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Judging others for things they cannot control is a central element of human nature. From race to disabilities, people are quick to make generalizations based on labels others are born with. For example, in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, prejudice against others because of their family and social class is a major topic. The novel uses many of its characters to prove how this type of prejudice negatively affects people. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee demonstrates that prejudices in a community limit how community members can succeed and be happy in life.
Prejudice causes people to see poor children like Walter Cunningham as helpless trash, which limits disadvantaged children’s goals and aspirations in life. Walter Cunningham
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is a boy in Scout’s class from a poor family who has a reputation for their lack of wealth.
Walter does not do well in school because his family needs him for the harvest, but he still has admirable qualities. When Walter comes over to the Finch house for dinner, Scout realizes he is very knowledgeable about farming: “He and Atticus talked together like two men, to the wonderment of Jem and me” (Lee 32). Despite struggling in school, Walter shows he is not stupid, for he and Atticus are able to hold a conversation about agriculture that Scout and Jem, two very educated children, cannot even begin to follow. Also, Walter refuses to take his teacher’s money because he knows he cannot pay it back. He politely declines the offer instead of becoming hostile and violent because she embarrasses him in front of the class. This proves Walter’s father is a good man who instills values and manners into his son. Even though there is so much evidence that Walter is a kind, well-intentioned boy, it does not stop Aunt Alexandra from telling Scout, “Because-he-is-trash, that’s why you can’t play with him” (Lee 301). Like so many other people in Maycomb, Aunt Alexandra allows her prejudices to interfere with her sense of logic and reasoning. No matter how hard Walter tries, to many …show more content…
in Maycomb he is just another Cunningham, just another piece of trash. This will hurt Walter in the future because despite his true character, people will judge him harshly because of his family’s reputation. Since there is nothing he can do to change his background or people’s opinions, Walter will most likely not even try to fight against the stereotypes and accept his role as just another poor, unsuccessful Cunningham. The attitudes that unfairly separate Walter into an inferior class just because of his family or lack of wealth limit he sees himself and how others see him. Stereotypes and resulting inaction also hurt people like Mayella Ewell by causing others to ignore and even justify their abuse, which prevents them from leaving a harmful situation.
Mayella at the trial is a bitter, damaged woman who has given up on escaping her abusive home. But there is proof that Mayella was once a better person. At the trial, even Scout thinks that “Mayella looked as if she tried to keep clean, and I was reminded of the row of red geraniums in the Ewell yard” (Lee 239). Unlike Burris and the other Ewells, Mayella attempts to stay clean and look respectable. Additionally, she grows red flowers in the front yard, a plant which is only grown for beauty. These two things, along with sending her siblings to get ice cream with her meager savings, prove that Mayella could have been a better person. Despite her seemingly good nature, she still allows an innocent man, Tom Robinson, to get locked away for the rest of his life. Mayella’s actions are the result of years of abuse, both physical and mental, by her father Bob Ewell. Atticus exposes Mayella’s life to the rest of the community at the trial: “‘Except when he’s drinking?’ asked Atticus so gently that Mayella nodded” (Lee 245). Even though he exposes the truth about Bob, nobody in Maycomb does anything to help Mayella. Their reasoning is Mayella is just another no-good Ewell, so why bother helping her. People assume she was always the nasty woman she is now instead of piecing together that Bob’s abuse has
destroyed her and left her in his complete control. They allow their negative preconceptions about Mayella because of her family interfere with their sense of reasoning. Because of this, Mayella is left to remain living with her father, who continues to abuse her. These prejudices result in her and her siblings being left in a dangerous, potentially lethal environment. Prejudice also causes people to turn a blind eye to the abuse of unusual people like Boo Radley which prevents them from getting help to escape their abusive situation. The Radleys confuse the people of Maycomb because they do not socialize like the rest of the town. Scout explains, “The Radleys, welcome anywhere in town, kept to themselves, a predilection unforgivable in Maycomb” (Lee 11). Just because they want some privacy and do not do things the same way as everyone else, the townspeople believe that the Radley family is strange and different and that can explain all of their behavior. After Boo and some of his friends lock a man in the courthouse closet during a petty juvenile crime spree, his father completely isolates him from the outside world and he is never seen again. The people of Maycomb, rather than question the extremely suspicious situation, assume that it is just another strange thing the Radleys do. The prejudice towards the Radley family prevents them from realizing that something horrible is happening to Boo. Instead they dehumanize Boo and make him seem like a monster that deserves what has happened to him. The townspeople believe Boo is another strange Radley who does what he does because of his last name instead of using reasoning to realize he is trapped and is in desperate need of help. Harper Lee’s novel proves making preconceptions about others because of things they cannot change reduces the chance that they succeed and achieve happiness. For victims of abuse such as Mayella and Boo, prejudice leads to otherwise moral people ignoring mistreatment. In cases of judgments based on socioeconomic class, prejudice hurts children like Walter by preventing them from being respected as hard-working, moral people and instead seen as trash. By creating stereotypes based on factors people cannot control, communities hurt the stereotyped by legitimizing unjust treatment. It is important to look past prejudgments of people and evaluate them on their life choices, not choices made for them by others.
Scout's perception of prejudice is evolved through countless experiences in Harper Lee's, To Kill a Mockingbird. Written in the nineteen thirties, To Kill a Mockingbird promotes the understanding of self-discovery through Scout, an intelligent and outspoken child living with respectable family in Maycomb County, Alabama. Throughout various encounters in the novel, Harper Lee causes Scout's perspective to change and develop from innocence to awareness and eventually towards understanding.
