Examples Of Social Prejudice In To Kill A Mockingbird

Discrimination: a noun that is defined as, “the unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories of people or things, especially on the grounds of race, age, or sex”. There are many types of discrimination in To Kill a Mockingbird. To Kill a Mockingbird is a story that is taken place during the Great Depression . Scout is the main character and her father Atticus is defending a man named Tom Robinson, who is a Negro. There are three main topics that are discriminated in To Kill a Mockingbird. The three main topics that are discriminated are socioeconomics, gender, and most importantly, racism.

Stereotypes have been around for hundreds of years, from the “savages” in 1492 after european colonization, to gender and racial stereotypes during the 1930s, and many more still in place today. Everyone has to deal with them, and we all do it in a different way. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee includes characters that break stereotypes to show how they are restricting and harmful.

Stereotyping is a widely used opinion that holds people to false claims that are not fair nor true. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird many people, are stereotyped due to color, looks, or wealth. The novel is used to show how a person can become someone they are not due to what others think of them. Stereotyping is shown in many different types of literature such as the poem We Wear the Masks, the song Walk a mile in my shoes, and in the movie A Time to Kill.

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.

The mentality of the town can wear off on the children. After learning that Scout’s father, Atticus is defending a black man, Cecil Jacobs gets annoyed. While at school Cecil Jacobs says to Scout “My folks said your daddy was a disgrace an’ that nigger oughta hang from the water tank” (Lee 102). This show how one of Scout’s classmates verbally attacked her. This quote gives you a look at how racist Maycomb is that even children portray it. Scout would not have gotten all this hate if the person her father defended was something other than black. Although it may look one sided both sides have racial views against each other.

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.

Throughout the novel Scout was faced with many gender prejudice. Because she was a tomboy, Aunt Alexandra told scout that she can even hope to be a lady if she wore trousers. She expects Scout to play with stoves necklaces and tea pots. Aunt Alexandra wasn't the only person being prejudice against women. Atticus was also prejudice against women, even though he doesn't judge people. On page 221, he told Jem that women are not allowed to serve on juries in Alabama because the court might never get a complete case because the women would interrupt just to ask questions. Scout also showed gender prejudice to Francis. Francis told Scout that his grandmother was going to teach him how to cook and Scout said boys are not suppose to cook.

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.

Now don’t you be so confident, Mr. Jem, I ain’t ever seen any jury decide in favor of a colored man over a white man…” (Lee 279). In this point of the book, the trail ww is coming to a close, and the verdict is yet to be reached, even though the jury is not out, Reverend Sykes already seemed to know the outcome, how? Bias, as Reverend Sykes explains, he has never seen a jury decide in favor of a colored man. Ro Back in the early to mid 1900’s, racial biases are what societies were built upon, what the laws were based on, how people lived their everyday lives. All throughout To Kill a Mockingbird, the presence of racial biases are very prominent. The major showing of a racial bias, is in the trial scene. Tom Robinson, a nice, well mannered black, is put away in jail for helping a young White woman. He is killed, because of his actions of towards that young white woman, he is killed for being a decent human being. ro Tom was never given a fair chance to win the case, he wasn't given a fair chance because of the pigment of his skin. Ro Racial biases are what societies are were based upon many years ago, and arguably still some today. Racial biases are what make towns, but are also what breaks them. Where is your argument? I am going to stop reading the essay here. I know you spent time and effort on this paper---but, without a thesis, you don’t have an argument. Also, your sentence structure and usage errors impact the reader. See me or try to get to a writing lab

I have gathered you all here today, because recent events have really had the whole town in uproar… I thought I should remind y’all that Just because their are folk… white folk… that would discriminate against us coloured… that would go out of out their way to cause us trouble… Does not mean, we should prejudice these people and expect them all to commit such acts upon us all. Myself personally, rasin’ two white children, and tendin’ to their property, I ‘ave begun to truly see, that there are those who would help, and who would look out for our kind in times ‘o trouble. Mr Finch for instance, Is a man of kindness, a man who would fight for coloured folk in court even if he knew the odds were against him. I can bet that there be plenty ‘o other folks, who would treat us like human bein’s... Now… I been hearin’ crazy talk about startin’ a riot.

Setting demonstrates the reasoning behind why Maycomb is so prejudice. Scout Finch described the setting with the following words towards the beginning of the novel, “Maycomb was the county seat of Maycomb County… Atticus’ office in the courthouse contained a checkerboard and an unsullied code of Alabama” (Lee 5). The quote reveals the setting, which is located in Alabama, a southern region of the United States. Southern states tended to support slavery and were often regarded as racist. Alabama was especially notorious for hating African Americans.

In To Kill a Mockingbird a lot of prejudice occurs. It takes place in Maycomb, Alabama. The question is does the place affect the people’s opinions on race? For one I think it does. To start my argument I’ll describe where this all started, The Civil War.

Prejudice in this novel affects every member of the community including the one’s which are not seen or heard from. Boo Radley is another significant example of the occurrence of unjust with his presence being nonetheless felt throughout the novel. Radley represents, first of all, the tendency of people to misjudge people and mythologize them; secondly, he is symbolized by the mockingbirds. When Scout first introduces Boo Radley to the reader she refers to him only as a "malevolent phantom" to which a great deal of superstition is attached. This conveys the unjust acts that are being forwarded onto Radley despite the rumours being fake and him being innocence.