Scout & Claudia: A Childlike Analysis of Racism

Both Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird and Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye, Scout and Claudia both, in some part, narrate and share their perspective of racism.  Scout lived in Jim Crow infiltrated Maycomb, Alabama,  while Claudia lived in Lorain, Ohio.  Regardless of locations, these children are profoundly affected by racism, Scout through the trial of Tom Robinson and Claudia  through her own discriminating environment and the life of Pecola Breedlove.  Scout Finch is a mere 9 years old for the majority of the novel and Claudia MacTeer is also the same age.  Their own simplistic views of racism play a pivotal role in their lives.  


It is critical that both Toni Morrison and Harper Lee both choose a child to narrate part of their stories.  The complex issue of racism can be broken down and analyzed, effectively, from the perspective of a child.  The simplicity in which Claudia and Scout narrate their stories provide an concise and innocent perspective on how appalling racism truly is.  Claudia's depiction of Pecola Breedlove's desire for blue eyes is harrowing and rivets the emotions of the reader into complete despair for her.  Scout's perception of Tom Robinson's trial entails how innocent Tom really is and how he lost his life to Jim Crow harbored racism.  Frieda's desire to know the beauty behind the doll is the same simplistic way in which Scout ponders with why everyone is so upset with Tom Robinson and her father.  Through the uncorrupted perspective of a basic mind, both Lee and Morrison argue that racism is not as complex as usually perceived.

Pecola asks, ”‘What’s a suit?’” Maureen responded, “‘It’s when you can beat them up if you want to and won’t nobody do nothing” (68). The plot of To Kill a Mockingbird is the conviction of Tom Robinson, and innocent black man being accused of the rape of a white woman.  Atticus, Scout’s father, is defending Tom Robinson to the best of his ability, trying to defy the racist foundation of Maycomb. A law suit, Morrison argues, is an excuse to “beat up” or further strip African Americans of power.  The ultimate conviction of Tom Robinson supports the predominance of racism in the Jim Crow Era.  The complexity of the legal system is being perceived through the simplistic eyes of Scout.  While the justice system is filled with corruption, manipulation, and adult situations, Harper Lee suggests that the conviction can be best understood through a child.  On the most basic of levels, it is evident that Mayella is not a victim of Tom, but that Tom is the victim of something else.  On multiple occasions throughout the novel, Scout has thoughts of why this is happening and why is everyone so angry at her father.  Atiicus' decision to represent Tom to the best of his abilities is no mystery for Scout.  The enigmatic situation is in the adult imposed court where Tom is ultimately deemed guilty.  Scout, Jem, and Dill, all children, endured the testimony of Mayella Ewel and Tom Robinson.  Tom Robinson is being accused of raping Mayella, when in fact, Mayella's father, Bob Ewell, did the physical and sexual harassment (203-226).  Atticus Finch, sometimes referred to as a "negro lover", is trying to fairly represent Tom Robinson.  Atticus is not only up against the allegations of Bob and Mayella Ewell, but also the deeply entrenched racist citizens of Maycomb. During the trial, speaking of his kids Atticus says, " hope and pray that I can get Jem and Scout through it without bitterness, and most of all, without catching Maycomb’s usual disease” (100).  The "usual disease" that Atticus speaks of can be applied to Toni Morrison's concept of beauty in The Bluest Eye.

Claudia is not oblivious to racism, but perceives the discrimination, not as a black vs. white, but as a ugly vs. beauty.  Looking at situations in terms of ugliness and beauty is far less complex than the perspective of prejudiced adults.  Thus it is key that Morrison chooses Claudia, a character who physically tries to find the secret behind beauty, to narrate her story.  A instance in which Claudia attempts to discover the discrepancy, and ultimately the reasons behind racism, is when she dismembers the dolls. She says, "I had only one desire: to dismember it. To see of what it was made, to discover the dearness, to find the beauty, the desirability that had escaped me" (20).  Why is this doll so cherished and "dear" to everyone? The "beauty" in the doll is not in stitching however, it is in the complex system in which adults have implemented value into the white doll.  Like the judiciary system in To Kill a Mockingbird, beauty, Morrison argues, is a corrupt and complex ideal that ultimately leads back to racist roots in what is aesthetic and what is not.  The idea of ugliness is evident in Pecola's life, “the master had said, “‘You are ugly people.’” They had looked about themselves and saw nothing to contradict this statement” (39).  The Breedlove's complacency in their "ugliness" epitomizes the impact of racism in America during the 1940's.  "The master" symbolizes the racism that deems Pecola Breedlove "ugly" and racism keeps Pecola from "contradicting" the notion. Claudia dissects racism as terms of beauty and ugliness because the concept of racism is too complicated for her.  Morrison argues that the simplification of racism is possible through the innocence of a child.