Prejudice, defined as judging someone based off of prior knowledge or their physical appearance. Throughout reading To Kill a Mockingbird many lessons are shown, one prominent thing to be learned from the story, is not to judge a person before you know them. Many of the children begin to learn that being judged primarily is common in Maycomb County. Prejudice is a large theme in the story, shown through gender, class, and racial discrimination.
First of all, Harper Lee shows discrimination by explaining the differences between genders. A woman, like Miss Stephanie, must always act like a lady. Miss Stephanie is a woman who very much fits the stereotype society wants her to be. Scout is another example, of this. She is encouraged to act very
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People are judged based on their education, income, and how they act in public settings. Jem explains to Scout how he thinks there are classes in the book when he says, “there’s folks like us, then the Cunninghams, the Ewells, and colored folks” Therefore the more wealthy, and economically accepted people are at the top of the ladder, and are considered more trustworthy or classy. Scout disagrees with this, but it is clear as a reader who is older than Scout, I agree that it should not be this way, yet it is very prominent that it is. This is obvious during the trial when Scout explains that the Cunninghams won’t take what they can’t pay back. She has to explain that he’s not as fortunate as she is and when she does, it shows how his family is less respected than hers. Another example is the Ewells, beside their rotten attitudes which already caused most respect for them to be lost, they lived near the dump with many children, who all had no education, and a lack of interest in school, or anything productive. They are below the Cunninghams, due to their lack of respect, and their lack of education, and lack of pride in things they work for, if they even work at …show more content…
Though the best example of it would be the Tom Robinson case, when there is clearly no evidence to charge him of rape, but because of the fact that he is black, the jury rules him as guilty. Tom Robinson was known as a great man who never hurt anyone according to anyone he had spoken to, or had worked for, he claimed Mayella Ewell kissed him and he didn’t know what to do, this seems a far more likely story than a man crippled in his left arm, swinging at her and choking her. The Jury had no medical evidence convicting him of beating Mayella, raping her, or anything of the sort. Atticus states during the trial, “Tom Robinson, has no use of his left hand.” And Tom backs up the story, claiming he got it stuck in a cotton gin.Every person knows he is innocent, but convicting a white man, and favoring a black man’s case could ruin a reputation of many. Furthermore, Bob Ewell continues to hold a grudge against Atticus for defending a black man, although Tom had still lost the
Atticus had enough evidence to prove to the Jury that Tom’s right arm did not work and that would mean that Tom could not have pulled Mayella to the ground and bruised her as the policeman described. The crowd was surprised but the Jury and the Judge did not believe Atticus’s evidence. They were prejudiced and if Atticus came up with the best possible explanation the Judge still believed the Ewell family and they did not come up with a reasonable explanation about Tom. “As you grow older, you’ll see white men cheat black men every day of your life, but let me tell you something and don’t you forget it whenever a white man does that to a black man, no matter who he is, how rich he is, or how fine a family he comes from, that white man is trash” (Atticus) chapter 23. Prejudice hurts people who are black and people who were different and young
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.
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.
Another form of prejudice that is found in To Kill a Mockingbird is religious prejudice. This form is first shown when the children are with Miss Maudie while she is tending to her garden. Jem, Scout and Dill kept asking questions about Mr. Radley. Miss Maudie tells them about Mr. Radley’s religious beliefs, calling him one of the “foot washing Baptists”, believers. that believe that anything that gives you pleasure is a sin (Les 49).
Prejudice is defined as an "opinion formed without taking the time and care to judge fairly".In the novel 'To kill a mocking bird' there are several themes present like growing up, bravery and prejudice, but the main theme in this book is prejudice.
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 reader can then infer that in To Kill a Mockingbird, society believes that white people are a symbol of the superior race, and colored people are a symbol of the inferior race. Neither of which is true because no one person is one-hundred percent honorable or evil. Unfortunately, stereotypes and beliefs of the time lead the people of Maycomb County to be unable to view everyone as equal and instead only focus on race. Tom’s situation is an overall representation showing that when people treat others differently based on color that someone will have to face the consequences of this thought process. In the book, Tom fails to receive a fair trial just because he is black, yet many years earlier in the 19th century, Sir William Garrow coined the term “innocent until proven guilty.” The phrase itself never specifies only being true for white people or any certain group of people, for that matter. Due to personal bias, the people of the time are able to twist that phrase and unfortunately warp it into something closer to “guilty until proven innocent.” The reader can infer based on his actions of distancing himself that Atticus feels misunderstood and even alone. He is fighting a battle
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.
As the story progresses, Scout slowly becomes introduced into the world of hatred, unfairness, and racism that the 1930’s exposed. Nevertheless, since Scout still had both her innocence and naivete, due to her premature age, she completely expressed total disapproval towards the treatment of blacks during the time of her childhood. The author portrays this disapproval through Dill and Jem, Scout’s friend, and Scout’s brother, respectively, as shown here by Dill, “‘I don’t care one speck. It ain’t right to do ‘em that way. Hasn’t anybody got any business talkin’ like that—it just makes me sick.’';
The Various Forms of Discrimination in the Novel To Kill a Mockingbird In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, we see several forms of discrimination. For most people, when they hear the word discrimination, they think of racism, ageism, or something else similar. These are all some of the most common forms of discrimination, but they are not the only forms of it that exist. The types of discrimination I will mostly be talking about are sexism, racism, and classism. The first form of discrimination I will talk about is how people tell Scout that she has to wear dresses all of the time, and that she has to have perfect manners.
"Prejudices, it is well known, are most difficult to eradicate from the heart whose soil has never been loosened or fertilized by education; they grow there, firm as weeds among stones"- Charlotte Brontë. Nearly every problem and unfortunate mishap in Harper Lee's, To Kill A Mockingbird, has been somehow revolved around prejudice or discrimination. Many different forms of prejudice are found throughout the novel, with racism, sexism, and classicism the most common. The residents of Maycomb have discrimination running through their veins and were raised to be racist and sexist, without realizing. They see nothing wrong with judging other people and treating people that they find inferior harshly. Prejudice is a destructive force because it separates the people of Maycomb, both physically and mentally.
“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.
”You couldn’t, but they could and did... [Atticus]” – Atticus and Jem, in reference to the jury convicting an innocent man because he is black.
The theme of the novel is that the world contains evil and good. Scout and Jem represent innocence, and how they have never really witnessed evil until the trial starts.Since the novel was placed in the 30s the reader can clearly see the gender inequality that is interpreted throughout the novel. Gender inequality is where a gender gets treated differently based on what gender they are, and how they are “suppose” to act. During the depression era women were not as high profile as men, and they were meant to stay at home and handle the household duties. If they were to get a job they were not paid as much, and not treated as high priority or a-list positions. In the novel Jem often offends Scout because she complains or whines. “I was not so sure, but Jem told me I was being a girl, that girls always imagined things, that's why other people hated them so, and if I started behaving like one I could just go off and find some to play with”(Lee 41). Scout did not want to play the game where they reenact Arthur Radley’s life, and Jem says she is acting like a girl. It's almost as if she is only like a girl when she acts a certain way, but not the fact that she was born a girl. Scout does whatever she can to keep from being called a girl. Mrs. Dubose also comments about Scout being a girl, and how
They do not judge by skin color, nor do they discriminate because someone is different. Atticus has educated them in a way that helps them see themselves in a different way than others, even at such a young age. “Scout and Jem wonder about the origins of the events in their lives between the summer of 1932 and the fall of 1935” (Anderson 1). During these years, Scout and Jem grew and matured more than an average adult would in 20 years of life.