CRITICISM AGAINST RACISM IN HARPER LEE'S TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD (Kritik Terhadap Rasisme di dalam Novel To Kill A Mockingbird Karya Harper Lee )

Abstract

This research discusses racism in To Kill a Mockingbird. The analysis is focused on the condition of America Southern society in 1930s, the blacks and whites' way of thinking, and racism in America Southern society. There are three problems discussed in this research; how representation of racism in the novel, the condition of America Southern society, and the world view in the novel. This type of research is qualitative research. The theory uses Lucien Goldmann's Genetic Structuralism. The result of this research shows that racism is developed by whites' mindset. Blacks become the victims of whites' mistakes because they are considered as the lowest class; whereas whites cannot control their minds, obstinate, irrational, and selfish. Unless blacks are whites, whites think that dark is the symbol of badness. The setting explains it happens when Great Depression era that changes the life of blacks and whites; and constructs racism in America Southern society. Clearly, racism causes the injustice in law. The novel presents the repetition of the law failure as the historical incidents that happen in 1930s-1950s. It was a sign of political setback in Southern America.