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Theme of mockingbird in to kill a mockingbird
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“Prejudice is a learned trait. You're not born prejudiced; you're taught it.” -Charles R. Swindoll. The novel To Kill A Mockingbird is set in the time period of the 1930’s, in Maycomb County, an imaginary district in southern Alabama. Due to the fact that this novel is set in the 1930’s, the characters are extremely judgemental and prejudiced. Throughout the novel, there are various cases where the characters say or do things that would be severely frowned upon in modern times. The novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee demonstrates the theme of prejudice. The three main types of prejudice shown in the novel are gender prejudice, class prejudice, and racial prejudice.
First, gender prejudice is frequently seen in To Kill A Mockingbird. One example of gender prejudice occurs when women cannot serve on juries. When Jem and Scout ask Atticus why people like Miss Maudie can not serve on juries Atticus says “For one thing, Miss Maudie can’t serve on a jury because she’s a woman” (221). Due to the fact that this story took place in the 1930’s. It was normal for women to not have certain rights such as serving on a jury. This is of course extremely sexist. Additionally, Aunt Alexandra repeatedly judges Scout for wearing overalls instead of “girl clothes”. This can be seen when Scout says,
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Racial prejudice can be seen during the various instances in which Jem and Scout get teased at school because their father is defending a black man in court. In Chapter 9, Scout was starting to learn to not fight other children at school until an incident with Cecil Jacobs occurs. Scout narrates, “Cecil Jacobs made me forget. He had announced in the schoolyard the day before that Scout Finch’s daddy defended (African Americans)” (74). Another example of racial prejudice is Tom Robinson not getting a fair trial and being w0rongly accused of rape due to his race. Racial prejudice is frequently seen in To Kill A
Three students kicked out of a high school for threatening to bring a gun to school. Why would they? Because people were prejudice against them because other students thought they were “losers”. Moral: You shouldn’t not like a person because they aren’t like you. Prejudice was far much worse in the time period of To Kill A Mockingbird. But, Prejudice is the reason for much social injustice. Three characters named Nathan Radley, Atticus Finch, and Aunt Alexandria show us this in the novel, To Kill A Mockingbird.
In the beginning of the novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, Scout and Jem are portrayed as innocents, uncorrupted by our world of prejudice and racism. Their world is simple, sensible, a child's world. However, by the end of the novel, their world has expanded to include the irrational nature of humans. Jem and Scout's growing up is portrayed by a series of events that shatters their innocence as easily as a mockingbird can be silenced. One of the first chinks in their armor of nativity that protected them was social prejudice.
For the first example of prejudice in the characters of To Kill a Mocking Bird would be Boo Radley. Boo Radley is decimated against a thought of as a criminal to the whole town of Maycomb Alabama. He was recognized as the towns crazy person and just an all-out lunatic "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 , if you ate an animal raw, you could never wash the blood off. There was a long jagged scar that ran across his face; what teeth he had were yellow and rotten his eyes popped, and he drooled most of the time" (Lee 13). The way this affected Boo Radley was that Jem and Scout who played and made games that are based on Boo Radley. They see this as an insignificant way to picture hi...
Growing up in a prejudiced environment can cause individuals to develop biased views in regard to both gender and class. This is true in Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, where such prejudices are prevalent in the way of life of 1930s Maycomb, Alabama. The novel is centered around the trial of a black man who is accused of raping a white woman. The narrator, a young girl named Scout, is able to get a close up view of the trial because her father is defending Tom Robinson, the defendant. The aura of the town divided by the trial reveals certain people's’ prejudices to Scout, giving her a better perspective of her world. Throughout the story, Aunt Alexandra’s behaviors indirectly teach Scout that prejudice is a disease with deep and far reaching roots.
