Q#10: Racial Tensions Mount

[tusting]

no, i do not believe that scout is racist. the term "nigger" was a very common term used back in that time, both by black and white. i think it is interesting how much the times have changed. also, scout goes to school with farmers and not very learned kids, meaning that they probably use the term because they grew up with it, so scout could have picked it up at school and was never really corrected. she knows what it means, but not really how derogatory it is towards colored people.

[tusting]

i dont think that scout fights with children because they call her father a "nigger lover", but rather in the tone that they say it, for she is still young and has an innocent perspective on things, so she most likely does not know the true meaning of what this phrase means, and how derogatory it is.

[engebrethson]

I think that she takes it offensive only because when people say that about her father, they are saying it in a negative way. I don’t think she really understands what it means or why people are saying it about her father.

[michelleg16]

The derogatory word nigger is used frequently in this book, most surprisingly by Scout. Why? Is she a racist? Why does she fight with kids who call her father a "nigger lover"?

She uses it becuase she doesn't know better. She doesn't know any different, and in this time, it wasn't all that bad. When Atticus said that it was "common" he meant that it was ignorant, or that uneducated people use it. Scout isn't a racist. She fights the kids because she is protecting Atticus. Like she said, it was the way they said it, not the words, like as if the said snot nosed, she knew it was something bad by the tone.

[natemaroon]

yeah really just postin up that scout isnt a racist

[surok]

scout is young and is learning. she picks these things up at school, in town, everywhere she goes. everybody uses them, so she thinks it is normal. she is just acting like an average child.

[readc]

I think she is too young to understand that the word is derogatory name. She knows only that "ngger lover" is supposedto be bad, but she doesn't get that "Nigger" is too.

[readc]

Also, they way people say "nigger lover" makeit sound bad, so Scout probably thinks of it as a bad name.

[ahmedb]

Scout is being raised by Calpurnia so she is used to being around an African American. She is also too young to understand racisim that goes on in the background of her ife. When people call Atticus a nigger-lover, Scout is confused why they think it is an insult. She personally thinks that Atticus is a good person and he is doing his job and when he defends Tom Robinson because everybody is the same (race) towards Scouts. She is mad when people call her father that but doesn't know why they do and even asks Atticus why because she doesn't want her father to be insulted when he is a good man.

[bryceg]

I think that she uses it because so many other people in her life use it. The word is used so much that everyone doesnt seem to care anymore and just use it to identify african americans. She probably fights the kids because of the way that they say it, not so much the meaning.

[katiebratcher]

I don't think that scout is racist at all! That word was just a term for that type of person. She didn't know any better and everyone else said it so it was okay in her book. Negroe was a nicer word but nigger was okay to say in those days.

[freeman]

i agree with katie and everybody, she isn't racist. she doesn't really know what "nigger lover" means, but the way people say it sounds like something really really mean against her father so she fights back. and she hears it so often at school that she picks it up and ends up using it often. but back then it was't really bad anyways to call a black person a nigger or a negro since that was a common term.

[isabeauc]

No, Scout is not racist but she has such a innocent perspective that she does not know it is a bad racist term. Scout doesnt fight with many kids about her father but she does fight with one. This is becasue she cant hold it in any more and she knows that it is a bad thing from what the kids say.

I like Elliott's phrasing here. "Innocent perspective." That's really cool. And true, very true. When you're her age, between 6 and 9, you have an innocent perspective. You're not jaded by the world and you don't fully understand everything.

[traviszucca]

I agree with isabeau because she doesn't really know about the word she has an idea of what it is but she is unsure.

[natemaroon]

yeah again scout is def. not racist she just doesnt know the true meaning of the word