Examples Of Prejudice In To Kill A Mockingbird

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To Kill A Mockingbird
In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee shows how prejudice in the south affects men, women, children, blacks, and whites through the thoughts of racism, social class, and sexism. She makes it possible to understand what prejudice was like and how harmful it can be, but also that despite all the tensions in the south that there are always people who are willing to help when others are in need. There are many examples of prejudice throughout the book and it is still happening in real life.
The tensions between southerners and blacks have made life difficult because of the racism in the south. Racism was and still is a huge problem in the south that will never go away. The main cause of the racism in the south …show more content…

Just the fact of being black got you convicted of any crime. Nobody trusted blacks and would rather listen to the terrible lies of a white man than the truth of a black man.This cause the black population to be scared to even go out in public. They even segregated churches even though they had the same religion. Blacks were so used to not having whites in their church that when they saw them in their church they went crazy, “I wants to know why you bringin’ white chillun to nigger church”(Lee 135). Blacks were so scared of the whites they got scared of the children of the whites and praised them so they would not get in trouble and out in jail. When the blacks are accused of a crime the whites go crazy and start talking bad about them more and more. Teachers would teach the students about how evil Hitler was for what he was doing to the jews. In the book Scout asked Jem “...It’s time somebody taught ‘em a lesson,they were gettin’ way above themselves, an’ the next thing they can do is marry us. Jem how can you hate Hitler so bad an’ then turn around and be …show more content…

In the book Harper Lee points out how the Finches are considered to be in the higher class in Maycomb county. The constant reminders of “ Son, you know you’re a Finch, don’t you?”(Lee 151). Jem never forgets he is a Finch from his father. Being subjected because of what your social status is can cause many problems with having friends and keeping friends.Another thing is keeping a good name for the family and living up to your name is very important to higher social classes. Atticus claims that, “ Your aunt has asked me to try and impress upon you and Jean Louise that you are not a run-of-the-mill people, that you are the product of several generations’ of gentle breeding…” “Gentle breeding...and that you should try to live up to your name”( Lee 151) towards Scout and Jem because she thinks that they aren’t being raised correctly for the social class they are born

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