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Racial and symbolism in to kill a mockingbird
Social class and society
Racial and symbolism in to kill a mockingbird
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Isabella Mincevska
ENG2D7
Ms. Whittaker
September 27 2015 Poor Judgment
Everyone will experience prejudice at least once in their lives. Whether someone is responsible for being prejudice towards another, or is a target of prejudice, it is always based off ignorance. Ignorance is a lack of knowledge, and the use of one's own ideas rather than cold, hard facts. In Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize winning novel To Kill A Mockingbird, the prejudice towards others caused by a character's difference from societal norms, is simply based on ignorance. This is shown through racist, classist and gender biased assumptions.
Racism is easily found in Maycomb. After Atticus makes it clear he is going to actually try to prove Tom Robinson's innocence,
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Miss Caroline has a variety of students in her class, from the Ewells to the Finches to the Cunninghams, therefore it is no surprise that a teacher of a relatively higher class would not understand those of the lower class. Walter Cunningham can easily be described as poor and a child from the lower class, since he never has any lunch and has no shoes on. However, Miss Caroline, being the new teacher and not being used to the country folk, does not seem to understand. After she finds out Walter does not have a lunch she says to him, "'Here's a quarter'...'Go and eat downtown today, you can pay me back tomorrow'"(25). Miss Caroline does not realize that Walter cannot afford to pay her back, to which Scout says, "'Miss Caroline, He's a Cunningham' I sat back down, 'What, Jean Louise?'…'The Cunninghams never took anything they can't pay back'" (26). Miss Caroline just assumes that everyone in class is able to afford the different luxuries that the higher class is used to having, proving the difference in classes and the ignorance the higher class have towards the lower class. In addition to the classism found in a school setting, Aunt Alexandra is someone who is clearly classist, even towards children. Scout asks Alexandra if she can play with Walter Cunningham, Alexandra denies her. Scout does not understand why she is not allowed to play with him and tells her aunt, "'But I want to play with Walter, aunty, why can't I?' she took off her glasses and stared at me. 'I'll tell you why' She said, 'Because-he-is-trash, that's why you can't play with him'" (301). Aunt Alexandra is an obvious classist and feels no shame to say such comments about an innocent child in front of another child. She assumes that Walter as a person is trash just because he is of the lower class, nothing else. Alexandra judges people based on wealth, and her own personal ideas,
Harper Lee wrote, “when Atticus turned away from Mayella he looked like his stomach hurt.” during the trial. (chapter 18) People tried to force their way into prison and kill Tom Robinson. A group of white men including Mr Cunningham really wanted him killed as the town believed the white family’. They chose the Ewells over Tom Robinson because he is black. There were two churches in Maycomb, one for the blacks and one for the whites. This is another example of racism. They also had separate seating arrangements in the courthouse for white and black
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
Prejudice is a preconceived feeling or opinion that is not based on reason or actual experienced. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee one of the main themes was prejudice. Prejudice is based on ignorance and that is shown in the novel. Many characters were unwilling to understand others which displayed their ignorance. Harper Lee explored different types of prejudice throughout the novel with character interaction.
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.
In the town of Maycomb, there is a big case about a black man who is accused of rape. Scout's father Atticus is the black man's lawyer. While talking to scout about his case, Atticus says, "'Simply because we were licked a hundred years ago before it started is no reason for us to try to win'"(Lee 87). Even Atticus a fair and right man admits there's racism in the town of Maycomb and that he will not win the case because of it. The town of Maycomb has some good people, but many people have racist and unfair
The Cunningham family was an example of social prejudice because they were poor. “Miss Caroline, he’s a Cunningham” (Lee, 20). This is when they are in class and Miss Caroline is trying to give him lunch money. Scout tells her he is poor and won’t be able to pay her back and is too proud to take it. “He ain’t company, Cal, he’s just a Cunningham” (Lee, 25). They invited Walter back to the house for lunch and he poured syrup all over his food and Scout gets on his case about it. Cal tells her she shouldn’t do that and she implies that it doesn’t matter what they say to him he is just a Cunningham, she is being prejudiced because she knows he is poor. Another reason people are prejudiced to the Cunninghams is because they have to pay with crops.
How would you like it if someone walked up to you and berated you based on the color of your skin? A characteristic like that isn’t even something you can control, so an insult of that nature can leave one furious and oppressed. Discrimination is inevitable in any culture, throughout history, in modern times, and even in ancient times. For example, the oppression and murder of 6 million Jewish people during the Holocaust, the African Slave Trade which occurred for multiple centuries, and more recently, the “ethnic cleansing” of Rohingya people in Myanmar, brought on by the government of the Asian nation, all of which are tragedies doomed to happen when history repeats itself and people do not learn
Readers also see countless examples of sexism alongside others. Many of these examples of sexism are seen in Scout and her reactions when others refer to her as a girl or tell her that she must act more ladylike. Whenever Scout’s brother Jem wants her to do something for him or keep her from doing something, he refers to her as Miss Priss (Lee 62), because Jem knows that Scout absolutely despises being represented as a girl or feminine in any way. The main reason why Scout hates being a girl so much is that she wants to be able to do whatever she wants without being confined to what her society believes that a proper woman should be and how they should act. Even many of the women in the story tell Scout that she needs to act according to their standards and Aunt Alexandra is back with another lesson for Scout. “It won’t be many years, Jean Louise, before you become interested in clothes and boys” (Lee 170). It is clear that Alexandra knows that Scout is in no way a lady by her standards, but still has hope for her. Scout however understands exactly what her Aunt is getting at and is very quick to let readers know that she is not on board with Alexandra’s plan. Alexandra represents the general population of women and how they see themselves and how the rest of the world sees
Racism. racism is the prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race, based on the belief that one's own race is superior. This belief has been around for many years, ever since the beginning of humanity. Many experts say that racism started in the colonial era and is know starting to diminish. Nonetheless there are still people who believe in the supremacy of their race and think someone's ethnicity makes up their personality. In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee the people of Maycomb treat African Americans like they're second class citizens. In this Novel, Lee expresses one’s appearance doesn't change people of other ethnicities character and opinions. In which Lee means your appearance can’t change
racism in the society is not as strong as it used to be but it is