Examples Of Injustice In To Kill A Mockingbird

Do you remember when you were just a child? When you believed in everything and everyone seemed to believe in you? This is how Scout and Jem Finch, two main characters in the bestseller To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, lived until they were revealed to the harshness and injustice that happens everyday in the adult world. To Kill A Mockingbird is a novel about youth seeing the hypocrisy, evil, and injustice in adult society. Though some people may consider children to be naïve and unintelligent because they have not seen all the bad in the world, in reality, children seem to have an extremely clear insight into most situations. Leading up to, during, and after the trial, Scout and Jem are revealed to the terrible traits of injustice humans
Through out the novel, the children seem to loose their innocence and become confused with the actions of some adults. One of the first examples of racial injustice in this novel is when Calpurnia takes the children to an all black church. A black women named Lula proceeds to say “You ain’t got no business bringin’ white chillun here-they got their church, we got our’n” (Lee 119) making it obvious she does not want the children there because they are white. Lula complains of racism to black people, all the while she too is being unfair and racist.
Scout, who narrates the novel, also tells another story of injustice she has seen. A lady named Ms. Gates once said she hates Hitler but is fine with the persecution of black people, showing hypocrisy and evil towards American Negroes for no apparent reason. Scout knows this is wrong stating, “how can you hate Hitler so bad an’ then turn around and be ugly about folks right at home” (Lee 247) The trial is the event in this novel that shows the most evil and lack of fairness. Scout and Jem are told by their father, Atticus, that he took the case knowing he will not win, but the children assume the client Atticus is defending must not be guilty because their father would only fight for justice and the right
Although Atticus is able to provide evidence Tom Robinson is being wrongly accused of rape and assault, the all white jury fails to vote him not guilty because of the fact he is black. Jem sees the injustice to Atticus’s client and is extremely upset by it because he is able to realize Tom is incapable of the accusations. The children see the trial as a trial of a man being falsely accused of a serious crime, while adults can only see it as a black male being accused of a crime by white people. Jem shows an innocent child’s perspective and confusion with Tom’s conviction, stating, “No sir, they oughta do away with the juries. He wasn’t guilty in the first place and they said he was”. (Lee 220) “If you had been on that jury, son, and eleven other boys like you, Tom would be a free man” (Lee 220) says Atticus, showing that he wishes adult could see situations like children are able