To Kill A Mockingbird Prejudice Quotes

Prejudice is a preconceived feeling or opinion that is not based on reason or actual experienced. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee one of the main themes was prejudice. Prejudice is based on ignorance and that is shown in the novel. Many characters were unwilling to understand others which displayed their ignorance. Harper Lee explored different types of prejudice throughout the novel with character interaction. She used different characters in the novel to express and expose prejudice. The prejudice in the town did not only effect one group of people it harmed the whole town. There were three main types of prejudice in the novel. There was racism, sexism, and classism.

The first type of prejudice shown in this novel is racism.

“Your father’s no better than the niggers and trash he works for!” (135) This quote was said by Mrs. Dubose. In that time black people were seen as the lower class. Mrs. Dubose was angry that Atticus was defending a black man so she is shaming him for betraying his own race. There was a lot of racism towards black people which forced them to feel a separation between the two races. “You ain’t got no business bringin’ white chillum here—they got their church, we got our’n. It is our church, ain’t it, Miss Cal?” (158) This was said by Lula when Calpurnia brought Jem and Scout to the colored church. Jem and Scout haven’t experienced racism first hand until that point. The people in the church felt like if they aren’t welcome in the white peoples “territory” they shouldn’t be allowed to come in theirs. Throughout the novel Atticus tried his best to have his kids be aware of the reality in Maycomb. One of his goals was to teach his kids about equality. “’You aren’t really a nigger-lover, then, are you?’ ‘I certainly am. I do my best to love everybody… I’m hard put, sometimes—baby it’s never an insult to be called what somebody thinks is a bad name.’” (144)

The sexism conflict in the novel was mainly based on Scout’s character. “We decided that it would be best for you to have some feminine influence. It won’t be many years, Jean Louise, before you become interested in clothes and boys.” Aunt Alexandra, Atticus’ sister, comes to Maycomb and she thinks that Scout needs a feminine influence to help her out. Aunt Alexandra put a lot of pressure on Scout to be a stereotypical girl who likes boys, dresses, cleaning, etc. She thinks that it’s really important for Scout to know how to be a lady. Stereotypes still exist today but in the 1930’s when this book took place they were more known and followed. “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 things that required pants.” Scout hasn’t really felt pressure to act like a “lady” until Aunt Alexandra told her to. She is so used to playing with Jem and Dill and wearing comfortable clothes. This quote basically means that hard work is for the mean to do and jobs that don’t require a lot of movement so you can wear a dress is for the women. Back in the 1930’s women didn’t have many rights. The jury consisted of only white men. “For one thing, Miss Maudie can’t serve on a jury because she’s a women—“(296) This quote shows the prejudice against women. Men were known to be the boss and make the decisions. In that time