Racism in To Kill a Mockingbird

Racism is highly portrayed in the novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee. In the novel, Lee demonstrates the racial discrimination in the southern parts of the United States in the 1930s. The novel revolves around a lawyer by the name Atticus Finch who tries to help an African-American against charges of rape that were made against him. Scout Finch who is a daughter to the renowned lawyer Atticus Finch is the author of the novel. As the novel progresses, Scout Finch and her brother are nearly murdered because of their father’s defense of Tom Robinson who was accused of raping a white woman. Racism is depicted throughout the novel and will be discussed below.
How racism is portrayed in the novel
First, the white characters in the novel had no connection to the black characters. This is evident where the Atticus tries to help a black American that was an unusual and rare incident back in the Maycomb, Alabama in the 1930s where the environment of the novel was situated. African-Americans were treated as though they felt different from the white folks. The reverent is noted saying that he had never seen a Negro obtaining favor in front of a jury (Lee, p23). This is pure evidence of how blacks were discriminated and denied their civil rights.
In the novel, racial prejudice has also been portrayed through dialog of the white characters in the novel. The word “nigger” has been used in many areas by different characters especially the white characters and this symboli…