In the book, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, racism proves to be a major theme. The touchy subject of racism has hung around the world for practically forever and has not ever fully ceased to exist in any society; it has only been toned down over time. Judging people on just the color of their skin, is a huge roll in this book just as it was in the 1900’s when segregation was flooding throughout the United States, as it is shown in the picture on the cover page.Racism mainly occurs towards the end of the book and surrounds the trial of Tom Robinson, a black male accused of raping a white female. However, in chapter 8, Harper Lee explores the theme of racism through the symbol of the snowman that Scout and Jem build. The snowman consists of mud to begin with and Scout comments on it by saying, “Jem I ain’t never heard of a nigger snowman†(Lee, 72). Scout may not have realized she was doing it, considering that in that time it was common to refer to people of color in this way, but she was using a toned down version of racism by using the offensive word ‘nigger’.