First of all, Bob Ewell shows discrimination against Tom Robinson through the claim of his daughter’s rape committed by Tom, which was proven to not have happened, and the use of the derogatory term “nigger”. Secondly, Miss Maudie shows racism to the African American population by referring to an African-American in Nathan Radley’s collard patch as a “negro”, a derogatory term. Thirdly, Nathan Radley shows discriminatory racism toward the same African-American in his collard patch mentioned in the previous sentence by shooting at him, which was a failed attempt, and referring to him as a “nigger”, an offensive insult directed at African-American people. Finally, Aunt Alexandra shows sexism toward Scout by implying that she isn’t a “proper lady” unless she wears and does whatever Aunt Alexandra perceives as ladylike. In conclusion, there are many, many examples of discrimination towards people of all walks of life in To Kill A Mockingbird, the most prominent of them being racism and sexism. Discrimination is a horrible thing to be inflicted with and the human race should all work together to exterminate it from its source: us. We must keep an open mind to accept people of all races, religions, genders, sexualities, cultures, and personalities to make the world a more welcoming and friendly place for
Prejudice is arguably the most prominent theme of the novel. It is directed towards groups and individuals in the Maycomb community. Prejudice is linked with ideas of fear superstition and injustice.
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.
In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, many different themes come into view. One major theme that played a big role in the character’s lives is racial prejudice. Racism is an unending problem throughout the book. The song “Message from a Black Man” by The Temptations has many similarities to the theme of racial discrimination. Therefore, both the novel and the song prove that racism was a great obstacle for some people at a point.
The novel How to Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee contains one overbearing theme: extreme prejudice. Throughout the novel “Scout” and her brother “Jem”; their real names being Jean Louise Finch and Jeremy Atticus Finch respectively, are victims and perpetrators of prejudice. In the novel, the children’s father Atticus Finch is the defense attorney for Mr. Tom Robinson, a black man convicted of raping white women with only circumstantial evidence. This evidence only pointing to Mayella Ewell being assaulted not by him; but by her father, Mr. Bob Ewell. Tom Robinson is only a victim of prejudice, alongside a multitude of people, all because of gender, socioeconomic, and/or racial aspects of their lives.
Women the early 1900's weren't allowed to vote or be in a jury. They said women couldn't be in a jury because they were considered to be too weak to hear the details of some case, and come up with an expedient conviction. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus explains this tradition when he says, "I guess it's to protect our frail ladies from sordid cases like Tom's. Besides, I doubt if we'd ever get a complete case tried--the ladies'd be interrupting to ask questions." (221) Another example of prejudice against women is not allowing women to pursue certain careers. Women were thought not to be smart enough or strong enough to do some of the jobs men did. One of the main occupations of women was teaching. A third example of prejudice against women is when they have been force to follow a certain image, or "act like a lady." Scout discovers this when Alexandra tells her that she has to wear a dress and behave in a way that Scout feels uncomfortable. Scout also is told to stop fighting and cussing and "act like a lady." It's unfortunate that women were underestimated by what they can do and not allowed to pursue any career they
Additionally in To Kill a Mockingbird, the plot is mainly based on the trial of a black man, Tom Robinson who is wrongly accused of raping a white woman, Mayella Ewell. The main character, Scout, is just beginning to figure things out. All evidence leads to prove he is innocent, yet just the fact that he was a black man living in a southern racist town where white people are superior to black people is enough to get him c...
Racism. racism is the prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race, based on the belief that one's own race is superior. This belief has been around for many years, ever since the beginning of humanity. Many experts say that racism started in the colonial era and is know starting to diminish. Nonetheless there are still people who believe in the supremacy of their race and think someone's ethnicity makes up their personality. In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee the people of Maycomb treat African Americans like they're second class citizens. In this Novel, Lee expresses one’s appearance doesn't change people of other ethnicities character and opinions. In which Lee means your appearance can’t change
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.
While Scout is talking to Atticus, he exposes a deeper layer of gender prejudice when he says that “Miss Maudie can’t be on a jury because she’s a woman. " Scout is in disbelief and asks, “You mean women in Alabama can't?” Atticus responds, “I do”. I guess it’s to protect our frail ladies from sordid cases like Tom’s.