Thursday 5 June 2014

What passages in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird depict Jem Finch facing injustice? What passages depict Boo Radley facing injustice?

In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee uses Jem's experience with Mrs. Henry Lafayette Dubose to capture the injustice Jem must face as a result of his father's choice to defend Tom Robinson.By Chapter 9 of the book, Atticus has been ordered by Judge Taylor to defend Tom Robinson, an order Atticus dreads fulfilling because of the case's inevitable outcome. Nonetheless, Atticus is determined to give Robinson the best possible defense because he...

In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee uses Jem's experience with Mrs. Henry Lafayette Dubose to capture the injustice Jem must face as a result of his father's choice to defend Tom Robinson.

By Chapter 9 of the book, Atticus has been ordered by Judge Taylor to defend Tom Robinson, an order Atticus dreads fulfilling because of the case's inevitable outcome. Nonetheless, Atticus is determined to give Robinson the best possible defense because he sees it as his moral duty, especially because no concrete evidence exists to convict Robinson.

By Chapter 11 of the book, Jem and Scout have also grown up to the extent that they feel brave enough to walk past the house of Mrs. Dubose, a woman reputed to be the meanest old lady in the neighborhood, whenever they want to go into town by themselves, whereas prior they kept as far away from her house as possible. Each time they walk past her house, Mrs. Dubose hurls insults at the children, no matter how respectful they feel they are being towards her. Mrs. Dubose's worst insult signifies the injustice the children must suffer at the hands of the townspeople simply because their father is defending Robinson, an insult that Jem feels the most offended by:



Yes indeed, what has this world come to when a Finch goes against his raising? I'll tell you! ... Your father's no better than the niggers and trash he works for! (Ch. 11)



Jem is so infuriated by Mrs. Dubose's unjust remarks that he returns later that day to destroy her garden of camellia bushes. Though Jem learns a valuable lesson from his experiences with Mrs. Dubose about acceptance and courage, her remarks represent Southern society's unjust and prejudiced views concerning African Americans. Plus, anytime Jem encounters such remarks, he faces injustice because the townspeople judge him and his father unfairly due to his father's choice to act based upon his moral conscience.

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