What Is The Role Of Prejudice In To Kill A Mockingbird

Growing up in a prejudiced environment can cause individuals to develop biased views in regard to both gender and class. This is true in Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, where such prejudices are prevalent in the way of life of 1930s Maycomb, Alabama. The novel is centered around the trial of a black man who is accused of raping a white woman. The narrator, a young girl named Scout, is able to get a close up view of the trial because her father is defending Tom Robinson, the defendant. The aura of the town divided by the trial reveals certain people's’ prejudices to Scout, giving her a better perspective of her world. 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 lands, the

At an age when other children would be easily impacted by such ideas, one would think that Scout too would be changed, when in fact it is the opposite for her; her stubbornness and defined sense of self respect cause her not to be afflicted. While the young girl is only slightly influenced by these ideas, her perspective of human nature is much broadened as she learns that prejudice is a disease with far reaching roots. Aunt Alexandra’s behavior throughout that book illustrates that while prejudices are natural among individuals, the way that one chooses to assert his own can have a profound effect on