Prejudice in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird Essay

There are many different levels of the caste system in Maycomb County. Factors like your job, the color of your skin, and other people’s opinion of you goes into putting you into a class. Children are put into the same class as their parents, and they often never change. People also do not usually interact with people outside of their social class. This, in most cases, is very frowned upon. Although, some levels are very similar.

It is very evident that Maycomb is a small town in which there is much racism, and social status greatly determines what kind of life you will lead. The different types of social inequality are an important theme in the novel, and Harper Lee

In this novel, Jem learns he is part of the highest social class. Besides him, this class includes Miss Maudie, Judge Taylor, and Mr. Underwood who look down upon every other social class. An example of

Being at the top of the social hierarchy has been a must for every American of past generations, but can lead to fatal damages for some trying to obtain that goal and a cause to ruin people’s lives. In a remarkably triumphant story on compassion, Harper Lee explored the horrors of racial prejudice in the novel “To Kill a Mockingbird.” Set in the 1930’s, the poor town of Maycomb, Alabama has been hit by the depression hard, which created a vast, complex social pyramid, with distinct families and lifestyles. At the Finch household, composed of a little nine year old girl, Scout, a twelve year old boy Jem, and their father Atticus, proceed through a whirlwind of events throughout the next few years. Atticus, a lawyer who is a hardworking, honest man at the top of the social hierarchy of Maycomb, has to defend a colored man by the name of Tom Robinson. This happened to be very unusual for the time period, as the family has to transcend through the struggles in a racial prejudice town and learn the raw nature of the worst in humans, thus trying to overcome these events through compassion. The author utilizes metaphor, characterization, and mood to describe the situation of Maycomb, it soon then becomes very clear that the dangers of ruining innocence can lead to a vast road of horrors and evils.

In societies like Maycomb, Social class determines the way families and people are treated and limits your everyday actions. The Cunninghams a family of a low class, are treated differently. Scout once said ¨ He ain't company, Cal, he's just a

at all! If a woman wants to be on a jury and meets all the

The next form of Prejudice, social, is illustrated in many instances throughout the novel. Mr. Radley is intolerant of others in his own way. This is reflected by the way he treats Boo. When Arthur was convicted, Mr. Radley promised to look after him whereas the other boys in the gang were sent away. The boys who were sent away received a good education but Boo was punished by his father and began to be thought of as an outcast. Prejudice in Maycomb is also due to the snobbish and intolerant attitude towards those of a lower class. The second example that illustrates this form of prejudice is that the Ewells are outcasts; they live on the outskirts of town. “Maycomb Ewells lived behind the town garbage dump in what was once a Negro

The characters in, To Kill a Mockingbird, a novel by Harper Lee, often use prejudice against people of controversial issues. Many of the townspeople of Maycomb use prejudice on the families who are on the less wealthy end of the spectrum. Issues are still displayed because of the racial prejudice used against African Americans and those of other races. Lastly, gender is a clear issue in Maycomb because of women’s and girl’s rights and lack of respect towards them because they are female. All of the types of prejudice show that Maycomb has many problems all throughout the town between other families and townspeople.

Firstly, Tom Robinson is just one character that is prejudged in the novel. He is accused of raping a white girl named Mayella and it is a problem to the jury that a black man is trying to defend himself in court. Atticus realizes how Tom is being treated unfairly and that it is uncommon for African Americans and white people to associate with each other. During Atticus’s speech, Mayella is accused of lying in her testimony when “she kissed a black man [which is] something that in our society is unspeakable” (Lee 272). The black man who Atticus refers to is Tom. He is ridiculed and judged by several people in the book and he gets all this

Prejudices are most difficult to eradicate from the heart whose soil has never been loosened or fertilized by education: they grow there, firm as weeds among stones.

In Maycomb County, the acceptance of the Cunningham family is directly tied to their social status, or lack of. Atticus tells Scout, “. . . Mr. Cunningham is basically a good man, he just has his blind spots along with the rest of us.” This adamant declaration of Mr. Cunningham’s character, partially due to the loyalty of his business dealings with Atticus Finch, portrays character traits of an honest and trustworthy

Based on skin color, background, and wealth, people are considered to be upper, middle, or lower class. Examples of social classing appear in the book through the Ewells' reputation, through Aunt Alexandra's views of other families, and during Scout's first day at school. The Ewells are considered poor white trash. Notorious for laziness and living off of the government's money, they do not contribute to society. " Every town the size of Maycomb had families like the Ewells.

From adults to children people from Maycomb judge them because of this here are some example from the book that shows that. Firstly when Scout asked aunt Alexandra if she could invite her friend Walter Cunningham jr to play she said no and when Scout asked why she replied by saying “ Because-he-is-trash that’s why you can’t play with him. I’ll not have you around him picking up his habits and learning lord-knows what” (Lee 23) Alexandra judges Walter because she looks down on people who are not as rich as her, she and many other people from Maycomb believe that they shouldn't be involved with people who are below them on the economic ladder. Secondly it was not just adults who were judging the Cunninghams children would do it also one example of this would be Scout she said this to Calpurnia when she says that he’s company. “ He ain’t company Cal he’s just a Cunningham “ ( Lee 3 ) Scout says this because Walter Jr was eating strange, Scout does not think Walther is consider company since he is low class, Scout and other children from Maycomb are raised to look down on people who are not as rich as them therefore she doesn't know any better. Finally here is another quote from aunt Alexandra that demonstrates inequality of socioeconomic “ The thing is you can scrub Walter Cunningham till his shoes shines you can put him in shoes and a new suit but he’ll never be like Jen

Southerners are known to be proud of their traditional beliefs. To Kill A Mockingbird allows its readers to question and consider those beliefs. Maycomb represents a typical old southern town. Not many people move into Maycomb and not many people who live there journey beyond its boundaries. As a result, the opinions held by many of the citizens of Maycomb are left to grow and foster in the same families for many generations. The circumstances in Maycomb are less than ideal for generating change and more prone to sustaining traditionally accepted codes. Two codes embedded within southern social beliefs are class and race.

Harper Lee's ‘To kill a Mockingbird’ explores the prejudicial issues which plague over the town Maycomb. Harper Lee uses the trial of Tom Robinson a black man accused of rape on a young white girl, Mayella as a central theme to portray the prominence of racial discrimination in Maycomb. The racial prejudice is also widely shown through the characterisation of Atticus. Having Scout as the narrator allows Harper Lee to highlight the gender inequity through a youthful unbiased perspective. The chauvinistic attitudes and prejudiced views of most of the town’s folk leaves Maycombs social hierarchy in an unfair order, victimising many of the town’s people due to their socially non-conforming habits some ‘socially unaccepted people’ including Boo