One racist simile is spoken by Dill when the children go into town the day of Tom Robinson's trial in Chapter 16. While in the town square, Jem points out Mr. Dolphus Raymond to Dill and explains he is always drinking whiskey out of a soda bottle, spends all his time with the African Americans of the town, and "has a colored woman and all sorts of mixed chillun" (Chapter 16). Dill unwittingly gives a very racist response: "He doesn't look like trash" (Chapter 16). Dill's comment is a simile because it compares Mr. Dolphus Raymond to trash; it is also a racist remark because Dill automatically associates any white man who has children with an African-American woman as trash. Dill is not intentionally being racist, though; he's simply reflecting the views he has been taught by society.
A second racist simile can be found in Scout's narration of Mr. Underwood's editorial that is published in The Maycomb Tribune soon after Tom Robinson's death. Scout notes Mr. Underwood is outraged by Robinson's death and "likened Tom's death to the senseless slaughter of songbirds by hunters and children" (Chapter 25). What Scout comes to realize is Mr. Underwood was aware Robinson's crippled state alone spoke of his innocence; therefore, Mr. Underwood compared the senseless killing of Robinson to the senseless killings of songbirds, similar to how Atticus previously remarks that it is a "sin to kill a mockingbird" due to their innocence (Chapter 10). By comparing Robinson to an innocent mockingbird, Mr. Underwood indirectly blames racism for Robinson's unjust death. Therefore, Mr. Underwood's simile comparing Robinson to an innocent mockingbird is also a simile that relates to racism.
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