Racial Inequality in To Kill a Mockingbird, By Lauren Claypoole

 Summary:       

       To Kill a Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee and published in 1960, is a novel about three years of the life of a young tomboy named Jean Louise, or "Scout", Finch. This six-year-old lived in the small town of Maycomb, Alabama in the 1930s with her older brother, Jem; black maid, Calpurnia; and father, Atticus. Our story began when Scout and Jem befriended a neighbor boy, Dill, who was visiting Maycomb for the summer. As their camaraderie grew, so did their interest in the Finch's reclusive neighbor, Arthur "Boo" Radley. They spent the summer trying to send messages to him and sneak into his home. 

        After Dill left Maycomb with the promise of returning next summer, Scout started first grade. School wasn't very enjoyable for her when she was reprimanded for knowing how to read. Sometimes when Scout and Jem walked home from school, they found gifts in the hole of a tree on the Radley's property. This gifts included things such as twine, a clock, and carvings of them, which were mysterious gifts from Boo. Also during this time, Scout was often cruelly teased for her  lawyer father being a "nigger-lover, " because he was assigned to defend an innocent black man who had been accused of raping a white woman. While her father, Atticus, tried to the best of his abilities to prove that the man, Tom Robinson, was innocent, he was taunted with nicknames and almost attacked by an angry mob. However, this mob was diverted when Scout, Jem, and Dill showed up and compelled the mob to realize what they were doing. 

        Tom Robinson's trial soon came, and since Atticus did not want them present, Scout, Jem, and Dill secretly sat in the colored balcony of the courtroom to view it. In this criminal case, the local town trash, Bob Ewell, and his lonesome daughter, Mayella, accused Tom of raping and beating Mayella. By challenging the Ewells at the stand, Atticus proved that they were lying. The truth came out that Mayella was trying to kiss Tom, and her father caught her in the act and beat her for it. However, despite this evidence, Tom was convicted by the all-white jury and sent to jail. Soon after he was incarcerated, Tom tried to escape over a wall and was shot. Meanwhile, Bob Ewell, even though he won his case, was livid at Atticus and swore vengeance. 

         A few months later, on a late Halloween night when Jem and Scout were walking home from a pageant, they were attacked by Bob Ewell. Jem's arm was broken, but during the fight a stranger came to the aid of Jem and Scout. Once Scout arrived home, the sheriff arrived. He looked over the fight scene and concluded that Bob Ewell fell on his knife during the fight and died. Arthur "Boo" Radley carried Jem home, as he was the one who helped the children during the fight. Boo was then walked home by Scout, who on the way saw his kindness towards them through the past three years. That was the last time Arthur Radley was ever seen. 

521 words

 

Reflection:

        In this novel, Harper Lee involves many deep issues in the life of the young girl, Scout. Social, or racial, inequality is the primary issue that creates conflict in a small, southern town in Alabama. In the innocence of her youth, Scout was unaware of the severe racism if the deep South. Racism in this story is termed "Maycomb's usual disease," by Atticus (page 88.) The people in Maycomb seem to be divided based upon this social standing, which mainly depends on their race. Two occurrences of racial inequality in To Kill a Mockingbird is Tom Robinson's case against the Ewells and Jem and Scout's visit to Calpurnia's church. 

        The main time when racial inequality was an issue in Harper Lee's novel was during the time that Scout's father was defending Tom Robinson's case in Maycombs court. Atticus was assigned to the case, but when asked by a family member why he was really doing it, he responded, ". . . do you think I could face my children otherwise?" (page 88.) However, by several comments that Atticus and other townspeople made in the story, we can guess that Maycomb already knew that Tom would be found guilty, whether he was or not. It was his word against two white people's word. Even though beforehand Atticus and the Finch family were harassed by white townspeople, Atticus did the best he could to prove that Tom was innocent. However, no matter what he could do, Atticus could still not change the racism in people's minds. On page 241 it explains, "Atticus had used every tool available to free men to save Tom Robinson, but in the secret courts of men's hearts Atticus had no case. Tom was a dead man the minute Mayella Ewell opened her mouth and screamed." The people in the jury could not find a black man innocent if it meant they would have to admit that a white man as lying. In this example, Harper Lee illustrates how unjust racism can be when it kills an innocent black man. 

