The book that I have just finished reading is called "To Kill A Mockingbird" which is written by Harper Lee. This book is set in Maycomb County in the 1930s. In this essay I will answer the question that "To Kill A Mockingbird has been described as being extremely negative and pessimistic" Is this comment really fair? And then conclude with what I think. .
This book is generally about two children who grow up in a town that is full of racism and discrimination. The children's (Scout and Jem Finch) father has to defend a black man who is accused of raping a white girl. This splits up the small town, and nearly all the citizens of Maycomb are disgusted with the fact that Atticus is taking on the trial. During all this, Scout and Jem have an unhealthy obsession with Boo Radley, a man who never comes out of his house. They run past his house on their way to school, Jem ran up and touched the side of his porch and then ran back, they find gifts hidden in a tree, at the edge of Boo's garden from him. But then again, Boo saves the day, by saving the children's lives.
In the novel there is a lot of prejudice and racism. One example of this is when Atticus first takes on the trial, and most of Maycomb are disgusted with the fact that Atticus could take the trial and defend the black man. Also, when Calpurnia, who is the Finch's cook, takes the children to her church and they meet Lula. She is very prejudiced towards the whites and doesn't like Scout and Jem being in a "black" church. This shows that it is not just whites that are prejudiced against blacks. Blacks are also quite prejudiced against whites. Aunt Alexandra, who is Atticus" sister, is very racist and she treats Calpurnia like dirt because she is black. And her ideas of Cal are that she can't look after the children, which is quite untrue. She finds it quite hard to believe that Atticus and the children treat Cal as if she is a Finch and Alexandra doesn't like that at all.
