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How does harper lee act towards his prejudice in how to kill a mocking bird
What is harper lee tryoing to tell us about racism in her book to kill a mocking bird
How prejudice is used to kill a mockingbird
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In the world people are always preconceived based on who they are or what they look like. Even though it isn’t as big of a problem in some areas as in others, we need to fight it. If we don’t then it will continue to get more serious and at times lead to death. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Alexandra tells her niece that she can’t play with a schoolmate simply because of his class. “‘You can scrub Walter Cunningham till he shines, you can put him in shoes and a new suit, but he’ll never be like Jem…Because—he—is—trash.’” (224). This prejudiced state of mind is the foundation for the plot events of the novel. By way of experiences, a young girl, Scout Finch, must learn about the part prejudice plays in the everyday life of Maycomb County. Through settlement patterns, justice, and social stratification Harper Lee reveals the ways of prejudice. The first instance of prejudice, settlement patterns, greatly affects how people of Maycomb are prejudged, not just where they lived, but also where they dwelled. The Ewells are considered the lowest class of Maycomb, aside from the blacks, which is shown by the fact that they live at the edge of the town, right next to the black people. “‘He would show me how where and how they lived. They were people, but they lived like animals’” (30). The author describes where people live as a sort of divider among them, the Ewells not only live near the blacks, but also right next to the garbage dump. Not only was the location of on...
In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird three characters, Scout, Jem, and Atticus Finch, experience the many hardships and difficulties of human inequality in their community, Maycomb County. Scout, the narrator, gives insight to readers about the many different characters of Maycomb, yet two are alike in many ways. Mayella Ewell is a 19-year-old girl who is considered white trash and lacks education, love, and friends. Dolphus Raymond is a wealthy white man who is married to an African-American and has mixed children. Although these characters may seem different, they share many of the same advantages and disadvantages of human inequality.
At an age when other children would be easily impacted by such ideas, one would think that Scout too would be changed, when in fact it is the opposite for her; her stubbornness and defined sense of self respect cause her not to be afflicted. While the young girl is only slightly influenced by these ideas, her perspective of human nature is much broadened as she learns that prejudice is a disease with far reaching roots. Aunt Alexandra’s behavior throughout that book illustrates that while prejudices are natural among individuals, the way that one chooses to assert his own can have a profound effect on others.
The Theme of Prejudice in To Kill a Mockingbird ‘To Kill a Mocking Bird’ teaches us about the deceit and prejudice amongst the residents of Maycomb County, all of whom have very contrasting and conflicting views. We are told the story through the eyes of little girl, Scout, and the day-to-day prejudices she faces amongst society. Her father, Atticus, is a white man defending a Negro, even though the town frowns upon such a thing. He is trying to bring order to the socially segregating views, both within the court and out. The most common form of prejudice, which is seen many times throughout the novel, is racism.
Antagonization clearly presents itself in Maycomb county. The alienation of the poor and embarrassing, hatred towards people who encourage righteousness, and distressing its population shows this to be true. By making the county as a whole the protagonist, Lee conveys that racism and prejudice cause conflict in society. Interestingly, instead of having one antagonist to represent all that is evil, she says that all of the people who make up a county or community each work together to cause trouble, and potential death of an innocent “mockingbird.”
Discrimination, it’s been part of human nature for a long time it’s been an especially relevant subject in literature such as To Kill a Mockingbird. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird the main character of Scout Finch is exposed to different types of discrimination as she grows up. Discrimination affects the lives of characters in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mocking Bird because of society’s prejudicial views of race, gender, and class.
In To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, housing inequality is readily apparent and is vividly described in the description of the “Negro settlement.” Even the fact that the white townspeople call it a settlement makes it clear they do not want it to be part of the town of Maycomb. The inequality goes beyond just the housing, affecting many aspects of how the African Americans are forced to live.
To conclude my essay Harper Lee uses the time and setting to exemplify the horrible effects of prejudice through Atticus, Boo and Tom. Boo is thought to be a monster by the people of Maycomb but ends up being a very caring shy young man not a monster. Throughout the novel Atticus Finch is discriminated by the townspeople of Maycomb for doing what is right and standing up for Tom Robinson who is innocent. Tom Robinson experiences so much racism that by the time he steps in to the courtroom he is a dead man. This classic piece of literature is an epic novel that exemplifies and pints out the horrible effects of prejudice and injustice on people and how these two key matters lead to injustice and in some cases destruction.
