RLS: To Kill a Mockingbird

The N-word has a lot of emotion attached to it, as many people do not feel comfortable saying it while others do not feel comfortable reading or hearing it. It is true that the word is no longer used as often as it was in the bast, but the racial discrimination that was present when the word was in use has given it a bad reputation, therefore socially forbidding those who are not racially black to say it. To kill a mockingbird has many of the white characters saying the word in normal conversation as back then , there were no sisal rules set about how a black person should be labeled. Emotion plays a big role in the removal of this book from the public school district in Biloxi, as many of the students, parents and teachers did not feel comfortable reading a book that openly says the N-word when referring to black people, as it is now socially illegal to say that word out loud. But is this decision reasonable? The book was written 57 years ago, in a time where said social constructs didn’t exist and while the story does touch on racist, it does not make it a point to make sure that every black person is called a N-word. 

The knowledge claims that seem to be at work are the N-word wasn’t socially condemned in 1960 and that it is now. 

My now improved understanding of reason and emotion as a way of knowing and art as an area of knowing has helped me to have an improved understanding of this Real life situation because it has allowed me to fully understand the decision that the School took. Art itself has no limits, people can make what they want and consider it to be art, but how others see your “art” might be differently. This is the case here, as what was once art, and still is, makes readers uncomfortable and therefore the school system reasoned that the book could be replaced with other books that taught the same message. 

Knowledge Question:
To what extent do social changes affect our understanding of Art?