To Kill a Mockingbird Essay No matter how old or how young a person may be, there always exists a small opinion on someone before even meeting them. This is based on the other person’s different aspects. For example, their gender, looks, or race. This is called prejudice. In the novel, "To Kill a Mockingbird," Harper Lee demonstrates the different uses of prejudice when a black man loses a court case mainly because of his skin colour. Although people are slowly stopping to prejudge others, Lee demonstrates how prejudice can lead to making people have less respect for another person through the use of racism, mental and/or physical illness, or social class. First of all, Lee shows Prejudice through the many uses of racism. For example, during …show more content…
First, Jem, Scout, and Dill have just met. Summer is passing by and all they are doing is enacting many different plays/stories. One day, Dill has an idea to call Boo Radley out. “Inside the house lived a malevolent phantom. […] Any stealthy crimes committed in Maycomb were his work.” –says Scout. (9). This relates to the thesis because all three children believe that Boo has a mental problem and this is why he is “evil”. However, they prejudge him based on the neighbourhood’s stories but they have never really met him to know how he really is. This way, the children give him less respect because they always think of him in a negative way. On the other hand, Jem and Scout misjudge Mrs. Dubose because she actually has a mental illness, yet they failed to understand this. One day Jem and Scout are walking by Mrs. Dubose’s house. When Scout kindly says hello, Mrs. Dubose responds to her rudely. Jem and Scout say she is just a mean, old woman. By prejudging her falsely, they fail to realize that she actually does have a mental illness. Since they cannot realize this, they fail to give her the respect she needs because they would always talk back to her. In conclusion, Lee demonstrates that prejudice also exists when thinking that someone else has a mental illness or
Prejudice is one of the world’s greatest struggles. It does not only hold society back, but is harmful to the people who do good .In Harper Lee’s book To Kill A Mockingbird, Scout and Jem live through and witness prejudice and racism in the small town of Maycomb. They see someone wrongly accused of a crime because of his race. Scout and Jem also witness and take part in prejudice against a man no one knows anything about. In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird Harper Lee uses characterization to show the negative effects of prejudice and racism.
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.
At some point everyone has judged someone or has been judged , and this leads to stereotypes and prejudice. In to “Kill a Mockingbird” Harper Lee displays how judging a man by his color leads to unfortunate events. Through symbolism , stereotypes, colorism , Harper lee shows that everyone eventually judges even if they don’t see it as judging .
In the story “To Kill A Mockingbird” by Harper Lee, the main character Scout realizes the town she lives in is full of bias and prejudice toward negros. Scout, the only daughter of lawyer Atticus Finch, is faced with the activism that follows this prejudice when her father decides to defend a negro, Tom Robinson, in the court of law. She is constantly harassed and tormented by the residence of their small town, Maycom. What Lee is trying to show through these events is that people are always going to have prejudices, and sometimes these prejudices come from the people you least expect it form. In the story, neighbors, friends, and family all show their prejudices about the defendant Tom Robinson to Scout, who finally realize the world isn’t perfect but is, in fact, full of flaws and prejudices.
1. The novel, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee shows many examples of prejudice behaviors. “Tom [Robinson] was a dead man the minute Mayella Ewell opened her mouth and screamed’ (Lee, 323). Scout, the narrator, develops the statement by providing information about the trial. Tom Robinson was a black man living in Maycomb, he was convicted of raping Mayella Ewell, although there is no proof. Furthermore, the quote also illustrates prejudice by the automatic assumption that Tom Robinson committed the crime.
Prejudice should not exist in this world. But unfortunately, it does and it always will somehow. The book, To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, is an inspiring book and brings out hard truths about how the world used to be, about the great depression, and in some aspects how it still is today. It follows a girl named Scout and her family through three years of her childhood. Her father, Atticus Finch, took on a very big challenge to defend a negro for raping a girl. The book sort of revolves around this event. Prejudice is in many different forms of discrimination. Throughout the book it is demonstrated by race, class, and gender.
What really is prejudice? Prejudice is an opinion based only upon personal bias, and not any actual facts or evidence. Within the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, there are a variety of situations where prejudice is taken into effect over facts and evidence. When Lee does this, he is not only just giving the characters some detail, but he is also showing what prejudice really means and how it can affect people. A few examples could be when scout is basing her opinion on no facts, Lila at the church getting her opinion from just the kids being white, Boo Radley being judged without facts by everyone, and Tom Robinson being black meaning is already guilty.
If I had to define prejudice, I would say a preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience. There are many examples of prejudice in To Kill a Mockingbird. To Kill A Mockingbird (TKAM) is about Scout Jem and Dill who learn valuable life lessons. They watch a trial of a black man accused of raping white women unfold.Throughout TKAM you can see Harper Lee is saying that nobody is born prejudice but throughout their childhood, it is learned. Throughout TKAM we can see how the kids learn prejudice through race, class, and gender.
Harper Lee’s book, To Kill A Mockingbird takes place in the difficult times of the Great Depression in the early 1930’s. The novel surrounds the life of a young girl named Scout Finch, along with her brother Jem, and their friend, Dill. Who are forced at a young age to watch the people of their small town of Maycomb not only receive, but also give prejudice to numerous, harmless people. Whether it be Boo Radley, a shut in who falls victim to the town’s gossip, even though he is constantly showing acts of kindness towards the Finch children. Or it be Tom Robinson an innocent man that Atticus, Scout’s father must defend be accused rape, and be convicted of a crime he did not to just because of the color of his skin. Throughout the novel, the people of Maycomb deal with prejudice in the forms of sexism, intolerance of differences, and in racism.
Prejudice is seen throughout the world in many forms even after the Civil Rights Movement. To Kill a Mockingbird shows the extreme prejudice that African Americans were faced with at that time period. This book shows prejudice through character interactions.
To Kill a Mockingbird is a book centered around prejudice. The three main prejudices it shows is class, gender and race. Harper Lee is trying to teach everyone that these prejudices are very bad and that we need to learn to not judge someone by their looks or by male or female. In the beginning of the novel, the story begins by the kids trying to get Boo Radley to come out of his house. They think that Boo was being punished by staying in his house. Later in the novel it switches gears to the Tom Robinson trial. Tom was a black man accused of rape which he didn’t commit. Because of the color of his skin the jury ruled him guilty. Finally, at the end of the story Bob Ewell tries to murder or kidnap Jem and Scout to get revenge at Atticus for going against him. Later that night, they meet Boo for the first time and learned that he saved them and killed Bob Ewell.
First of all, one example that shows prejudice in the novel is social prejudice. Social prejudice is when an individual or group negatively show incorrect attitude to someone based on the individual’s membership of a social group. Harper Lee puts many examples of social prejudice throughout the story, starting from the beginning of the novel to the end. One of the examples that stands out is the character Dolphus Raymond. Dolphus is a wealthy white man who prefers the company of African American. He is married with his African American women and has fathered a number of mixed children. Just like his children he is also mocked by the town. The children are mocked by the town because of their mixed skin color and Raymond is also mocked
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.
How different would this world be today if prejudice was out of the question? Today, there are people who treat others with prejudice, there are people who think it has left society, and there are some that still experience prejudice in their everyday lives. It’s a sad and controversial issue in today’s world. The official definition for prejudice is a preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience. This “disease” has gotten so out of hand that it’s been categorized.
what a bad father he is and why his family have been given a bad name.