Remember The Titans Comparison

The act of prejudice is one that everyone experiences. Whether it be, a person who is distributing hate, or a person who is receiving hate, everyone has contact with it. Although it is present all over the globe, it is prominent in the United States. Both in the present and the past, endless acts of discrimination have taken place and left a monumental impact on the country. The effect that it leaves can be seen in the novel “To Kill A Mockingbird” by Harper Lee. In this story, sexism, racism, and isolation, are demonstrated in the small Southern town of Maycomb, Alabama during the 1930’s. As the story progresses, Lee compares these concepts to one another and uses them to make a statement about the problematic nature in America.

f. Atticus feels that the adults have made the world the way that it is and the children have to learn to live in that world. They can’t hide from it and need to be exposed to it as early as possible.

“Nigger”, “Colored-folks”, “Dinge”, racial slurs used in the South in the 1900s-1960s. The disgusting souls who discriminated, judged, hated, and segregated blacks. “White men rule”. Women, their voices, barely able to say as much as a sentence. The blacks, their voices, unable to say as much as even a word, and the children, innocent and curious, saw nothing and said nothing. Harper Lee represented the horrendous acts and judgments of racism in To Kill a Mockingbird. Maycomb, Alabama, 1930s, a small town with a big story. Tom Robinson, discriminated and unequal, was seen as “just another nigger” in Maycomb. “Nigger”, “Chocolate”, “Colored”, racial slurs that began long ago, and are still used to this day. The White

She would get a better understanding of this as the novel progresses. Scout also learns more about maturity when she experiences hypocrisy from her teacher, “Over here we don’t believe in persecuting anybody. Persecution comes from people who are prejudiced. Pre-ju-dice,” She is contradicting herself, saying that it is acceptable to persecute blacks but not Jews. It dawned on Scout that people are hypocrites and have double standards when it suits them. The biggest step the children took towards growing up was during the Tom Robinson trials. There, the children received full exposure to the evils, malevolence, prejudice and sorrow of the cruel world as a white man accuses an innocent black man for raping when all Tom ever wanted to achieve was to help others. The children understood what was going on completely and was therefore changed because of it. At the unexpected climax of the novel, the children have an unpleasant encounter with Bob Ewell who wanted to take revenge on Atticus for humiliating him by killing his children. This was an absolutely outrageous act of insanity but also taught the children how dangerous reality could be, finalizing their journey into adulthood.

People have different opinions and views on subjects and we won’t always agree with them or understand why they think that way. “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view... Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.” I like that Atticus is teaching his kids valuable lessons. We don’t know what makes someone act or dress or do the things they do, so we make assumptions and conclusions in order to “understand”, but the only true way of understanding someone is through sympathy and compassion.

To Kill a Mockingbird is a witty and well-written account of the realities of a “tired old town” (4) where there was “nothing to buy and nothing to buy it with” (4). Purposefully, it comes across not merely an innocently portrayed, yet eye-opening, story of a young girl start to grasp the inequalities of her society. Rather, it is accompanied by recollection of the unfortunate pillars of hate of the places Harper Lee matured in. We now perceive this account as an ‘archaic” and “ancient” recount of some historically frowned upon mindsets in an enthralling atmosphere upon which we pin historical quantities of prejudice, racism and most of all, bigotry. The unfortunate reality is that we look at history in a vacuum and ignore the occurrences of our own times. So although we, like Scout’s teachers teaching about the horrible acts of the Holocaust while being outspokenly racist, are able to analyze social inequalities in other places in time or the world yet refuse to open our eyes to the same prejudice, racism and bigotry today. To instance, when reading To Kill a Mockingbird , we often frown upon citizens for judging “folks” based on their family name and race, although, everyday, some member of our current society, such as police officers and employers, do the same thing and no one bats an eye. Alternatively, the issue which we definitely desperately desire to avoid, racism, is explicitly tackled in To Kill a Mockingbird to the point of viral awareness of the problem in

