The Theme of Prejudice in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

To Kill A Mockingbird - Harper Lee Show how the theme of prejudice is

explored through the Characters of Boo, Atticus and Scout.

"Show how the theme of prejudice is explored through the Characters of

Boo, Atticus and Scout."

In the following essay I am going to show how the theme of prejudice

is explored through the Characters of Boo, Atticus and Scout.

Prejudice in the novel is directed towards groups as well as individuals.

As the novel progresses, the children's changing attitude toward Boo

Radley is an important measurement of their development from innocence

toward a grown-up moral perspective. At the beginning of the book, Boo

is merely a source of childhood superstition. For Scout and Jem, their

source of adventure was Boo Radley. Boo Radley was the legend of

Maycomb. Scout illustrates the legend of Boo when she explains,

"Inside the house live a malevolent phantom, People said he existed,

but Jem and I had never seen him." In a way, Boo is like ghost,

everyone knows he exists, but no one had ever seen him. All it needed

was a few curious children to reveal the life of this mystery man, and

expose his real true personality. Boo's life had been ruined by

prejudice - the rumours about him. The stories circulating about Boo

kept him away from all the other people, when really, Boo was not

malevolent. In reality, he was just a shy, middle aged man who was

ostracized by the world for his differences. As he leaves Jem and

Scout presents and mends Jems trousers, he gradually becomes

increasingly and intriguingly real to them. At the end of the novel,

he becomes fully human to Scout, illustrating that she has developed

into a sympathetic and understanding individual.

One day, after much thought,...

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...vely well-off Finches stand near the top of Maycombs social

hierarchy, with most of the townspeople beneath them. Ignorant country

farmers like the Cunningham's lie below the townspeople, and the

"White Trash" Ewells rest below the Cunningham's. The black community

in Maycomb, despite its abundance of admirable qualities, squats below

even the Ewells, enabling Bob Ewell to make up for his own lack of

importance by persecuting Tom Robinson.

These rigid social divisions that make up so much of the adult world

are revealed in the book to be both irrational and destructive. For

example, Scout cannot understand why Aunt Alexandra refuses to let her

consort with young Walter Cunningham.

Harper Lee uses the children's perplexity at the unpleasant layering

of Maycomb society to critique the role of class status and,

ultimately, prejudice in human interaction.