Racial discrimination is one of the negative aspects of our society that have caused the pain and suffering of others for many centuries. Some examples of these include the Holocaust and slavery in the United States. However these problems become less common as time goes by. The prime messages observed in this novel is that of racism, How the actions of a community, not just a parent, can affect a child, and how rumors and invalidated facts can destroy anyone's reputation. .
Racism is mentioned throughout the second part of the novel. It is the prime and most mentioned part of this section of the novel. This message is displayed on many levels so even the lowest level reader can visibly ask oneself why this is occurring. The easiest way to observe this may be the town's actions toward Tom Robinson, the "Negro" on trial. The townspeople, for the most part, dismissed the entire trial on the basis on that it does not matter what Atticus can do, Mr. Robinson is automatically guilty. This message can also be seen in a severely symbolic manner, Tom Robinson's death. The manner in which he dies is that he escapes and attempts to climb the fence to freedom, however he only has one good arm and that is his detriment. It slows him up enough to allow the police to shoot him numerous times. "They called to him to stop. They fired a few shots in the air, then to kill they got him just; as he went over the fence they said if he'd had two good arms he'd have made it, he was moving that fast. Seventeen bullet holes in him. They didn't have to shoot him that much cal" Atticus (p.235) .
Symbolically this can be viewed as a glimmer of hope to end this suppression. As this glimmer of hope is about to reach the mainstream and acceptance that racism is evil; it is shot down and dead, thus ending the opportunity. The jury gave a racist verdict, showing Harper Lee's opinion of the evil a racist society can do to a minority.
