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20th-Century American Literature Videos 31 videos
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To Kill a Mockingbird: An Accidental Racist 116959 Views
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Description:
"Accidental racist?" Yup. Like the song. We're talking about the"oh, I didn't even know I thought that way" type of accident, not the "I totally didn't know that was your last Reese's cup" type of accident.
Transcript
- 00:00
To Kill a Mockingbird, a la Shmoop. There have been many people throughout our
- 00:09
history who have helped to stem the tide of racism.
- 00:12
Abraham Lincoln…
- 00:14
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr…
- 00:18
Tyler Perry.
Full Transcript
- 00:19
All right, maybe just the first two. Another torch-bearer leading the fight to
- 00:24
free ourselves from the bonds of bigotry was Harper Lee.
- 00:28
Her book To Kill a Mockingbird met the sensitive issue head on…
- 00:32
…and attempted to challenge reader’s notions of right and wrong.
- 00:36
Surely such a book could never be accused of racism itself… could it?
- 00:41
Although no one has accused Lee of being intentionally racist…
- 00:44
…some claim that a bit of racism… snuck in.
- 00:46
There are numerous passages throughout the book in which her characters insinuate that
- 00:51
black people need to be saved by white people…
- 00:54
…and not just by the ones wearing capes and spandex leggings.
- 00:58
Okay, so they’re not Lee’s words, they’re the words of her characters, but still…
- 01:03
…does that get her off the hook? Many of the black characters in Mockingbird
- 01:08
are… simple.
- 01:09
They think on a simple level, they express themselves simply…
- 01:12
…in other words, very rarely will you catch any of them discussing quantum field theory
- 01:17
or quoting Baudelaire. <<bow-duh-lair>> Yeah, Lee is trying to paint a realistic portrait…
- 01:27
…but aren’t her representations of blacks as complete simpletons… insulting?
- 01:31
On the other hand, they aren’t entirely one-dimensional.
- 01:35
Characters like Calpurnia are complex…
- 01:37
…even if she speaks simply, there’s a lot going on beneath the surface.
- 01:42
Maybe Lee is just working within the framework of her historical time…
- 01:46
…and it would be impossible to accurately depict true-to-life individuals without offending
- 01:50
someone. It’s clear that Lee was actively trying
- 01:55
to be anti-racist…
- 01:56
…but could she have tried harder…
- 01:58
…by condemning her racist characters more whole-heartedly?
- 02:01
In other words… could her arguably racist portrayal of blacks have been forgiven…
- 02:06
…if those characters in the book who were prejudiced against them…
- 02:10
…got more of a bad rap? What’s your call?
- 02:13
Is Lee suppressing some hidden racism?
- 02:16
Or is the very idea… laughable? Shmoop amongst yourselves.
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