Essay on Discrimination That We Still See in Our Society

Every society is affected differently by social issues, most societies do not let discrimination pass by, especially in this day and age, but that does not mean it does not happen. Discrimination in a community affects its people by not letting a certain gender or race do something that another gender and or race can do, this starts to cause conflict because everyone wants to be treated equally and respectfully. In To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee discrimination is shown throughout the whole book, unfortunately most of the characters are affected by the discrimination.

The most obvious form of discrimination that is shown is racism. The novel takes place in a small southern town in Alabama that is called Maycomb, which is where Atticus’s daughter Scout perspective starts. Atticus Finch is a white lawyer that is defending a black man named Tom Robinson, Who has been wrongfully accused of rape by a white woman named Mayella Ewell. In the end Tom Robinson is convicted of rape then later shot while trying to escape jail. Another form of discrimination is classism, the Cunningingham’s are very poor which means they do not afford most things the average family needs, which is why Walter Cunningham has such a poor education since he helps out with his father's business, this causes people like Scout’s aunt to look down on them as dirty and not equal. Discrimination exists in To Kill A Mockingbird, but these issues also affects our society today. 

In Maycomb discrimination is everywhere especially when talking about Tom Robinson, Tom Robinson is a black man that is on trial for raping a white women named Mayella Ewell, except all the evidence that was displayed did not point any fingers to Tom Robinson, “She was white, and she tempted a Negro. She did something that in our society is unspeakable: she kissed a black man. Not an old Uncle, but a strong young Negro man. No code mattered to her before she broke it, but it came crashing down on her afterwards" (Lee 272).  Therefore an alike event happened in Philadelphia with two black men “Two black men walked into a Starbucks in downtown Philadelphia on Thursday afternoon and sat down.

Officials said they had asked to use the restroom, but they had not bought anything, an employee refused the request. They were eventually asked to leave, and when they declined, an employee called the police” (Stevens). The workers grew suspicious of the two black men so they were arrested, which is strange since they were not doing any quizzical events, the starbucks employee had no probable cause to call the police. These events lead up to discrimination in the form of Racism because a certain race is put below another race which is very unequal.

Discrimination should definitely be taken seriously because it happens everyday in our society and we should not look past it as something unimportant. Which is why another character that is being discriminated against is Atticus Finch, he is gossiped about by the women of Maycomb after he represented Tom Robinson in court, being a white lawyer representing a black man is very looked down upon especially in a racist society. When Atticus is explaining Bob Ewell's actions after the trial he clarifies  “if spitting in my face and threatening me saved Mayella Ewell one extra beating, that's something I'll gladly take. He had to take it out on somebody and I'd rather it be me than that houseful of children out there” (Lee 292).