ipl-logo

Examples Of Prejudice In To Kill A Mockingbird

821 Words4 Pages

Bias and Prejudice in To Kill A Mockingbird
Spending their childhood growing up in a small town in Alabama, Jem and Scout come to know the views of those around them. Many folks in Maycomb, Alabama have very strong views on those of different race and social class. The reader can see the prejudice against different races, the bias that was shown to those of a lower social class, and the prejudice towards the outcasts of Maycomb. Lee does an excellent job of portraying the loss and courage of the characters in the novel and she also shows the reader different themes throughout. Bias and prejudice against race and social class is one of the strongest themes Lee portrays throughout the novel.
Prejudice against different races is clearly shown with the African American character Tom Robinson. Tom’s final verdict at his trial was guilty, but Lee …show more content…

Lee shows this in many ways and one of those ways was with Boo Radley. “Boo Radley was about six-and-a-half feet tall, judging from his tracks, he dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch, that’s why his hands were bloodstained” (16). Even though they had never met or seen Boo, the children have heard many rumours about him from neighbours which shows that they have cast him out of their society. In the first few chapters, Scout is afraid of Boo Radley because of the stories she hears about him. “Every night sound I heard from my cot on the back porch was magnified three fold, every scratch of feet on gravel was Boo Radley seeking revenge, every passing Negro laughing in the night was Boo Radley loose and after us” (74). The quote shows more about the people of Maycomb rather than about Scout. Scout was afraid of Boo Radley and that he would come seeking revenge. Even though Boo is a nice man, she only knows the stories from those around her. Boo Radley was a mystery to the people of Maycomb and was feeling more prejudice than he should

Show More
Related

  • Examples Of Prejudice In To Kill A Mockingbird

    1193 Words  | 5 Pages

    Prejudice has affected a lot of people in american society. In To Kill a Mockingbird there is a lot of prejudice in Maycomb Alabama. The story is written about a family called the Finches. The members of the family are Jem, Scout, Calpurnia, and Atticus.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Prejudice In To Kill A Mockingbird

    397 Words  | 2 Pages

    Prejudice in To Kill a Mockingbird Prejudice, although not as prevalent in today’s society, was very common during the time of the Great Depression. To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel written by Harper Lee. It follows Scout, the protagonist and narrator, as she matures throughout her childhood. As she matures, she is introduced to the evil in the world, specifically prejudice, as her father defends Tom Robinson, a black man, for being wrongfully accused of rape. This novel reveals that prejudice does not only harm an individual, but also contributes to a larger problem in society.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Prejudice In To Kill A Mockingbird

    976 Words  | 4 Pages

    Prejudice has existed in many forms around the world for many years, be it in the form of racism, classism, or sexism. In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird prejudice can be seen everywhere in the fictional town of Maycomb, Alabama, where the protagonist Scout lives with her brother Jem. The types of prejudice found in Maycomb include: sexism against women, classism against the poor, and racism against colored people. Although prejudice has these many forms, it can be overcome through personal relationships. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee uses the characters of Arthur “Boo" Radley, Mr. Dolphus, and Mrs. Dubose to reveal the novel’s theme of how prejudice can be overcome.

    Read More

  • Similarities Between Mayella Ewell And To Kill A Mockingbird

    994 Words  | 4 Pages

    At first, Scout and her brother, Jem, had feared Boo Radley because of the rumors spread of him like “he went out at night when the moon was down, and peeped in windows”(9) or “when people’s azaleas froze in a cold snap, it was because he had breathed on them”(9). However, Scout and Jem begin to learn more of Boo Radley and his life, they begin to see him as a human when Scout says “Atticus was right. One time he said you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them. Just standing on the Radley porch was enough”(279). This shows that Scout and Jem have come to understand Boo’s perspective and have developed empathy for him.

    Read More

  • How Is Aunt Alexandra's Blindness In To Kill A Mockingbird

    1380 Words  | 6 Pages

    First, Scout and Jem had always had an interest in Boo Radley and she unknowingly has gave in to all the rumors and tried to learn things about Boo for herself. “ What reasonable recluse wants children peering through his shutters, delivering greetings on the end of a fishing-pole, wandering in his collards at night? (278). Scout realizes that what they have been doing to Boo Radley may have been disrespectful and she could be questioning her and Jem’s actions.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Racial Injustice In To Kill A Mockingbird

    1229 Words  | 5 Pages

    Scout sees Boo Radley differently now since she has seen him and she sees with her own eyes that he is no monster but a hero and an average person. A detail to support this is in, Chapter 31, pg 283, “I had never seen our neighborhood from this angle. There were Miss Maudie’s, Miss Stephanie’s—there was our house, I could see the porch swing—Miss Rachel’s house was beyond us, plainly visible. I could even see Mrs. Dubose’s. I looked behind me.

