Evil: Relation Of Experience And Maturation

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Evil: Relation of Experience and Maturation
    "Our greatest evils flow from ourselves" (Tripp 192). This statement, by Rousseau, epitomizes
many points of evil that are discussed in Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird. In our world today, we are
stared in the face everyday with many facets of evil. These nefarious things come in several forms,
including, but not limited to discrimination of sex, race, ethnicity, physical appearance, and popularity,
alcoholism, drug abuse, irresponsibility, and even murder. The occurrences of evil and wrong-doing in To
Kill A Mockingbird further along Scout's maturation into a young woman. Three of the most important
instances of evil are those of racism, alcoholism, and gossip.
    Dispersed within To Kill A Mockingbird are numerous illustrations of racism. Statements such as
"You father's no better than the niggers and trash he works for" (Lee 108) seem to be common through the
entire novel. This seemed to bother people of the common day, and this drove many people to deem Lee's
book "banned" from their school. If we look back to the times when the book was written, we can
understand the use of the "N-word." During the Great Depression, and at many times during the early
twentieth century, the "N-word" was used as commonly as many people today use the word "work." It
seems as though people either didn't think, or didn't care, about how demeaning "nigger" was. Eventually,
some African-Americans came to accept this word. They became so...

Submitted by: digitalessays
Date Submitted: 08-22-07 3:43am
Category: English
Words: 903
Pages: 3.61