Discrimination by definition is “the unjust treatment of different categories of people or things especially on the grounds of race, age, or sex.” To Kill A Mockingbird is a novel written by Harper Lee set in the small southern town of Maycomb in the 1930s. The 1930s were a time of racial inequality, social unrest, and the start of the civil rights movement. It was also a time of the Great Depression which left many families poor and impoverished. The most obvious form of discrimination in the book is racism but there are several other types present in the book including discrimination based on class, gender, and other social stereotypes.
Scout and Jem are cared for by their black housekeeper named Calpurnia. Although she is loved by the children and has the role of the mother figure, she is also discriminated against.
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Aunt Alexandra does not approve of her dress or behavior and attempts to return her to being a girl. Miss Dubose also criticizes how she dresses and says it will cause her to “grow up and wait tables.” This return to being girlish causes Scout to consider running away as she thinks of it like prison. She also does not understand why women cannot serve on a jury. She may be just a child but she understands that women are seen in a lower light than men.
The final stereotype seen in To Kill a Mockingbird is social discrimination like that faced by Boo Radley and his family. The Radleys were an odd and private family and this lead people to criticize and torment them. Boo is a quiet man who never leaves his house and is probably afraid to do so. Just because he is different, he is a victim of social discrimination. In reality, he causes no harm to anyone and in the end saves Scout and Jem from Mr. Ewell. The death is made to look like an accident because putting Boo on trial would be a mess due to the public's opinion of him being an
Even when Scout is called a girl or young woman she is disgusted. This behavior is seeming to arrive or be exposed while aunt Alexandra is in town. Scout states “I felt the starched walls of a pink cotton penitentiary closing in on me, and for the second time in my life I thought of running away, Immediately”. (155) (The Artifical) This is
He is isolated in his house, so people think that he is evil, because they do not know him. Scout finally realized that Boo was not evil, or even a scary man late in the book. Boo never did anything to harm Scout, just as mockingbirds do not harm people. Boo had many chances to harm people if he was actually evil, but he never did. The second reason Boo is like a mockingbird is because he does
Miss Maudie tells Scout that Miss Stephanie is only lying about seeing Boo outside her window. The only other event where Boo was bad was when he was with his “gang” and he was still punished by his father for his actions. Another reason Boo is shown as the mockingbird of the book is because he has only hurt one person. The only person that Boo has hurt was his father and that is still just a rumor. When Boo stabbed his father with the scissors his father punished him and did not let him go without consequences.
Boo is not harmful and it would be wrong to harm him; as Scout would say, ¨Well, it’d sort of be like shootin’ a mockingbird, wouldn’t it?¨ (276). Scout realized that sheriff could not let people know that Boo Radley was the individual who killed
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 chapter nine Scout recalls that for much of her early life her Aunt was just there. As Scout grows older Aunt Alexandra starts to critiques her attire and behavior. Scout quotes her aunt as having said, “I could not possibly hope to be a lady if I wore breeches…she said I wasn’t supposed to be doing things that required pants” (9.108). Aunt Alexandra turns against her brother as well; she refused to support him during his court case, betraying her brother and family. She’s in a way teaching Scout how not to act.
If not for the major characters, the minor characters have played an equally important role in Maycomb with their contrasting views. The novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is mainly about Jem and Scout growing up under the difficult situations created in Alabama during The Great Depression. Stereotypes and discrimination are major problems in Maycomb. Scout and Jem Finch are raised by Atticus, with the help of Calpurnia, their maid. In the first part of the book, Scout, Jem and Dill are fascinated by Boo Radley because of the rumors they hear about him, and they try everything to make him come out of his house.
The first time the novel introduces Boo, it is easy to tell right away that people do not treat him the same as everyone else because they treat him as a monster or non-human. The first time that it is very clear that Boo is not treated as any other person is a quote that comes from Jem in Chapter 1, “Boo was about six-and-a-half feet tall, judging from his tracks; he dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch, that’s why his hands were bloodstained…” (Lee 13). This helps display that people treat Boo like a monster. Jem describes him as being a person that catches cats and squirrels to eat which helps support that he thinks Boo is a monster.
Calpurnia is Jem and Scouts mother figure, because their mother died due to a sudden heart attack. Calpurnia takes Jem and Scout to her church, First Purchase, and introduces them to the fact that not all black people are bad people. She shows courage because it’s nerve racking to bring 2 white children to an all black church. Calpurnia says, “I don’t want anybody sayin’ I don’t look after my children” (Lee pg. 118). Calpurnia takes pride in Jem and Scout and shows a massive amount of courage taking these children to her type of life, and to her church.
Atticus Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird famously said in his closing arguments: "You know the truth, and the truth is this: some Negroes lie, some Negroes are immoral, some negro men are not to be trusted around women- black or white. But this is a truth that applies to the human race and no particular race of men." (pg 232) What Atticus is trying to convey is a foreign concept to most people in Maycomb county. Atticus is trying to convey a point of equality and no prejudice in a world of social inequality which, as one can imagine, didn 't go over so well.
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee is the story of a small town named Maycomb Located in Alabama, highlighting the adventures of the finch children and many other people in the small town. The people in this town are very judgemental and of each other and it often leads to people being labeled with stereotypes and people think they know everything about that person however that is not reality. It is not possible to know the reality of a person 's life by placing a stereotype without seeing it through their own eyes and experiencing the things they experience. This happens often throughout the story with many people in the town. People are labeled as many things such a “monster” a “nigger” and many other things that seem to put them in their
“Now don’t you be so confident, Mr. Jem, I ain’t ever seen any jury decide in favor of a colored man over a white man…” (Lee 179). This quote from Reverend Sykes in To Kill a Mockingbird is a sort of summary of how and why Tom Robinson was wrongly convicted guilty. It also gives a lot of insight on race relations in this time period. Unfortunately, racism has yet to leave society.
In To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee teaches us about the town of Maycomb County during the late 1930s, where the characters live in isolation and victimization. Through the perspective of a young Jean Louise “Scout” Finch, readers will witness the prejudice that Maycomb produces during times where people face judgement through age, gender, skin colour, and class, their whole lives. Different types of prejudice are present throughout the story and each contribute to how events play out in the small town of Maycomb. Consequently, socially disabling the people who fall victim from living their life comfortably in peace. Boo Radley and his isolation from Maycomb County, the racial aspects of Tom Robinson, and the decision Atticus Finch makes as a lawyer, to defend a black man has all made them fall in the hands of Maycomb’s prejudice ways.
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.