Introduction Prejudice refers to the judgements towards a person because of their race, social class, age, disability or sexual orientation. (Cherry, “What is Prejudice?”) Prejudice was, and still is, to a large extent experienced by people all over the world. It is a theme that is presented in so many works of literature in a plethora of different ways. One of the most prominent ways in which prejudice is explored is through the use of characters that perhaps are a different nationality or have a different orientation to the majority of the other characters in the works. Two texts, in which the theme is presented in an admirable way , are ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ by Harper Lee, and ‘Jasper Jones’ by Craig Silvey. Through the use of the

Today, if one was asked about racism, ageism or stereotypes,  most likely their reaction would be to think about the news reports and stories appearing daily. The issues themselves, however, are not new as shown in the novel To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee. In the book, the main character Scout retells experiences she had as a child with these same prejudices. Racism, ageism and stereotypes are all significant components in both the novel and modern life.

In The Odyssey by Homer, many characters feel prejudiced toward others. Many of these characters have opinions solely based on rumor. Such characters are influenced by many factors,, but all of them lead to improper judgement. In the same context, many characters in Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird also possess such prejudiced thoughts. Through her use of the characters within Maycomb, in her novel To Kill A Mockingbird; Harper Lee shows how injustice and prejudice between African American and white people was impossible to beat at this point in history, however some characters attempt to fight it anyways.

In the novel, to kill a mockingbird, Harper Lee presents three very distinct types of innocence that are portrayed by different characters throughout the novel. A good part in this story’s brilliance is that Harper Lee has managed to use the innocence of a young girl to her advantage. She does this by telling the whole story from a child’s point-of-view. By having an innocent little girl make racial remarks and regard people of color in a way consistent with the community, Lee provides the reader with an objective view of the situation. As a child, Scout can make observations that an adult would often avoid. In addition, readers are also likely to be forgiving of a child’s perception, whereas they would find an adult who makes these

Martin Luther King said, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” Racism is still an issue that can be seen in the twenty-first century. Although, tons of progress has been made over the last century, some still hold on to racist beliefs. The majority of classic American literature demonstrates the racism that was present in the early twentieth century. By looking at the theme of race in the American classic, To Kill a Mockingbird, it is clear that people are quick to judge others based on their own opinions and feelings.

Prejudice, the chain of hatred and ignorance, has haunted our history at every step. In the twenty-first century prejudice and its destruction can be viewed in many forms of modern literature. Two of the most famous and rejoiced literatures that examine the theme of prejudice are Harper Lee’s realist fiction novel ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ and Martin Luther King’s heart warming speech ‘I Have a Dream’. Both texts explore the theme of prejudice of white Americans on the Blacks in the racially tense times of the early twentieth century. Unlike Harper Lee, Martin Luther King goes a step further to persuade the audience that there is prejudice present and we should be motivated to stop this evil from blossoming in our world.

Lastly, Atticus emphasizes how vital inner peace and making the moral decision in a given situation is to maturation. For instance, in a conversation with his children, Atticus comments, “Before I can live with other folks I got to live with myself. The one thing that doesn’t abide by a majority rule is a man’s conscience.” (Lee 105) By emphasizing the importance of having personal integrity and doing the ethical thing in any circumstance, Atticus provides his children with wisdom that will carry them through life. Therefore, through unremittingly reiterating the importance of moral decisions, proving the need for pacifism and establishing the importance of multiple perspectives, Atticus verifies himself as a major contributor in Jem and Scout’s development into adolescence.

When you write about a family with two young children obviously you can expect ‘coming of age’ themes to be prevalent in the text. Scout Finch is not your average 10 year old girl, she is not afraid to voice her opinions with her actual voice and her fists. Atticus tells her that this trait is not very proper and she should consider other peoples views before concluding her own.

It is commonly acknowledged that Literature is the reflection of the society. It is indeed true that literature reflects the attitude and perception of the society where it is written. Literature mirrors the vices of the society with an intention to make the society realize its mistakes and make amendments. The vast literature, produced from time to time, bears evidence to the fact that man is prone to discrimination. Treating a person or particular group of people differently, especially in a worse way from the way in which you treat other people, because of their sexuality, skin, and class has, been core theme of the Harper lee’s master piece To Kill a Mocking Bird. The novel is told from Scout’s perspective; through Scout, we witness the social construction of race, class, and gender. The novel continues to be taught in classrooms due to its illustration