I am reading To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. This book is about a girl, named Scout, her brother Jem, and the people who lived in the small town of Maycomb, Alabama during the 1930s. Along with their summer friend, Dill, the children become obsessed with the idea of getting a look at their unseen neighbor, Boo Radley. Meanwhile, their father, Atticus Finch, decided to defend Tom Robinson, a black man who was wrongly accused of raping a white woman, Mayella Ewell. The children get caught up in the trial, in which Tom is convicted and eventually killed while trying to escape from prison. Jem and Scout become the targets of Bob Ewell, the father of Mayella, who tries to kill them one night on their way home from school, but Boo Radley showed
and oblivious to the racial injustices that were prevalent in the town of which she lived.
Boo Radley is prejudged because he never came out of his domicile. Boo Radley never brought harm to anybody, he just choose to stay in his domicile and never come out. Tom Robinson is prejudged because he has black skin and not white skin. Atticus Finch becomes a victim of prejudice when he helps defend a innocent black man in court; Tom Robinson. Boo Radley and Tom Robinson are prejudged; do to the fact that prejudice is so inclusive, the people who help the "mockingbirds", like Atticus,easily become victims of prejudice. Many of the people who live in Maycomb gossip and spread rumors about Boo Radley because he chooses to always stay in his domicile, while Tom Robinson is stereotyped by
In To Kill a Mockingbird, characters who are misunderstood by others are met with violence, fear, and stereotyping. One of the most prominent examples is Boo Radley. An outcast in the town, Boo
Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird has many examples of prejudice. The prejudice presented is against people such as Tom Robinson, Atticus Finch, and Boo Radley. Each is discriminated against either because of the color of their skin, who they represent in court, or just how much they isolate themselves from the town. Harper Lee’s stance on racial prejudice is that it is a foolish practice, no matter who does it. Prejudice is a very large part of To Kill a Mockingbird.
Throughout the novel “To Kill a Mockingbird,” written by Harper Lee, the readers can see how Scout changes her view about Boo Radley. Because of their nosiness, Jem, Scout, and Dill try to drag Boo out his house and to the outside world. Their innocent actions combined with Boo’s actions changed the image of Boo, in their minds, from “a malevolent phantom” (10), a person who kills cats and eats squirrels to a neighbor they can trust, who saves them from Bob Ewell. Scout says at the end, “Boo was our neighbor” (373). The readers can see a great change in their relationship. At the beginning, the children cannot even go near Boo’s place without palpitation, but at the end, Scout is comfortable enough to walk Boo up to his front porch. Throughout the novel, Scout has changed her view of Boo after a chain of Boo’s actions toward her. As Scout grows older, she becomes wiser to understand her father’s lesson, “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view – until you climb into his skin and walk around in it ” (39). Her father says this at the beginning, but till the end, thanks to the maturity combined with Boo’s actions that help Scout to understand it. She has matured enough to realize that people should not judge other people by rumor, but give them some chances to prove themselves.
For example, in the novel Jem was attacked by Mr. Ewell “He won’t hurt theses children again” (Lee.358) this quote relates to how discrimination can harm those who are innocent because Jem was attacked by Mr. Ewell because Jems father Atticus Finch “destroyed his last shred of credibility at that trial” (Lee. 292) and Jem was hurt because Atticus destroyed the Ewells reputation or what was left of it and Jem got attacked which is related to the theme how innocent people can get hurt due to discrimination. Another reason of how discrimination can harm those who are innocent in the book To Kill a Mockingbird are for example when Jem was attacked by one of his peers and was discriminated against for example “my folks said your daddy is a disgrace” this is an example of how discrimination can harm those who are innocent because Jem is an innocent person in the whole case against Tom Robinson and was attacked because her father was defending a Blackman which is unfair to jem who is just a bystander who got caught up in the mess of the case against Tom Robinson . These are the reasons of how discrimination can affect those who are innocent in the character Jem Finch and how someone like jem a young man can be affected by the turmoil of the people in
Prejudice in the 1950s was a problem and it still is in 2017. When it comes to the topic of prejudice in To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee conveys it is important that before judging someone, get to know them better.