        Another time in the novel when race became an issue in Scout's life was when Calpurnia took Jem and Scout to her church. As Calpurnia was African-American, so was those in her church. Jen and Scout were very graciously welcomed by everyone in the congregation, except for one woman named Lula. When she saw Jem and Scout, she challenged Calpurnia, saying, "I wants to know why you bringin' white chillun' to nigger church. . . you ain't got no business bringin' white chillun here-they got their church, we got our'n," (page 119.) Calpurnia argued by stating that God is the same for both races, and Lula left the church. In this case,  the racism that black people received in a white society caused Lula to feel resentment and racism toward the white race, even innocent children. She stated the barrier even between the churches of both races. Since this was the first time Jem and Scout were faced with racism, they were scared and intimidated. 

       While Atticus, Jem, and Scout Finch were not racist at all, there were many examples of characters in To Kill a Mockingbird that were. Based upon this plot happening about 70 years ago during the Great Depression, one can assume that racial inequality between white and black people was normal in the Southern American society. However, as we see in Lula's case at the church, this inequality also caused some racism towards white people. As Atticus and Miss Maudie both told Scout on page 90, "It is a sin to kill a mockingbird," because mockingbirds do not harm anyone. I believe that Harper Lee used the analogy of killing a mockingbird in this novel, because racial inequality based upon racism is a form of sin that can hurt people and lead to death. 

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The Effects of Greed in The Pearl

      The Pearl is a timeless novel that was published in 1947, written by John Steinbeck. ". . . the secret melody of the maybe pearl broke clear and beautiful, rich and warm and lovely, glowing and gloating and triumphant. In the surface of the great pearl he could see dream forms," page 26. The story takes place during the late 1800s in a village on the Baja peninsula. The main character is Kino, a poor pearl diver that is struggling to provide for his young family. This family consists of his wife, Juana, and their first child, Coyotito. As this story begins, Coyotito was stung by a scorpion, which would usually kill an infant. Juana did all that she could to save her child by sucking the venom out of his wound. When that did not help, she sent for the town doctor, who, even though he was disliked by local villagers due to his racism, was the only person with the ability to help. When he did not come, the family set out on foot to find him. However, he chose to not help the young family since they did not have any money. With both desperation and hope, Kino and Juana paddled out to the deep, blue sea in their treasured canoe to search for a grand pearl that they thought could pay for the doctor. After hope began to fade, they miraculously found a pearl that was the size of a bird egg and the biggest and most beautiful that they had ever seen. Gazing deep into its beauty, Kino saw wonderful possibilities of a new life free of poverty and burden, the life of a rich man who could take care of his family.
     By the time they had exuberantly paddled back to shore, the story of Kino finding the "Pearl of the World" had spread and the baby Coyotito recovered from his sting. When they arrived home, the doctor had also heard of this pearl and was there waiting for them, not to help the child, but in hopes of making the family indebted to him so he could get the pearl. Diabolically, he secretly administered poison to the poor child, saying that the poison of the sting came back, and then gave the antidote. That night, there was an attempt by some of the villagers to steal the great pearl, so in the morning Kino tried to sell it to the local vendors. Time after time, he felt cheated by the amounts he was offered for the huge, beautiful pearl, so he kept it another night. The very next day, Juana began to feel the greed and evil that was beginning to form around people's hearts due to the pearl, so she tried to get rid of it. Kino caught her and sent her home. While he was walking home, Kino was attacked by a man and they fought until Kino finally killed the attacker.
     The next day before anyone could stop them, Kino, Juana, and Coyotito left their village for good and began to travel North in hopes of selling the extraordinary pearl in the great city. Once on the road, they soon realized that they were being followed by trackers who would kill them to steal the pearl. After being followed quite some time, Kino attacked and killed all three of the criminals that were following them. However, while Kino was trying to protect his family, Coyotito was killed by a stray gunshot. Brokenhearted and disappointed in themselves, Kino and Juana returned to their village alone. Knowing that the pearl was the source of all of the evil that entered their lives, they threw the pearl back into the depths of the sea.
      This story of good, evil, and greed in human's hearts teaches us many lessons as we see the disastrous consequences when greed and evil take over a village and simple family's life. Before the pearl entered the villager's lives, everyone seemed to be humble and content with their life. What brought the pearl into the lives of Kino and his neighbors was the need for a cure of Coyotito's wound. But, once the pearl entered the lives of many, their list of wants and desires escalated. In this story, the destructive force of greed took its tool on both Kino and the villagers who wanted the pearl for their own gain.
     As I have already stated, the lives of Kino and Juana before the pearl were humble, but seemingly simple, normal and similar to their neighbors. Then their child's life was in jeopardy, and the first need in this story was created: the need for money to pay a doctor to see Coyotito. The need was fulfilled by the pearl and at first it was the most wonderful, beautiful, and lovely thing they had ever had in their life. However, Kino grew grew boastful around his neighbors, and professed to all of his increasing desires, now that they could be satisfied (see pages 31-33.) This list included being married in a church, his son attending school and gaining "freedom" with knowledge, a gun, and possibly a better home. He tried to sell the pearl, but his heart was greedy and he did not accept any of the offers for it. When his family was being chased by the bounty hunters, it was due to his greed for the pearl that he did not give it up to the men to possibly save the lives of his family. Once he began to unconsciously develop greed and kept wanting more, his life seemed to go downhill, resulting in the death of men and his child. It seemed as if the greed that this pearl represented ruined his life.
    The destructive force of greed for the pearl also greatly affected the villagers and neighbors of Kino and his family. When Kino found a pearl, at first his fellow friends and divers seemed to be pleased for him. But, then they thought of how they could gain this pearl for themselves. Even the priest who heard about the pearl first thought of how much it must be worth and if he married Kino or baptized his son, for those things often cost money money that poor villagers could usually not pay for. After Kino boasted to the villagers about all the things he could buy, "The music had gone out of Kino's head, but now, thinly, slowly, the melody of the morning, the music of evil, of the enemy sounded. . . Kino looked at his neighbors to see who might have brought this song in," page 35. Evil, greed, and desire began to form in the minds of the priest, doctor, and villagers. Some villagers became jealous, and this resulted in people attacking Kino and destroying his home and canoe so they could get the pearl for the money it was worth. Slowly but surely, this greed began to destroy the lives and the innocence of the village in Baja.
       ". . . in the surface of the pearl he saw. . . Coyotito lying in the little cave with the top of is head shot way. And the pearl was ugly; it was grey, like a malignant growth. And Kino heard the music of the pearl, distorted and insane," page 177. Kino was heartbroken at the end of the story. What seemed to be at first an answer to his prayers, turned out to be a nightmare that destroyed his simple but adequate life and killed his son. This novel by John Steinbeck helps to remind us that greed is a very destructive force, and that wonderful things in our lives may be ruined if we let greed control us. It also teaches us that things may happen in our lives that at first seem to be good, may not always be, and vice versa.

