To Kill a Mockingbird and A Raisin in the Sun: Both emphasize Racial Tension and Hope to Overcome Prejudice

             The importance of morality is a shared theme in Lorraine Hansberry's
             play, A Raisin in the Sun and Harper Lee's novel, To Kill a Mockingbird.
             Both stories emphasize this theme through racial tension that the
             characters encounter. Additionally, each story focuses on hope that
             reaches to overcome prejudice despite difficulty.
             In To Kill a Mockingbird, Tom Robinson becomes the victim of prejudice
             that ultimately destroys his life. His circumstance is significant because
             it effects many characters in the story. Tom is wrongfully accused of
             rape, yet he is a black man living in a society that judges individuals by
             the color of their skin. Atticus displays strong moral character when he
             teaches his children that racism in any amount is wrong. He explains to
             Jem that whenever a white man does something like what Mayella and her
             father did to Tom, that man, "no matter who he is, how rich he is, or how
             fine a family he comes from, that white man is trash" (Lee 220).
             Furthermore, he tries to expose the ugliness of racism in the courtroom
             when he denounces the accepted belief that all Negroes are "basically
             immoral beings" (204). His sentiments are compelling when we consider the
             fact that the novel takes place when desegregation was resisted in the
             Similarly, in A Raisin in the Sun, the Youngers are judged by the color
             of their skin when they attempt to move out of their cramped apartment into
             the all-white neighborhood, Clybourne Park. They are confronted by Mr.
             Lindner, who expresses to them that the people in Clybourne Park feel that
             "Negro families are happier when they live in their own communities"
             (Hansberry 2246). Like Tom, the Younger family encounters an undeserved
             amount of prejudice. This is significant because the Youngers are only
             attempting to do what everyone does, which is make a better life for
             Each story depicts characters that face incredible odds to do...

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To Kill a Mockingbird and A Raisin in the Sun: Both emphasize Racial Tension and Hope to Overcome Prejudice. (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 19:48, April 25, 2024, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/201497.html