Examples Of Prejudice In To Kill A Mockingbird

The End to One’s Beginning: A View on Racism, Gender, and Society in a Small Town

People of all ages, and genders experience prejudice in their everyday lives, either as victims or being guilty themselves of using it towards others due to differences in between them. Prejudice is a presumption of a person based on stereotypes, rumors, the area they are situated in, and hearsay, without any solid facts. Inequity based on gender, sexuality, nationality, and skin colour also highly affects one’s opinions. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee denotes the evils of prejudice and the negative consequences of prejudice that lie in the town of Maycomb, Alabama. By taking the reader, page by page, through various current life situations, and

It is due to his past and the current mentions of him that provoke the townspeople to think prejudicially, and thwart him from having the chance to live normally. Boo was painted as a monster, one adults feared, and that children were told stories about, so that they didn’t bother anyone, he is seen overall as a savage. It is said “Boo was about six and a half feet tall… there was a long jagged scar that ran across his face; what teeth he had where yellow and rotten; his eyes popped, and he drooled most of the time”(13). By making reference to these exaggerated physical features, Jem easily depicts Boo to be a creature that is to be less than human. As Jem, a character who is trusted by Scout and Dill, tells these stories he is then passing ignorance forward. One is not able to truly see Boo as a soul, when there are more horror stories centered on him, than tales of happiness, joy, and the simple essence of being human. In another situation the story is told “Inside the house lived a malevolent phantom. People said he existed, but Jem and I had never seen him. People said he went out at night when the moon was down, and peeped in windows. When people’s azaleas froze in a cold snap, it was because he had breathed on them. Any stealthy small crimes committed in Maycomb were his work….Radley pecans would kill you. A baseball hit into the Radley yard was a

It is made quite apparent to the reader that racial prejudice is incorrect and the treatment of African-Americans' is cruel and unjust. Innocent Scout highlights the racial problems when she asked Atticus, "Do you defend niggers, Atticus?"(75) It is said often, that children are not born with ignorance, and hate, but rather grow up around it and follow the actions who they see important. In the novel the author shows the innocence of Scout, Jem, and Dill on many occasions. Though these children are made to realise that prejudice, ignorance and hatred will always find a victim, one who is slightly more vulnerable than the rest. One character who falls short of these beliefs in Maycomb County’s intrinsic discrimination is Tom Robinson. Tom is an African American male, which in Maycomb’s social structure, was seen as the lowest standing. When he was on trial for the alleged rape of a white woman, Mayella Ewell, he did not stand much of a chance of winning a favourable verdict. Atticus tries to explain the racist view of the town to Jem by saying, “Tom Robinson’s a coloured man, Jem. No jury in this part of the world’s going to say, ‘we think you’re actually guilty, but not very’ on a charge like that. It was either a straight or nothing” (219). He continues to say, “In our courts when it's a white