The Backgrounds of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr.

    On May 19, 4 years before the Great Depression began, Malcolm Little was born to  young, African-American parents, Earl and Louise Little in Omaha, Nebraska. He grew up in a family of 7 children with a father who was a minister and a big part of the Universal Negro Improvement Association (U.N.I.A.) and an educated mother who had come from the British Island of Grenada. When Malcolm was 4, his family moved to a farmhouse in Lansing, Michigan. However, whites who were opposed to having black neighbors burnt down the house on a cold, November night. The family moved again, only to be met with similar challenges. In 1929, Earl Little began to fear for his family's safety and moved again to the outskirts of Lansing. As the son of the head of a U.N.I.A. chapter, Malcolm grew up listening to his father speaking at many public functions about the problems that faced black people who lived in America. 

    However, when Malcolm was 6 years old, his father was crushed by a trolley and killed. Around this time, Malcolm started school in a mainly white elementary school. He struggled through this time of his life, as did his mother and the rest of America. His mother, as smart as she was, could not keep a job and support her family. Malcolm and the rest of the Little children were sent to different foster homes in Michigan.

    As a young teenager, Malcolm began to have troubles in school, and was transferred to a county juvenile home 12 miles from his mother's home. At the juvenile home, Malcolm was pushed to get good grades, and succeeded. However, one time one of his highly respected asked him what he wanted to do with his life. Malcolm responded by saying that he wanted to be a lawyer. His teaches seemed displeased, and said,

  "We all here like you, you know that. But you've got to be realistic about being a nigger. A lawyer- that's no realistic goal for a nigger. You need to think about something you can be. You're good with your hands. Why don't you plan on carpentry?"

