Prejudice in To Kill a Mockingbird
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.
One example of prejudice Harper Lee uses in To Kill a Mockingbird is Tom Robinson. In the small town of Maycomb almost everyone assumes Tom is guilty of raping Mayella Ewell even though there is no evidence or reasoning. Most of the citizens of the town are blaming him because of his race. “Atticus, are we going to win it?” “No,honey” “Then why-” “Simply because we were licked a hundred years before we started is no reason for us not to try to win.” In this quote Atticus is explaining to Scout
In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee argues that prejudice can affect people's decisions. She uses people like the Cunninghams, Ewells, Aunt Alexandra and Tom Robinson to develop her argument. One event that shows that prejudice can affect people's decisions, is when Miss Caroline, the school teacher tried to give a quarter to Walter Cunningham because he didn’t have a lunch. “Went to her desk and opened her purse. “Here’s a quarter” she said to Walter.
Carli Bonnett Mrs. Lawson English 10 19 January 2023 Prejudice in Maycomb County In Maycomb county, Alabama there was a court case full of injustice and bias. Maycomb county is a fairly tight-knit community but they still have its faults. In the Book To Kill a Mockingbird, there is a lawyer Atticus finch. He represented Tom Robinson who is a colored man that was accused of raping a girl named Mayella Ewell.
The game played by the children Scout, Jem, and Dill in the book To Kill a Mockingbird emphasizes their ignorance and prejudice towards things they don’t understand. Such as when they talk about Boo Radley being dead, “Besides, I don’t think he’s still there. He died years ago and they stuffed him up the chimney.” This dismissal of the possibility that they might feel shame for their actions reflects the theme of ignorance to a tee. The apparent incapability to feel shame is apparent in them when they continue the game in front of all the neighbors, save Nathan Radley.
Maya Angelo once stated, “Prejudice is a burden that confuses the past, threatens the future, and renders the present inaccessible”. Marie Lu uses this idea in Legend (Penguin Random House, 2013). Fifteen-year-olds, Day and June, are both seeking revenge against each other's wills. June wants revenge against Day for the murder of her brother. Day wants revenge against all government officials, like June.
Society’s Devils “I think there's just one kind of folks. Folks. ”(Lee, 260). This quote comes from the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel To Kill a Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee. The quote is spoken by Scout, a six-year-old girl who lives in Maycomb, Alabama, a town swarmed with prejudiced inhabitants during the Great Depression.
Prejudice and Racism in To Kill a Mockingbird In her historical fiction novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee follows two young children, Scout and Jem Finch, as they witness the racism and prejudice within their "tired old town" (6) of Maycomb, Alabama. Atticus, their loving father, takes it upon himself to courageously fight these concepts outside the neighborhood Scout and Jem "[confine] their activities to." (132). Atticus, a lawyer, willingly accepts to "[defend] a Negro…[,] Tom Robinson" (100), who was convicted of raping Mayella Ewell, a white woman.
In the passage, Lee argues that racism and prejudice are often due to ignorance, and that the only way to get rid of racism is to develop acceptance and understanding. After Tom Robinson is killed, Mr. Underwood compares his death to the killing of “songbirds by hunters and children.” The word “songbirds” is an obvious reference to Atticus’s lessons about mockingbirds, in which he states killing them is a sin. Killing a songbird, according to him, is a sin because such birds are innocent and do nothing but sing. Lee’s diction to shows the reader that Tom was an innocent man, killed by Maycomb’s racism and hatred.
In Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird, undoubtedly there is more than one type of discrimination displayed. Before we get into that, what exactly is discrimination? Well, to discriminate means to treat someone differently based on what they believe, their age, gender, who they love, even their appearance. The forms that I will be talking about are Sexism, (Prejudice actions based on gender) Racism, (Prejudice actions based on race) classism, (Prejudice actions on those of a different social class) and discrimination on those with a disability.
In the 1930s, if a black man was on trial there was a ample chance he would be convicted even if evidence proved he was innocent. Throughout history humans being prejudice and bias have affected the lives of thousands of people; some ending with favorable outcomes while others weren’t so fortunate. Within the book To Kill a Mockingbird the readers learn that prejudice and bias people outnumber the understanding and kind. One decision or in this case twelve decisions decide the fate for an unfortunate man. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee reveals that people often follow their biases and prejudices rather than the truth.
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee tells a story of racial prejudice during the Depression and how it is combated. The main development in the novel is that a Atticus, the father of Scout and Jem, has been appointed to defend Tom Robinson, a black man accused of raping a young white woman named Mayella. Many people in the town of Maycomb, particularly people involved with the case of Tom, have a negative attitude towards African Americans. Prejudice was a terrible issue in the South during the Depression, but Atticus Finch shows that racial injustice can be combated in two main ways, each having different levels of effectiveness.
“[I]t’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” (Lee 90; ch. 10). The novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee takes place during the 1930’s - a time heavy of prejudism. Throughout the book Harper Lee conveys a message about prejudice, telling her readers that what one may think about another is not always true. Prejudice opinions within the book affect people of different race, social class, and gender.
How did prejudice happen in this world that God made? Prejudice is an unfavorable opinion or feeling formed beforehand or without knowledge, thought, or reason. In this world, there are a lot of prejudice. Prejudice doesn´t happen suddenly but it happens from a root. Everything happens from a root and that causes to be or do something.
Cultural norms are what make and shape a society. They are the guidelines, and or patterns, that are to be followed, in order to be considered a normal, typical, everyday citizen. As such, it does not matter if the norms are right or wrong. As long as the citizen is still a part of their society, right and wrong does not matter, as far as they are concerned. In the case of To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, the cultural norm, of Maycomb County, embraces the wrong, in the form of extreme prejudice behavior.
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 Social prejudice is discrimination based on your status in society. An example of social prejudice would be the Radley family, which consists of Boo Radley, Nathan Radley and Arthur Radley. As they haven’t been out of their house in years people are lead to believe the rumours.
In To Kill a Mockingbird there are lots of racial, gender, and religious, discrimination. Which is shown a multiple amount of times throughout the novel. To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel written by Harper Lee which takes place in Maycomb Alabama, where there is a lot of racial discrimination. But there is also some gender, and religious, discrimination.