Influencing Change

Influencing change is an important part of our society, there are many films and novels that can influence change in day to day life.  My favorite book that influenced change would be “To Kill A Mockingbird”, the novel is very touching and has unique ways of showing the effects of racism and why it shouldn’t be a thing.  The book also proves that you shouldn’t judge people without getting to know them.

The novel “To Kill A Mockingbird” influences change by showing why racism shouldn’t be a thing.  An innocent black man being accused of rape was taken to court and proven guilty, mainly due to racism.  In the novel, it shows what it’s like to be in the black guys shoes compared to everyone else’s.  Even though he was black he still had wife and kids just like everybody else, but because of his skin color he was being accused and taken to jail for something he didn’t do.  The people in the town expected blacks to look up to them and be sort of slaves for them and the novel proves how unfair it is.  The black man accused of rape was only being friendly to a young girl, he stopped by her house to help her with something and her dad came home and in a panic she accused him of rape.  The young girl really had no choice but to think of a story fast because she would be beaten and in a lot of trouble for going with him all because he was black.  

The novel touched many people and reminds everyone of what it’s like to be in other people’s shoes.  The novel sort of shows how people should be treated equally.  In the courts the black man lost the case because of his color, when everyone knew for a fact he was innocent.  The man had a wife and children at home just like anybody else, including the white people.  Just because he was black didn’t make him any different than anyone else, but in that society everyone was against the blacks.  In the novel people were afraid to speak up and say he was innocent because they were scared everyone would hate them for taking the blacks side, which was pretty crazy.  Nobody in court that day thought of the black man's wife and children or anything because all that stuff was irrelevant to them, as long as the white man won they were happy.  In the novel even the black man knew he didn’t stand a chance in the courts and knew he would never be able to live it down so he ended his life.  His family would be just as hurt as any family, whether they are black or white.   

Another interesting thing that came up in the novel was a quiet man named Arthur Radley was judged and made assumptions about because he stays shut up in the house.  Everyone would spread rumours about him because he never came out, people thought he was crazy and everything.  However, when Arthur finally came out, he wasn’t at all what everyone thought, he was actually just as sweet and caring than ever and people misjudged him.  That proves that you shouldn’t judge anyone unless you get to know them. At one point people thought Arthur was a murderer, but if he was would he really save the children from an attack that night?  Arthur wasn’t what anyone thought he was, he was just a quiet person who stayed inside. The most important piece of advice Atticus gave was sometimes you just need to walk around in someone else’s shoes for a little while.

“To Kill A Mockingbird”  was a very touching novel and covers many things on equality and racism.  I would recommend anyone to read it if they had the chance.  Racism is a big problem in today’s society and it’s discussed a lot.  Racism and equality are two main problems in our society and probably always have been a problem, but the book shows basically how one man tries to change everyone’s opinions and treat others equally.