  This was a turning point in Malcolm's life. To make a change in his life, he moved to boston in 1941 to live with his half-sister, Ella. Boston was a completely different city than Lansing, with many more black people. In this town, Malcolm began to hang out with different people, an they influenced him greatly. After awhile,  he moved to Harlem in search of more respect as a black man. The new Malcolm believed that this respect would be found only in a black community. He began to steal things, and he was eventually caught. He was sentenced to a State Prison for eight to ten years. While in prison, he received letterd from his brothers and sisters, especially from his brother, Renigald, who was a minister in the Nation of Islam. After talking and corresponding with several Islamists, Malcolm decided to convert to the religion in 1947. 

  Five years later, Malcolm was released from prison and moved to Detroit. A month later, he heard the leader of the Nation of Islam, Elijah Muhammad, speak. Afterwards, he gave up his English last name of Little  X, to symbolize his African roots, and became a minister in a New York temple. There, Malcolm used his knowledge from his days in Harlem to spread the religion of Islam. He met a young, beautiful, black woman called Betty and they married in January, 1958. Ten months after, their first daughter, Attallah, was born. Her sister Qubilah followed two years later. They also had a third daughter after another two years named Ilysah. During this time, the rapidly-growing Nation of Islam was being represented more and more in America by a militant Malcolm. He once proclaimed at a public speech, " Our enemy is the white man! . . .Oh, yes, that devil is our enemy."

In the late 1950s, while many black people in the North were speaking of the strength of Malcolm X and the Nation of Islam, the people in the South were talking about Martin Luther King, Jr., and the strength of his nonviolent methods to fight racial discrimination. The F.B.I. began to take tabs on Malcolm, especially after he spoke with the leader of Cuba, Fidel Castro. Elijah Muhammad and Malcolm began to not quite see eye-to-eye. After Malcolm publicly commented on President Kennedy's assassination against the wishes of the Nation of Islam, he split from the Nation in 1964. He soon formed a new organization, Muslim Mosque, Inc., and met Martin Luther King. In order to fulfill his religious quest, he completed a pilgrimage to Mecca and returned with another new name, and many new ideas. The same year, his fourth daughter, Gamilah, was born.

Sadly, Malcolm X was assassinated on February 21st, 1965 when he was delivering a speech in Harlem's Audobon Ballroom. He lived to be the mere age of 40. That fall after his death, his twin daughters (numbers five and six) were born. More than a year after Malcolm's assassination, Talmadge Hayer, Norman 3X Butler, and Thomas 15X Johnson were convicted of his murder,  and sentenced to life imprisonment.

However, Malcolm's goal and dream of racial equality was not his alone. Another man that was born 4 years after him, and assassinated 3 years after him, was a civil rights activist in the South, while Malcolm was the activist of the North. This man's name was Dr. Martin Luther  King, Jr. While Malcolm X in the northern United States was preaching the religion of Islam and for blacks to become equal "by any means necessary", Martin was being influenced by men such as Mohandas Gandhi and Henry David Thoreau, and preaching civil disobedience and non-violence. Both of these very famous men had very different approaches to the same goal due to their early influences and experiences.

As mentioned, one of Malcolm's early traumatic memories was having his family home burnt down. His father was killed, possibly by the Ku Klux Klan. He watched his mother struggle to feed all of her children during the Great Depression, and eventually she had a mental breakdown. As a young, bright student, Malcolm was taken away from his mother and suffered through integrated schooling. Once a respected teacher told him he could not be a lawyer and crushed his dreams. Subsequently, he dropped out of school, became involved with crime, and ended up in prison. No wonder Malcolm once said that whites were "agents of the devil"! He grew up in an atmosphere of violence, and most of that was due to white men. 

Martin Luther King, however, was raised in the exact opposite environment, where dreams and love existed in his middle-class family with loving parents who both had  professions. They taught him strong values that nurtured his sense of self-worth. Martin skipped two grades and graduated high school at the age of 15. With an A average, he entered and Ivy League college and quickly graduated. A few years after, he became a minister in the Baptist religion, and moved on to being a black civil rights activist  that will be famous for centuries.

Can you see how these two men's histories are so different? They both grew  up in very different environments, and I think this significantly affected their strategies  of how to win equality between races. Because Malcolm grew up with so much violence and fighting in his life, I believe that helps to explain why he believed the only way  to gain equality was by "any means necessary", including violence. He was taught of as an extremist and once said he believed in "black supremacy". Martin, however,  grew up knowing love and peace, and believed in the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. He was taught by a supportive family that there are other other ways to solve things, as long as you use patience. These two great leaders of the civil rights movement both had very different tactics that seem to be influenced by their opposite backgrounds.