunate. After reading these two books, it does really make you wonder about why people are so judgmental, and notice that this happens every single day to many people, but we just turn our shoulder to this and ignore it, when we should instead be fighting to change this. So will this world ever be nonjudgmental, or will the future have this same problem in-store for them?
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Post by Noah Durrance on Aug 6, 2016 17:56:32 GMT
Yes, I do think that discrimination of all types is a prevailing theme in this novel. The time that Lee wrote it was a time filled with hatred and prejudice. This book was published in 1960, the time in which the civil rights movement began to gather momentum. the statement of "when it's a white man's word against a black man's, the white man always wins" could not be a clearer reflection of the times and how even the legal system was influenced. Even Scout's family is susceptible to prejudice as well. When Scout asks Aunt Alexandra if she can invite Walter Cunningham over, Alexandra's reason for denying such a request is "Because-he-is-trash, that's why you can't play with him." This is proof that what may seem a very accepting and open-minded family may still hold preconceived notions about others.
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leah
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Post by leah on Aug 7, 2016 16:25:49 GMT
I agree that throughout the book the discrimination against people because of their race, gender, and social class is a major idea. You also see that people are discriminated against if they do not live up to the rest of the towns social expectations, such as Scout when the women and her aunt tell her that she needs to wear dresses and act like a proper lady. This even happens to Atticus when he defends Tom, he isn't doing what the rest of the community would have done. It doesn't matter that some of them may agree with them, it still means that they went against what is normal for them.
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Post by andrewklein on Aug 7, 2016 23:42:10 GMT
I do agree that there is a large amount of discrimination throughout the novel by means of race and gender, but not so much as class. The class that the people are in doesn't directly affect them as a person. It is more of a family/personal thing when it comes down to it. The Ewells are pretty much just a large group of people who don't really care about much of anything. When compared to the Finches, the Finches are better off, but that is because they try to be that way, where as the Ewells don't care, as I stated before. So discrimination is much more present through race and gender, but not near as class, since in this case it falls under a family specific area.
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Post by annalandolfi on Aug 8, 2016 2:45:46 GMT
What I found interesting about the theme of discrimination, is everyone is on a different level, or direction for discrimination, i the novel. There are those who openly would discriminate against blacks (usually white), and visa versa. Then those who are not as open about it, but still could feel entitled, or discriminated against. Then there are those in the case of white and white discrimination, judging for their choices and opinions. White against black discrimination is not the only kind in the novel.
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Post by laurenschuetz on Aug 10, 2016 16:40:10 GMT
I agree with all of the points that Judith made. In my opinion, the quote that she used "In our courts, when it's a white man's word against a black man's, the white man always wins." (Pages 251, 252.) sums up the entire aspect of racism in the book. Not only in the courts does a white man's word win against a black man's but also in the streets and in their society. Through out history, we see that the theme of slavery and racism corresponds with this quote. Today, even though the amount of racism is significantly less than the amount that there was during he time period of this book, we still see it as a reoccurring issue.
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Post by laurenschuetz on Aug 10, 2016 16:40:29 GMT
I agree with all of the points that Judith made. In my opinion, the quote that she used "In our courts, when it's a white man's word against a black man's, the white man always wins." (Pages 251, 252.) sums up the entire aspect of racism in the book. Not only in the courts does a white man's word win against a black man's but also in the streets and in their society. Through out history, we see that the theme of slavery and racism corresponds with this quote. Today, even though the amount of racism is significantly less than the amount that there was during he time period of this book, we still see it as a reoccurring issue.
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Post by benswanson00 on Aug 13, 2016 14:45:20 GMT
I agree with all aspects of what she said. Not only it is obvious that discrimination through race and class are used throughout the story, but that it is things like these that will help change and shape the future. Our past holds it, our present holds it, so that must mean that the future will have the same discrimination, in one form or another.
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Post by benswanson00 on Aug 13, 2016 16:43:23 GMT
I agree with all aspects of what she said. Not only it is obvious that discrimination through race and class are used throughout the story, but that it is things like these that will help change and shape the future. Our past holds it, our present holds it, so that must mean that the future will have the same discrimination, in one form or another.
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Post by laceyredinger6 on Aug 14, 2016 18:51:36 GMT
I agree that discrimination is one of the main points of this book. This describes how it was back then and how it was basically the normal for them, that's all they knew. But that's almost all we know too. Discrimination is very big now it's all just in a different forms.
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Post by paigestan on Aug 15, 2016 1:18:25 GMT
Not only is discrimination bad in today's world the class of which you live is too. We judge people based on their looks and some people don't have money to wear name brand clothes but that's what most people look for. If they have new Nike shoes, or the best looking kid in school. Its hard to not judge people by their looks its just what we see first.
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