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Examples Of Prejudice In To Kill A Mockingbird

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The Novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee displays many themes. One of these themes is prejudice. Prejudice is shown in many ways throughout this novel. These types of prejudice are racism, prejudice against people, and prejudice against families. These types of prejudice contribute to the story’s plot, character growth and depth.
Racism is an important aspect of prejudice in To Kill a Mockingbird. Racism in this novel allows for different outcomes in the plot. The first of these events is Tom Robinson’s trial. Because of racism the trial has a predestined outcome. Atticus Finch says “In our courts, when it’s a white man’s word against a black man’s, the white man always wins. They’re ugly, but those are the facts of life”. (220) He says this because he knows no matter how hard he tries he is going to lose the trial. Another event in this novel is when Bob Ewell attacks Scout and Jem without racism Mr. Ewell would not …show more content…

Jem grows as a character because he learns that not everyone is treated equal in society. He begins his realization after Tom’s trial. He says to Scout “There four kinds of people in this world. The ordinary kind like us and the neighbors… The Cunninghams… The Ewell’s… and the Negros”. (226) this shows extreme growth in Jem’s character. The second area of growth is in Scout and Jem. They have known their neighbor, Mrs. Dubose as an angry woman. The find out posthumously that she was angry because she was trying to wean herself off of the morphine that she became addicted to. The final area of growth is in Scout regarding Arthur Radley, whom she calls Boo. During the novel she is curious and frightened of Arthur because she has been told that he is a monster, but by the end of the novel, when she is saved by him, she realizes that he is not a monster he just prefers to stay inside and alone. The growth in these characters is a very significant part of the

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