How Does Lee Use Prejudice In To Kill A Mockingbird

In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee illustrates the theme of prejudice through racism, social status, and sexism in order to show the effects these issues have on the lives of people. Effects can range from being poor without money to being killed because of the color of your skin. Throughout the novel, we see how these problems affect everyone in the small town of Maycomb.

Racism as prejudice can be seen in the characters of Tom Robinson and Calpurnia. Lee acknowledges racism, “...when it's a white man's word against a black man's word the white always wins” (Lee 251). This shows white people had more power and influence, no matter of a black man’s guilt or innocence. Lee demonstrates racism was also against white people when, “I want’s to know why you bringin white chillun to nigger church” (Lee 135). Here we see that one particular black woman called out mixing races even in the church, but it was against the white children worshipping with the black adults. This is shows different kind of racism, where the white children were not welcome in the black church by a few.

Lee introduces this, “Lord you're gettin more like a girl everyday!” (Lee 58). Jem is saying she is emotional and overly dramatic about the situation and she needs to not act like her gender and the characteristics they are known for. This is a case of sexist prejudice where Jem is telling Scout to act more like he is. Contrary to Jem’s opinion of how Scout should act, Lee also shows sexism, “You should be in a dress and camisole, young lady” (Lee 117). This demonstrates that Scout was expected to dress a certain way in order to represent being female. There were mixed signals being given to her, which caused her some confusion about what she should be and how she should