In Harper Lee’s, To Kill a Mockingbird the use of literary themes, and motifs are used to express discrimination in the town of Maycomb. The transformation of the characters in the book through their innocence shows how lifelike they really are. The characters innocence is pulled and torn showing their physical and emotional struggles and how they react and handle their situation. So many innocent people get afflicted in the book not committing a crime but mostly by just being a bystander. Nobody has been affected more by discrimination than Boo and Tom Robinson.
The town of Maycomb has a “usual disease.” Atticus says in chapter 9, “You know what’s going to happen as well as I do, Jack, and I hope and pray I can get Jem and Scout through it without bitterness, and most of all, without catching Maycomb’s usual disease. Why reasonable people go stark raving mad when anything involving a Negro comes up, is something I don’t pretend to understand… I just hope that Jem and Scout come to me for their answers instead of listening to the town. I hope they trust me enough…” So what is the usual disease? And what does it have to do with eliminating prejudice?
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.
Did my friend really say that? If so, it must be true! In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee uses the reality of prejudice and makes it into a fictional story. The story centers around the characters Scout Finch, her attorney father Atticus, and her brother Jem. It is set in the imaginary small town of Maycomb, Alabama. To Kill a Mockingbird is a reflection of the racial tensions that Lee observed while growing up. Lee creates an inspiring masterpiece that leads readers to explore the main causes of prejudice, which starts from the hyperbolic stories of trustworthy people to the beliefs and traditions of Maycomb. Although there are many different causes of prejudice, Lee portrays the main cause of prejudice as being through the influential
Hypocrisy is as much a part of Maycomb’s society as church and community spirit. For example, Mrs. Merriweather talks about saving the poor Mruans from Africa, but she thinks black people in her community are a disgrace (p.234). The hypocrisy of this teaching is shown as soon as she mentions the word ‘persecution’. This is due to the fact that she herself is persecuting the black people of Maycomb by not raising an eyebrow at the killing of innocent black men. Furthermore, it is obvious Bob Ewell is abusive to his daughter, Mayella, and that he is the one who violated her, not Tom Robinson (p.178). Since there is such hypocrisy in Maycomb, there are excuses made for whites. The jury probably thinks that if they pronounce Tom innocent the citizens will mock them as they do to Atticus. Harper Lee uses hypocrisy to show how the people of Maycomb are so engulfed in a variety of elements that they unknowingly complete acts of unjustified discrimination.
Growing up in Maycomb, Southern Alabama in the 1930s was not an easy thing. Amid a town of prejudice and racism, stood a lone house where equality and respect for all gleamed like a shining star amid an empty space. The house of Atticus Finch was that shining star. Jean Louise Finch, also known as “Scout”, is given the opportunity of being raised in this house by her father, Atticus. I stole this essay from the net. As she grows, Atticus passes down his values of equality and righteousness to Scout and her brother Jeremy Atticus Finch, also known as “Jem”. In “To Kill a Mockingbird”, by Harper Lee, we see Scout learns many lessons about dealing with prejudice by observing the behavior of other characters in the story.
“Prejudice is a burden that confuses the past, threatens the future, and renders the present inaccessible” (Angelou). Maya Angelou illustrates the destructive nature of prejudice, and the effects that it may have on society. Her childhood took place primarily in the 1930’s, a time also known as the Depression Era where racism dictated the lives of many African-Americans that Harper Lee details in her novel To Kill a Mockingbird. Martin Luther King Jr., an advocate of black rights during the depression era, details in his essay “An Experiment in Love” how Christian love, or “agape” had sparked the African-American nonviolence movement. The novel is told through the perspective of a 6-year old girl, Scout and centralizes on two innocent figures, Arthur Radley, a social outcast, and Tom Robinson, a black man accused of rape, who are persecuted due to the prejudiced view of the town. As she matures and learns about the town, she begins to develop ideas and pass judgment on individuals that are in the town. Atticus Finch, Scout’s father, takes up the court trial to defend Tom Robinson, who is wrongly accused and sentenced of the rape of a white woman and eventually runs, only to be shot by the prison guards. Despite the open communication present in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, there is deficiency of love, as the author illustrates that societal prejudice is inevitable and leads to discrimination.
In Maycomb, there are four distinct social classes. First are the regular Maycomb neighbors like the Finches. Next are the hard-working Cunningham’s, who make the best with what they have. Following the Cunningham’s is the Ewell’s, who Atticus describes as the disgrace of Maycomb for three generations. Finally is the class of Negroes, who live in a shanty town near Maycomb.