Reading. It’s a well-known hobby, and quite the old one. Nevertheless, the question still remains, could reading all of those stories be the key to becoming a better human being?
When you read, especially fiction, you experience a broad sweep of human life. You gain access to the thoughts of others, look at history through another person’s eyes and learn from their mistakes, something that you otherwise would not be able to experience.
For instance, if we take a look at the 2010 ABIA Book of the Year winner, Jasper Jones, by Craig Silvey, there is an opportunity to gain insight into the views and opinions of people in Australia. The book is set in the 1960’s, during the Vietnam war, in a little Australian town of WA. It covers a multitude of topics, from racism to questioning what is right and wrong. However, one of the underlying topics of the book, is the theme of prejudice; to pre-judge. The quote said by Jasper, a 14-year-old boy, “You know what’ll happen. This town they think I’m a bloody animal. They think I belong in a cage, and this here is just an excuse to lock me up in one.” (p.26), highlights
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The fear surrounding Communism had a major impact on people’s attitudes, beliefs and behaviours. The Lu’s, a Vietnamese family, has multiple cases of prejudice because of race, the example of when Mrs Lu was violently attacked with boiling water from Sue Findlay after her husband was killed in the Vietnam war and her son drafted, shows these beliefs. Mrs Lu was made a scapegoat for sue but also the town, as nobody helped Mrs Lu but Jeffrey, Mrs Lu’s son. Jeffrey is constantly getting called names, or being ostracised from the cricket team because of his culture. These topics, the stolen generation and racism as seen in the books, opens the reader to a whole new world, in a more story type way and gives a look at what prejudice is evident in
readers a dose of reality and human experience. People read literature and end up learning
12 Angry Men is about 12 men who are the jury for an 18 year old accused of murder. The judge states in the opening scene that it is a premeditated murder in the 1st degree, if found guilty will automatically receive the death penalty. The 18 year old male is accused of killing his father with a “one of a kind” switch blade, in their home. The prosecutors have several eye witness testimonies, and all of the evidence that they could need to convict the 18 year old male. In the movie it takes place on the hottest day of the year in New York City. There are 12 jurors whom are to decide if the evidence is enough to convict the teen of murder in the first degree. In the first initial vote it is 11-1. The only way that the jurors could turn in their votes was if there was unanimous vote either guilty or not guilty among the 12 jurors. As the movie progressed the jurors ended up changing their minds as new evidence was brought to their attention by simple facts that were overlooked by the police and prosecutors in the initial investigation. Tempers were raised, and words flew, there was prejudice and laziness of a few of the jurors that affected the amount of time it took to go over all of the eye witness testimonies and evidence. The eye witness testimonies ended up being proven wrong and some of the evidence was thrown out because it was put there under false pretense.
Racism is not only a crime against humanity, but a daily burden that weighs down many shoulders. Racism has haunted America ever since the founding of the United States, and has eerily followed us to this very day. As an intimidating looking black man living in a country composed of mostly white people, Brent Staples is a classic victim of prejudice. The typical effect of racism on an African American man such as Staples, is a growing feeling of alienation and inferiority; the typical effect of racism on a white person is fear and a feeling of superiority. While Brent Staples could be seen as a victim of prejudice because of the discrimination he suffers, he claims that the victim and the perpetrator are both harmed in the vicious cycle that is racism. Staples employs his reader to recognize the value of his thesis through his stylistic use of anecdotes, repetition and the contrast of his characterization.
America is the proud author of many timeless novels. Fitzegerald’s The Great Gatsby, Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, and Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men all reveal a glimpse into previously unseen worlds to their audiences. But few of them has so profound an impact as Nelle “Harper” Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. This captivating novel enthralled the country and made it reexamine its preexisting perceptions about childhood, bravery, and morality. In spite of the importance of these concepts, the most far-reaching theme is how prejudice and education coincide, or, more accurately, how prejudice and a lack of education coincide (Theme 1). In To Kill a Mockingbird, Lee explores how a normally rational person’s ability to reason can be tainted by prejudice, even subconsciously. Rarely do the characters in Lee’s novel make an effort to be cruel, but in the 1930s South, prejudice was less about an active effort to hurt others, but instead was an affliction brought about by an unconscious combination of upbringing, culture, and social or economic status.