    Read More

  • Boo Radley's Transformation In To Kill A Mockingbird

    648 Words  | 3 Pages

    Throughout the story “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee to lead characters Jem and Scout come to terms with their feelings about Boo Radley. In the novel Boo Radley is a recluse who doesn't leave his house. Throughout the novel Boo leaves Jem, Scout and Dill little presents and making their thoughts grow more fondly of Boo. In the novel as scout grows older, she grows wiser. At the beginning of the book Boo isn't considered a human being to her he’s considered a myth, and she begins to understand Boo’s life.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Biases In To Kill A Mockingbird

    748 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the 1930s, if a black man was on trial there was a ample chance he would be convicted even if evidence proved he was innocent. Throughout history humans being prejudice and bias have affected the lives of thousands of people; some ending with favorable outcomes while others weren’t so fortunate. Within the book To Kill a Mockingbird the readers learn that prejudice and bias people outnumber the understanding and kind. One decision or in this case twelve decisions decide the fate for an unfortunate man. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee reveals that people often follow their biases and prejudices rather than the truth.

    Read More

  • To Kill A Mockingbird Childhood Analysis

    743 Words  | 3 Pages

    Throughout the entire book, Scout is curious about Boo Radley; how he looks, how he acts, and why he has been hiding in his home for so many years. Scout is led to believe that Boo is some sort of monster, and she would run passed his house every day. “As the year passed, released from school thirty minutes before Jem, who had to stay until three o’clock, I ran by the Radley Place as fast as I could, not stopping until I reached the safety of our front porch.” (page 33) Scout was afraid of Boo, because she grew up hearing all of the terrible rumors about him.

    Read More

  • Theme Of Isolation In To Kill A Mockingbird

    1244 Words  | 5 Pages

    In To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee teaches us about the town of Maycomb County during the late 1930s, where the characters live in isolation and victimization. Through the perspective of a young Jean Louise “Scout” Finch, readers will witness the prejudice that Maycomb produces during times where people face judgement through age, gender, skin colour, and class, their whole lives. Different types of prejudice are present throughout the story and each contribute to how events play out in the small town of Maycomb. Consequently, socially disabling the people who fall victim from living their life comfortably in peace. Boo Radley and his isolation from Maycomb County, the racial aspects of Tom Robinson, and the decision Atticus Finch makes as a lawyer, to defend a black man has all made them fall in the hands of Maycomb’s prejudice ways.

    Read More

  • Social Inequality In To Kill A Mockingbird

    1067 Words  | 5 Pages

    How does Harper Lee vividly capture the effects of racism and social inequality on the citizens of Maycomb county in ‘To kill a mockingbird’? In the novel, ‘To kill a mockingbird’, Harper Lee conveys the theme of racism and social inequality by setting up the story in Maycomb, a small community in Alabama, the U.S back in 1930s. Lee presents some of the social issues of 1930s such as segregation and poverty in the novel. These issues are observed and examined through the innocent eyes of a young girl, Scout, the narrator.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Social Prejudice In To Kill A Mockingbird

    977 Words  | 4 Pages

    Boo Radley had been kept in isolation for so long, he didn’t know how to communicate or socialise properly. He has been misunderstood as a malevolent person, when he actually is a benevolent person. He displays this when he put a blanket around Scout, whilst she and Jem watched the fire. As readers, we are shown social prejudice by the assumptions made about the Radley’s. Another example of social prejudice is the

    Read More

  • Discrimination In To Kill A Mockingbird Essay

    1049 Words  | 5 Pages

    In To Kill a Mockingbird there are lots of racial, gender, and religious, discrimination. Which is shown a multiple amount of times throughout the novel. To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel written by Harper Lee which takes place in Maycomb Alabama, where there is a lot of racial discrimination. But there is also some gender, and religious, discrimination.

    Read More

  • How Does Lee Present Scout's Childhood In To Kill A Mockingbird

    663 Words  | 3 Pages

    This was because of all the deranged stories and rumors she had heard about him. For instance she was told that Boo Radley had stabbed his father in the knee with a scissor when he was just a child. Upon hearing all these tales Scout began to use her own imagination to figure out what Boo Radley looked like in person. " Every night-sound I heard from my cot on the back porch was magnified threefold; every scratch of feet on gravel was Boo Radley seeking revenge, every passing Negro laughing in the night was Boo Radley loose and after us; insects splashing against the screen were Boo Radley’s insane fingers picking the wire to pieces; the chinaberry trees were malignant, hovering, alive”.(Lee).

    Read More

  • Theme Of Social Inequality In To Kill A Mockingbird

    1169 Words  | 5 Pages

    In the novel, ‘To kill a mockingbird, Harper Lee demonstrates the small, imaginary town, the Maycomb County, as a place where racism and social inequality happens in the background of 1930s America. Not only the segregation between whites and blacks, but also the poor lived in a harsh state of living. As Scout, the young narrator, tells the story, Lee introduces and highlights the effects of racism and social inequality on the citizens of Maycomb County by using various characters such as Boo Radley, Tom Robinson, and Mayella Ewell. Firstly, Harper Lee portrays Boo Radley as a victim of social inequality through adjectives and metaphor in the phrase, “There was a long jagged scar that ran across his face; what teeth he had were yellow and rotten;” ‘Long jagged scar that ran across his face’ tells us that Boo Radley has stereotype about his appearance, which forces to imagine Boo as a scary and threatening person. The phrase, ‘yellow and rotten’ make the readers think as if Boo Radley is poor and low in a social hierarchy, as he cannot afford to brush his teeth.

    Read More

More about Examples Of Prejudice In To Kill A Mockingbird

Open Document