Have you ever wondered which event in your life made you see everything differently? Everybody faces various experiences with the realities of the world that eventually results in the loss of their innocence. The loss of innocence can be the outcome of an incident witnessed, a final conclusion about an issue, or an understanding of a situation. The loss of innocence is the same thing as maturity. Now, of course, you can’t go to sleep one night and wake up mature. It’s obtained through learning. Maturing is when an event arises and is responded in a reasonable way. This can be the outcome of an incident witnessed or executed, an understanding of a situation, or a final conclusion about an issue.
In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird, the “mockingbird symbol” to help the reader understand the innocence of many characters in the story one example of a “Mockingbird” Is Arthur Radley. Arthur has never really done anything wrong to become hated as he is at the time all he wants is to have a connection with the outside world like he used to, people change from when they were when they were younger to where they are now. In the same fashion, another example of a mockingbird’s innocence is the black man Tom Robinson. Tom is an example of a mockingbird; he is an innocent man who supposedly did bad things with Mayella Ewell. Mayella Ewell is a mockingbird example, during the trial her father forces her to lie about what happened between Tom and herself but sincerely she has no resemblance of him. Harper Lee stresses to the reader that it is immoral to harm the innocent.
In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee many characters are victims of the harsh conditions of Maycomb County. Often those who are seen to be metaphorical mockingbirds are punished the most. A mockingbird is one who only wants and attempts to do good. Characters such as Boo Radley, Jem Finch and Tom Robinson are exemplars of mockingbirds in Maycomb. In the novel it is explained by Atticus that killing a mockingbird is a sin because they do not do anything to harm to us like nesting in corncribs, or eating up the gardens, they only sing for us. Multiple characters are symbolized as mockingbirds because it would be a sin to kill them as they only try and want to be a kind, civil person.
To Kill A Mockingbird portrays many types of prejudice such as sexism, lifestyle and racism. Sexism is represented through respect and roles of genders. Women were considered weak, they were expected to be elegant and ladylike. It was expected that women stay home and care for the house and children. Jem would often tease Scout for being a girl. One example is when he said, “Scout, I’m tellin’ you for the last time, shut your trap or go home- I declare to the Lord, you’re gettin’ more like a girl everyday!” (Lee 119) Another type of prejudice was lifestyle. Arthur “Boo” Radley, one of the novel’s mockingbirds was often judged for his way of life. He was brought up as a Foot Washing Baptist. This meant that all things people found pleasure in were seen as a sin. Therefore, Boo remained inside his house for years and years and was seen as the town boogie man. Also, Dolphus Raymond was a white man with many “mixed” children. He never saw race as an issue and liked spending his time with the black community. Dolphus acted as a drunk so no one would question his lifestyle and interactions with colored
Social prejudice is shown throughout Harper Lee’s award winning book, To Kill a Mockingbird. Harper Lee powerfully analyses the theme social prejudice, and its effect on people. Such as how the
Harper Lee and Tate Taylor contend that those who do not fit into society are misunderstood and often have different realities. To Kill a Mockingbird is set in 1935 in Maycomb, a Southern American town where everyone attends church and socialises with people within their social hierarchy. However, the Radleys isolate themselves from Maycomb by not going to church and worshipping at home. Furthermore, the Radley’s house doors and shutters are always closed, which is “another thing alien to Maycomb’s ways.” As a result, the Radley’s do not fit into Maycomb societal standards. Boo Radley who “was not seen again for fifteen years”, is the most misunderstood person in Maycomb. His childhood mistakes marginalise him from society by a “form of intimidation Mr Radley employed to keep Boo out of sight.” To elaborate, Boo did not intend to separate himself and be perceived as a “malevolent phantom.” In truth, Boo is intensely lonely and wants to befriend the children in which he saves their lives. Similarly, in The
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.