This essay will focus on exploring the theme of prejudice in Harper Lee’s novel - ‘To kill a mockingbird’ , published in the four years after the renowned bus boycott of Montgomery, , it resonates with the feelings and attitudes prevalent at the time. A variety of different types of prejudice are exposed to us throughout the progression of the novel, arguably the most significant being racial and class prejudice. I shall focus my essay on exploring how these types of prejudice are explored in the novel.
How does reading a story benefits an individual and improve his or her daily life? Extensive reading does not only serve as an entertainment purpose, but it is also beneficial to many readers because reading fiction can help enhance a person’s understanding of the type of society the reader lives in. For example, the famous novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is regarded as a brilliant work of literature, for it offers a detailed glimpse of the American life in the 1920s and comments on various social problems during that time period. The novel tells the story of a mysterious millionaire named Jay Gatsby who lives in the fictional town of West Egg, located on Long Island, during the summer of 1922. Gatsby wants to pursue his first
The novel also portrays numerous examples of racism, sexism, in creative ways. The stereotypes and themes portrayed in this novel have taught its readers not only very valuable lessons but ways to keep from placing stereotypes on people that are different from you before you get to know that person.
The novel not only explores racial prejudice, but also prejudice against gender and social status. Maudie is a victim of prejudice agains...
Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, published in 1960, is a novel which explores the theme of challenging racial prejudice. Within this novel, Lee has portrayed unintentional racial prejudice through the characters Atticus Finch, Link Deas and Scout Finch. With these characters, and their roles in exploring the theme of racial prejudice, Harper Lee has set unintentional boundaries for readers, as result, racial prejudicial thinking from contemporary perspective, in comparison to historical views, is challenged to a small extent.
Toni Morrison, Elie Wiesel, and Daniel Keyes each use tone, symbolism, and character to enrich the books on informing the readers of the social injustices in society. In addition to that, the three authors also use effective imagery and theme to illustrate to the readers how social injustice has affected the characters. For Pecola, it was her skin color and ugliness that constantly tormented her. The injustice that Eliezer suffered was the Holocaust. Lastly, it was Charlie’s mental disability that caused his loneliness. By using these literary techniques in literature, the devices truly educates the audience to realize these injustices that occur is a result of society not being highly informed of the topic at hand and its effects. When society is blinded by the social injustices, they are considered no different than the abusers themselves.
Discrimination and Prejudice in Killing A Mocking Bird Discrimination and prejudice were very common acts in the early and middle 1900's. Prejudice in this book is displayed by the acts of hate and misunderstanding because of someone's color. People of color were the majority that were treated unfairly. During this time in the southern states, black people had to use separate bathrooms, drinking fountains, sections in restaurants, churches, and even go to separate schools. Although much of the discrimination was directed towards blacks, there were plenty of accounts towards impoverished families by those that had money.
“No matter where you run into it, prejudice obscures the trues” (page 66). Prejudice can be a dangerous thing, especially when it comes to adjusting somebody’s life. At that time in America a jury consists of twelve men can determine the life or death of one person by giving a unanimous verdict. A typical reflection of this reality is an influential drama “Twelve Anger Men”. Reginald Rose wrote this drama inspired by his experience of being a juror on a manslaughter case to reveal a common social phenomenon of prejudice. To stress the main idea that, Rose presents the key points that biased individuals are less rational or blinding themselves with an unfair judgement about one’s guilt. Moreover, she conveys the facts that stereotype produces an effect on one’s statement. Furthermore, prejudice constantly affect other jurors’ opinion, intentionally or unintentionally. With Rose’s vivid description and clear contrast between each juror, he emphasizes the existence of prejudice and further to spread an idea that prejudice influence the outcome of the trial.
By appreciating literature, one not only receives a wonderful story but is also given the chance to grow with the characters and learn
The impairment to equality that prejudice presents society with is absolute. The play by Reginald Rose Twelve Angry Men and Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird whilst both face the danger of prejudice, the outcomes ultimately contrast each other. To Kill a Mockingbird depicts the unjust killing of an African-American man, on the other hand, Twelve Angry Men highlights a discussion between a jury where justice prevails in the end. In both texts, the jury exemplify biased opinions which sporadically end in violence. However, the most dangerous part of prejudice is the blatant ignorance that society hinder to diminish, leaving an unjust mark on those targeted.
Literature has many purposes, and opens doors to unique worlds. Through Literature, we discover ourselves and world time and again.