ipl-logo

To Kill A Mockingbird Prejudice Quotes

788 Words4 Pages

To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee contains various examples of racism and prejudice throughout the novel. The story takes place in the 1930's, a period when racism was a part of everyday life. Prejudice and racism in this book are represented by acts of hate towards others because of the color of their skin. In this novel, prejudice and racism was dominantly pointed towards blacks. Acts of racism can be discreet to the point that you can easily miss them. Yet alongside those, there are conspicuous demonstrations of racism that would never happen in today's society. Lee illustrates many of these behaviors in her novel. Atticus, one of our main characters, is the white lawyer that decides to defend a black man (Tom Robinson) in court, despite …show more content…

He realizes that the word nigger, was hostile to the blacks during this period of time. Atticus demonstrates an appreciation and decency which was exceptionally uncommon of a wealthy white male in the south. The blacks, as a majority, live in the part of town known as the bad side, or the "slums." Even if a black person had the money, they wouldn't have bought a house in a high society neighborhood like the Finches. Blacks were viewed as unsanitary, making their presence undesirable to white home owners. They expected that it would reduce the price of their land, along with their …show more content…

Yet, there were times when whites were discriminated against, too. Many high society individuals segregated against blacks, as well as individuals of their own race due to their social stratification or relationship. Mr. Dolphus Raymond was a white man who was an outcast, because of his relationship with a lady who was black.

"Jem," I asked, "what's a mixed child?"
"Half white, half colored. You've seen 'em Scout. You know, that red-kinky-headed one that delivers for the drugstore. He's half white. They're real sad."
"Sad, how come?"
"They don't belong anywhere. Colored folks won't have 'em because they're half white; white folks won't have 'em 'cause they're colored, so they're just in-betweens, don't belong anywhere." (Ch.16, Pg.168)
Mr. Raymond acted as if he was drunk so he that he wouldn't need to explain to anyone his love for a black woman. The alcohol, he said, gave the community of Maycomb a reason to say, he didn't realize what he was doing. These kind of relations were completely unheard of during this time. Aunt Alexandra demonstrates discrimination, even against her own race, when she refused to allow Scout to have Walter Cunningham over for

Open Document