Prejudice In To Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee

To Kill A Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee, is a novel that has several characters who experience the negative aspects of living in a prejudiced town like Maycomb, Alabama. The children during the novel are misguided by the influence of gossip which encourages their fascination toward Boo Radley. Another character, Tom Robinson, cannot get a fair trial because of society’s racist views held against him because he is a Black man. Prejudice helps to develop the childish actions at the beginning of the plot, and one man’s conflict with society during his trial in To Kill A Mockingbird.

One of the first moments of intrigue established in the plot of To Kill a Mockingbird revolves around stories told by people who have certain prejudices against

According to Miss Stephanie, Boo was sitting in the living room cutting some items from 'The Maycomb Tribune' to paste in his scrapbook. His father entered the room. As Mr. Radley passed by, Boo drove the scissors into his parent’s leg, pulled them out, wiped them on his pants, and resumed his activities. (11)

While the family certainly seems mysterious, the children really know nothing about Boo Radley as no one has seen him for many years. Based on the rumours told by Miss Stephanie Crawford, the children’s misinformed curiosity concerning this man is the beginning of their summertime goal of learning about Boo Radley at the start of the novel. The initial incident of the plot concerning the children and Boo Radley is based only on information that is full of prejudice. Maycomb society in the 1930s holds prejudicial views of its Black citizens based on generations of racism. The main conflict in the novel involves Atticus’s struggle to defend Tom Robinson, a Black man on trial for allegedly harming a white woman. Recognizing society’s opinions on Black people, Atticus pleads with the jury to consider things from a different point of