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.
Throughout the novel Harper Lee explores the racism, prejudice, and the innocence that occurs throughout the book. She shows these topics through her strong use of symbolism throughout the story.
“Prejudice is a learned trait. You’re not born prejudice; you’re taught it” –Charles R Swindoll. The novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee is about a young girl named Scout who lives in a world filled with prejudice. There are many instances and types of prejudice in the novel. A man named Tom Robinson was convicted for doing a crime he never did because of the color of his skin. To this day, Tom would have never been tried because the evidence assuredly shows he is not guilty. One only becomes prejudice if you are taught it from other prejudice people. Harper Lee shows this idea throughout her novel through her characters, dialogue and theme.
Throughout the story, Aunt Alexandra’s behaviors indirectly teach Scout that prejudice is a disease with deep and far reaching roots. As Scout is exposed to Aunt Alexandra’s ideas regarding the hierarchy of society, she also begins to understand why Aunt Alexandra holds such opinions. When Aunt Alexandra comes to stay with the children, she also brings along her unending gossip about other families in Maycomb. Scout explains that “Aunt Alexandra was of the opinion, obliquely expressed, that the longer a family had been squatting on one patch of land, the finer it was” (173).
“Agape means understanding, redeeming good will for all men… Therefore, agape makes no distinction between friends and enemy.” Martin Luther King Jr.’s “An Experiment in Love” emphasizes the importance of understanding and compassion, and the equality of all men on earth, for “all men are brothers.” To Kill a Mockingbird, set in the 1930’s, similarly examines these ideas during the time of the Great Depression, when many families were unable to find work and therefore became impoverished. It was also a time when racism was largely present. In many situations, racism was taught to one’s children, and then to the next generation. When ignorance is taught to children by their own parents, it is not uncommon that those children will continue
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.
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.
Prejudice is a real life problem in the world. In To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee describes the prejudices found in a small American town in the 1930's. Race, social class, and gender are examples of prejudice.
The book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is a Pulitzer Prize winning novel. It is set in the 1930s, a time when racism was very prominent. Harper Lee emphasizes the themes of prejudice and tolerance in her novel through the use of her characters and their interactions within the Maycomb community. The narrator of the story, Scout, comes across many people and situations with prejudice and tolerance, as her father defends a black man.
One of the widely recognized controversies in American history is the 1930s, which housed the Great Depression and the post-civil war, the ruling of Plessy versus Ferguson and the Jim Crow Laws, and segregation. While textbooks detail the factual aspect of the time there is only one other literature that can exhibit the emotion experienced in the era. To Kill a Mockingbird is the acclaimed novel that displays the experiences of the South, through inequality and segregation, social class differences and the right to fairness. The novel’s experiences are narrated through a grown Scout, who appears as a little girl in the novel, offering her innocent views on the happenings in Maycomb County. The most observed aspect of the novel is race and racism; with Tom Robinson’s trial being the prime focus of the novel, the issue of race is bound to be discussed throughout the novel is race, racism and segregation; with Tom Robinson’s trial being the focus of the novel, the issue of race is heavily represented throughout the novel. With Mockingbird being a common book among English Language Arts and Literatures classrooms, the topic of race is bound to surface amid a young, twenty-first century group of student of students with the inevitability of this discussion, the question remains on how to approach the conversation as an educator. As an educator, one should seek to establish the context of the times, prepare the students for the conversation and examine the other characters and situations similarly to race. Educators must also be introspective before examining their students’ feelings, so that they are not surprised by their emotions and can also express their feelings to their students. The discussion should target a goal, one of examin...
Many people on a day to day basis deal with prejudice on a daily basis. It can be very sad to see happen, but it indeed does happen in many places. In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee highlights prejudice throughout the book. In the novel examples are shown by education levels, how different people live and treated, and the injustice in the court of law.
Throughout time, discrimination against others has influenced world history. Whether it may be gender, race or religion, due to insecurity and quickness to judge, humankind will continue to do so until the end of time. In Harper Lee’s, To Kill A Mockingbird she emphasizes the prevalence of discriminatory actions specifically in the 1940s, that leads to people to follow a certain circumscription of how to act based on a society's norm. Lee highlights boundaries that characters set up and break down to enunciate the widespread of common stereotypes set up in that time and what the effect of one person's willpower to stand up can have on society.
Prejudice is a strong word. In the novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, a black man, Tom Robinson, was accused of raping a white woman, Mayella Ewell, and was brought to trial. There were distinct views concerning Tom Robinson's innocence – views influenced by prejudice. The townspeople of Maycomb believed in Tom's guilt while Atticus and the children believed in Tom's innocence.
As long as stereotypes remain a part of society, justice cannot be upheld due to the bias and prejudice of these misconceptions. Specifically, in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee displays the outcome of a racist and stereotypical society through the eyes of the young protagonist Jean Louise (Scout) Finch. As Scout matures, she begins to notice the myriad of flaws and imperfections within her society and as a result, Scout’s father, Atticus Finch, teaches her to look past an individual's exterior. Thus, Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird displays the physical consequences of stereotypes as well as how they limit, restrict, and govern the actions of humans; ultimately, this exhibits the destructive nature of stereotypes that also prevents individual growth.