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How does the article "The N-Word: Connected Through Historical Disconnect?" relate to Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird in chapters 8-11?

In the article "The N-Word: Connected Through Historical Disconnect?," one of author Dr. Neal A. Lester's claims is that the "n-word" is attached to a "past and present American history of violence, pain, misrepresentation, death and mockery associated with black and brown bodies." In multiple chapters of To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee's characters either intentionally or unintentionally use the word nigger, which connects them to the American history of pain, violence, and oppression that Dr. Lester speaks of. One example can be seen in Chapter 8 in which Scout inadvertently connects herself to the history of oppression by using the word "nigger."

In Chapter 8, snow has come to Maycomb, and the children are excited about building their first snowman. But since there is not enough snow on the ground for a real snowman, Jem must be creative. He develops the idea of first making a man out of mud then covering it with snow. As Scout watches and helps him, she comments, "Jem, I ain't ever heard of a nigger snowman." In using the oxymoron "nigger snowman," Scout contrasts the African American with the white man and inadvertently sends the message she believes the African American to be very different from the white man. In doing so, she reveals how much she has been influenced by the racial prejudices of her society, prejudices that have led to a history and a present filled with violence, oppression, and hatred, just as Dr. Lester speaks of.

Interestingly, Jem's reply inadvertently references the white man's past history of wanting to conform Africans to the white man's world: "He won't be black long." The white man's past of bringing Africans into their world and making them conform is a past that's full of slavery, oppression, violence, and hatred. Hence, even by responding to Scout's comment about making a "nigger snowman," Jem inadvertently shows just how connected he is to white America's history and present of violence and oppression.

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