To Kill A Mockingbird: Discrimination Is Destructive "Prejudices, it is well known, are most difficult to eradicate from the heart whose soil has never been loosened or fertilized by education; they grow there, firm as weeds among stones"- Charlotte Brontë. Nearly every problem and unfortunate mishap in Harper Lee's, To Kill A Mockingbird, has been somehow revolved around prejudice or discrimination. Many different forms of prejudice are found throughout the novel, with racism, sexism, and classicism the most common. The residents of Maycomb have discrimination running through their veins and were raised to be racist and sexist, without realizing. They see nothing wrong with judging other people and treating people that they find inferior harshly. Prejudice is a destructive force because it separates the people of Maycomb, both physically and mentally. Sexism is not as common a topic in comparison to racism, but does play a role in the development of the novel. This type of discrimination is expressed towards women from men and women alike. Men feel compelled to protect women from unsightly things, (Lee 221), and the women in Maycomb have the mind set that, to be a lady, they must conform to society's expectations of them. They believe they must dress, act, and speak a certain way to appease the community. Aunt Alexandra is a big believer in acting the way society expects her to and attempts to impose these values on her niece, Scout, who becomes mortified, as she has always been a tomboy and prefers spending time in the dirt. “Aunt Alexandra was fanatical on the subject of my [Scout's] attire. She said I could not possibly hope to be a lady if I wore breeches; when I said I could do nothing in a dress, she said I wasn't supposed ... ... middle of paper ... ... town as well, believe that Tom was capable of rape. The Finch children were baffled by this unfair verdict, so Atticus explains to them that even though it is not fair, whatever a white man accuses a black individual of doing, the word of the white man automatically overrules that of the black (Lee ). Discrimination played a big role in the 1930s and throughout the development of the novel, and still is not completely diminished in the 21st century. Sexism, classicism, and racism all typified the many relationships in To Kill A Mockingbird, from Aunt Alexandra wanting Scout to become a lady, to Tom Robinson's unfair court trial. Prejudices are formed because of the level of ignorance people have when they believe everything they hear from their peers without bothering to be fertilized with education, leading to a division within communities, physically and mentally.
In the town of Maycomb, a man who stands up against racism forever changes people’s views on racism. Scout, Jem and Atticus Finch all stand together against racism and prejudice in the tiny town of Maycomb. In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, in the town of Maycomb, prejudice is a disease, but Jem, Scout, and Dill are immune to this illness because of the people who raise them. For example, when Cecil and Francis told Scout that Atticus is a disgrace to defend Tom Robinson, even though Francis is Scout’s cousin. When Scout and Jem hear the verdict of Tom’s case they both cry and are angry about the sentence while the rest of the town is ecstatic. And finally when Scout doesn’t want Walter Cunningham to come over for dinner because she thinks that he is a disgrace. For all of these reasons, the Finch family must not be racist or prejudiced.
Sometimes, people discriminate one thing, but strongly oppose the discrimination of another thing. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, this issue is very much expressed throughout the story. This thought-provoking story takes place in Maycomb, Alabama during a time when there’s a rape trial against a falsely accused African American named Tom Robinson. There is also a discrimination, of sorts, towards a man named Boo Radley, by three young children named Jeremy “Jem” Finch, Jean Louise “Scout” Finch, and Charles “Dill” Baker Harris. Both Boo Radley and Tom Robinson are similar in their own ways through their inherent goodness.
Imagine a world where anyone who was born with brown hair got to give orders to anyone born with blonde hair. If you're born with brown hair, you could have better careers and the better education whereas the blondes wouldn’t even been given a fair court trial. If something like this happened overnight, there would be a huge uproar, but what if it happened over time and generations grew to accept it? Eventually, people would start to argue that brown haired people were naturally superior to blondes. If you were living in a tiny town in the Deep South, such as Maycomb, you’d have even less of a reason to question the status quo. Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird is trying to teach his kids, “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view- until you climb in his skin and walk around in it.” Furthermore, the largest forms of discrimination in the novel are racism and classism.
The most apparent theme of discrimination in To Kill A Mockingbird is racism, however there is more than just that. Other types of discrimination exist in To Kill A Mockingbird such as prejudice towards women, sexism. For example, Scout says, “Aunt Alexandra was fanatical on the subject of my attire. I could not possibly hope to be a lady if I wore breeches; when I said I could do nothing in a dress, she said I wasn't supposed to be doing anything that required pants” (Lee 59).
