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Prejudice In To Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee

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In Harper Lee's, To Kill A Mockingbird, is the story of a small southern town in Alabama during the Great Depression. Harper Lee expresses her disapproval of the mistreatment of human beings and her philosophy through the eyes of the main character Scout. Over the course of several summers she, along with her brother Jem and playmate Dill, are introduced to a world of hatred and unfairness through the injustice of the Tom Robinson trial. Lee shows the unfair trial of an innocent man to demonstrate the prejudiced ways of Maycomb, Alabama during this time, highlighting the racism and violent treatment towards black people all around. Prejudice, described as the “simple hell people give other people without even thinking”(170). Lee shows …show more content…

When Scout insults Walter Cunningham Jr. for pouring syrup on his food, Calpurnia reprimands her, “There's some folks who don't eat like us … but you ain't called on to contradict 'em at the table when they don't. That boy's yo' comp'ny and if he wants to eat up the tablecloth you let him, you hear?" and when Scout exclaims he is “just a Cunningham” meaning he was poor, she yells at her to teach her she is no better than he is “"Hush your mouth! Don't matter who they are, anybody sets foot in this house's yo' comp'ny, and don't you let me catch you remarkin' on their ways like you was so high and mighty! Yo' folks might be better'n the Cunninghams but it don't count for nothin' the way you're disgracin' 'em…"(18). Lee is showing it’s not a matter of race only there are all kinds of stereotypes, all people should be treated equally whether black, white, rich or …show more content…

She thinks everyone should be treated the same and is upset when Aunt Alexandra objects to her playing with a Cunningham, she wants to choose her friends for being a good person, not based on a social status or race, that all people contain good or evil, nothing to do with their status. Lee is showing here the lessons learned from Atticus, he believes that people usually contain aspects of both good and evil, but that good will usually prevail and this is how you should treat

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