Examples Of Prejudice In To Kill A Mockingbird

Scout, the young girl in To Kill a Mockingbird, has to try to make her aunt appreciate the qualities she has, but her uncle already does more than that. All Aunt Alexandra wants is for Scout to be more ladylike and similar to herself. Harpers Lee’s novel demonstrates how Aunt Alexandra and Uncle Jack are polar opposites with their opinion of Scout, through Uncle Jack’s understanding, and Aunt Alexandra disapproval of her actions and relationship.

Prejudice: noun. “Preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience” (Dictionary). Prejudice is one of the most relevant things in the lives of two children, Jem and Scout, in a small town, Maycomb, Alabama. It’s the 1930s, the Great Depression has already hit, and racism has already impacted this small, innocent town. Jem and Scout learn what their town is hiding by finding out who their neighbors really are. In To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, prejudice is like a second language to the people of Maycomb. It is shown by gender, race, and social status.

Famous book To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, communicates many cases of prejudice occurring in the lives of Jeremy and Jean-Louise Finch through a variety of different characters. Prejudice is an opinion about something without solid reasoning or evidence. An example includes the kids’ experience with Mrs Henry Lafayette Dubose. While she was a victim of prejudice from the society, it is clearly evident that she is more a perpetrator of prejudice than a victim of prejudice. As a morphine addict, she was known to treat the children unfairly, disliking everything they did. After a hateful time spent with her, the kids hear about Mrs Dubose’s death and discover her morphine addiction and her determination to break free before her death.

The exact definition of a prejudice thought is a preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience. Throughout the story, each person faces their own individual problems dealing with the prejudice people of Maycomb. These problems have a pattern of involving racism, sexism, or social class. These are the three key points Harper Lee is expanding on throughout the book. Tom Robinson is surrounded by issues involving his race while Scout is dealing with the sexist belief that to be a lady she has to act a certain way. On the other side of town, the Ewells and Cunningham's experience the low end of the spectrum due to Maycomb’s strong social class system. Prejudiced beliefs dominate much of the story of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, which causes the

Scout evaluates people based on their actions; therefore people who did the best they could with the tools they were given Scout considers good, respectable people. Aunt Alexandra, on the other hand, assesses people based on their family history. The longer a family has stuck to their roots and the longer they have held their plot of land the more highly she thinks of that family. This shows a lot about Aunt Alexandra and Scout’s values and

Injustice, a beast that rages on through the ages and generations, however, a class of individuals have always had a presence, fighting compassion and equality. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird many examples of racism and prejudice arise, the way her characters handle such things speaks volumes to the theory of compassionate, determined activists. Segregation of everything from housing to public amenities had a common place in Alabama, especially in the town of Monroeville, the real-life town on which Maycomb is based. Atticus, the patriarch of the Finch family, struggles on because he believes that one day, goodness will prevail over the evils of racism, sadly his attempts at freeing a wrongly accused black man do not succeed. Other

In “To Kill A Mockingbird,” the author includes many forms of discrimination in different ways. In that time of history, it was known to the world that blacks were lower than them on every level on life. Also in that point in history, gender was also discriminated. People in the classroom and even how much money you owned was also discriminated against people. In “To Kill a Mockingbird,” all these forms of discrimination are used in different ways.

Gender bias in Maycomb occurs in Scout’s own home between her and her own family members. Jem and Scout would often times fight, like normal siblings, but it was clear that at times, Jem took it too far by speaking words of hurtful bias towards Scout’s gender. After Jem hurts her, Scout doubts the power and beauty of being a female by stating, "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” (54). Not only does conflict arise between Scout and her brother in regard to gender bias, but it also occurs between Scout and her Aunt Alexandra. Time and time again, Aunt Alexandra scolds Scout for

She deems it necessary on her part that in order to nourish Scout’s growth in becoming a proper lady she will need to step in and take over. She also believes that Scout needs to conform to the social standards in Maycomb in order to be considered a lady. Her aunt’s beliefs that girls should act one way and not in a way pertaining to boys forces Scout to believe that, “I could not possibly hope to be a lady if I wore breeches” (108). It shows how Aunt Alexandra has been changed by society that women cannot do things that men can and be considered a “lady”, and in turn casting those beliefs on to Scout. Aunt Alexandra clearly demonstrates a form of gender bias as she holds tightly to traditional

To Kill A Mockingbird is a novel that shows prejudice in society. The narrator Scout knows most of her neighbors. Jem and Scout could have judged people by their looks when their personality could be different. The new teacher in their town doesn’t know most of the people there. She thinks they all have a good lifestyle. A child could see everything in a good point of view while an adult could see it as a bad point of view.

Harper Lee, in her coming-of-age fiction novel To Kill a Mockingbird, develops a prejudice theme. She does this with the help of a lonely man named, Boo Radley. Lee uses this specific character in order to portray a prejudice theme throughout the novel with the use of his isolation, violence, and trepidation.

Aunt Alexandra petitions for Scout to serve tea time one afternoon, and Scout completes the task accompanied by Calpurnia, dressed in a crisply starched dress that concealed the boyish trousers she treasured so much. Aunt Alexandra graciously invites Scout to come sit and chat with the ladies. Unexpecting of anything of worth in the small talk, Scout hears a conversation, though so civilized and polite, so full of quiet yet powerful courage, so unlike a boy’s honoring bravery. Thier innocent chit chat revealed the towns biased beliefs, and Miss Maudie and Aunt Alexandra hear of something unforgivable and so ironic it was sad in the iconic conversation of the ladies of Maycomb. Scout witnesses the intangible way the pair stand up for what they believed in, not in the way that Scout knew so well, but in a complicated, strange but just as powerful way. Miss Maudie’s courage was most apparent, the way she stood contrary and cold to Miss Merriweather and the others without even raising her voice. Simple gestures like squeezing Scout’s hands and a slightly colder tone said so much. But Aunt Alexandra also showed courage, composing herself after the devastating news of Tom Robinsons’s death and her silent thanks to Miss Maudie when she silenced the ironic and discrimitory women

In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee shows the readers the different forms of discrimination that infected the South during the 1930s. While reading the book I saw different discriminations that were prominent. The most obvious discriminations I saw in this book were racism, prejudice, and sexism. Racism, prejudice, and sexism back then and in present day have many similarities.

An important conflict that helps us understand the character of Scout Finch is shown during a disagreement between Scout herself and her Aunt Alexandra. Scout does not get along well with her aunt as they do not share the same views about Scout’s attire. Unlike most of the girls her age who would wear pretty dresses, Scout would wear seemingly boyish outfits that consisted of overalls and pants. Aunt Alexandra disapproves of this as Scout’s clothing choices are unusual in the prim and proper town of Southern Maycomb. Scout, however, does not mind being different from the other girls and dresses as she pleases. With the endeavor to change this, her aunt attempts to suppress Scout’s tomboyish style by molding her into the stereotype of a proper southern lady. Aunt Alexandra states to Scout that she “could not possibly hope to be a lady if [Scout] wore breeches” and that Scout should be a “ray of sunshine in [Scout’s] fathers lonely

There are racism in the book, in the packets, and all over the world. Harper Lee wrote To Kill A Mockingbird during the Great Depression when racism was going on. She uses real life examples because she wrote about her childhood and her experiences. The connections between Jim Crow laws, mob mentality, and the Scottsboro boys.