Prejudice, a preconceived opinion that is not based on reason nor actual experience, is an exceptionally large dilemma in society today. It is an every day reminder of how uncharitable we, as a human race, can be. Even in the early 1900s, as Harper Lee illustrates in her novel To Kill a Mockingbird, prejudiced assumptions have always been causing predicaments. To Kill a Mockingbird, an award winning novel written by Harper Lee, tells the story of how Scout and Jem Finch grows up in a small Southern town suffering through the Great Depression. In To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee expresses the theme of prejudice throughout the majority of her characters. Not only does she have many themes in her novel, but she is also able to incorporate them in many of her characters at once. The theme of prejudice is seen through Atticus Finch and Tom Robinson.
Prejudice is like a poison, it infects everything it touches. It can drive a white man and a black man to hate each other because their skins are different colours. In Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird, the town of Maycomb is plagued with prejudice against Tom Robinson and Boo Radley. The evidence in the text shows and implies how this prejudice dominates the thoughts of Maycomb’s citizens.
Many people on a day to day basis deal with prejudice on a daily basis. It can be very sad to see happen, but it indeed does happen in many places. In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee highlights prejudice throughout the book. In the novel examples are shown by education levels, how different people live and treated, and the injustice in the court of law.
Throughout human history, prejudice has caused more violence than almost anything else. Prejudice and discrimination still happens till this day. Sometimes children can also be taken of their innocence with the horrors of prejudice which is true in the case of Jem and Scout. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus Finch says, “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view…until you climb into his skin and walk around in it” (39). People often fail to examine a situation from someone else view because their opinions are biased. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee shows readers just how damaging prejudice really is when it is caused by rumors, race, and another man’s beliefs.
“There’s four kinds of folks in the world. There’s the ordinary kind like us and the neighbors, there’s the kind like the Cunninghams out in the woods, the kind like the Ewells down at the dump, and the Negroes” (Lee 226). Throughout the story of To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee uses the citizens of Maycomb to show the diversity and isolation of specific groups or individual people. In the book, there are many different perspectives about people who have been shunned or isolated due to peoples views or opinions. There are also some people that try to break stereotypes and help these people fit in. Black or white, Finch or Ewell, everyone should be accepted no matter who they are.
Prejudice is a one of the most horrible actions that is used by many people throughout the course of the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. At the time, they had just entered the Great Depression, a time that was very bad for everyone throughout the US, especially blacks. It was also very common for white people to treat other black people unfairly, mostly because it was during a time that blacks protested and fought for their rights. Many people still thought that they still should have had control over blacks, even though many people knew they were wrong. Some people would be racist and try to make their way right again, like Bob Ewell, while others tried to defend blacks and their given freedoms, like Atticus. Most people thought it was fine
Prejudice A person becomes prejudiced by what he or she is taught as well as a lack of exposure and education. While many people are influenced by peers and family to become prejudice, others simply adapt to the surrounding environment. In the novel “To Kill a Mockingbird”, by Harper Lee, brother and sister Jem and Scout, are taught about the surrounding racism shown to members of the African American community and poor white citizens.
To Kill a Mockingbird takes places in Maycomb, Alabama in the 1930’s. Most of the white population were discriminating towards blacks. People were very prejudice back then. There are many different types of Prejudice. The following types are examples of prejudice: Racial, Social, and Religious. People are not as cruel as they use to be, but there are still some people who are. People made racism out to be like a way of life. They treated colored people like dogs. They did not understand that they have feelings also; With that being said, In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee develops a novel to show how prejudice our everyday life use to be.
When people hear about prejudice, they unconsciously think about racial prejudice. When it goes way deeper than just that. In the novel, “To Kill a Mockingbird,” by Harper Lee. A girl called Scout, her brother Jem, and their father who is a lawyer, Atticus Finch, who lives in Maycomb County. Atticus Finch decided to defend Tom Robinson, a black man falsely accused of raping a white woman. Many examples of prejudice and discrimination appear to us throughout the novel. The most obvious type of prejudice that is repetitive throughout the novel is racism. However, there are many other types of prejudice people just forgot.. Economic status or social class, fear of the unknown, and gender roles play a big part of in the novel.
Racism presents itself in many ways in the town of Maycomb. Some are blatant and open, but others are more insidious. One obvious way that racism presents itself is in the result of Tom Robinson’s trial. Another apparent example is the bullying Jem and Scout had to endure as a result of Atticus’s appointment as Tom Robinson’s defense attorney. A less easily discernible case is the persecution of Mr. Dolphus Raymond, who chose to live his life in close relation with the colored community.
Overall, the reader can connect sexist issues in “To Kill a Mockingbird” to the present day world. Women are still expected to follow rules that society has set for them. Advertisements with unrealistic beauty standards are shown millions of times everyday. Women are still expected to stay at home and cook and clean while men go to work. Scout is a very brave girl who is