Since the very beginning, discrimination has been imminent and abundant. Whether it is telling someone to “man up,” or to “stop acting like a girl,” or making comments about race, it is there. It is the music we listen to, the books we read, the powerful people we listen to- bias, prejudice, it is all there- even in ourselves. To Kill a Mockingbird focuses on discrimination in multiple ways, as does The Help, but a few types of prejudice are imminent- mainly race and gender, even age, discrimination. To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, takes place during the Great Depression in the small, southern town of Maycomb, Alabama. Scout, a young girl who knows nothing but the closeness and missed opportunities of the small town, is constantly faced …show more content…
The Help, set in Jackson, Mississippi, features Skeeter, a young adult girl fresh out of college, who faces discrimination as well. However, her older age also brings her a new level of respect and understanding of the world around her that Scout lacks. Scout and Skeeter are both pro-equality for boys and girls regardless of age and races regardless of skin color- and they’re both faced directly and indirectly with all sorts of discrimination. Scout is only a young child, therefore she has a hard time understanding discrimination. However, as an adult, she reflects on how unfair and pointless the affair is. For example, Scout had just begun the first grade, and she was being taught by Miss Caroline. New to teaching and to Maycomb, she was not quite sure what she was doing. She gets angry at Scout for knowing how to read and write, and tries to force her to reform to the norm of the first grade curriculum, even though she’s actually much farther ahead. Later that day, she complains to Jem- “If I didn’t have to stay I’d leave Jem, that damn lady says Atticus’s been teaching me to read and for him to stop it.” (Lee 23). Scout comments on how if she didn’t have to get an education, she
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.
Throughout the book, To Kill A Mockingbird, one of the main characters, Scout, is impacted by sexism from her family, peers, and community. The book is set in the 1930’s when women were definitely not thought of as equal. There were certain social rules that girls should follow and the ways that society told them to act. The scout is a character that is impacted by sexism throughout the story. She is a young girl that changes because of the oppression that is placed on her by her family and peers. The character Scout is affected by sexism, which Harper Lee uses to develop the reader’s perception of Scout from indecisive and confined to determined, criticized, and conflicted and finally to confident, conflicted, and decisive.
To Kill A Mockingbird is an important book that has continued to teach people about race and prejudice for over 50 years. Harper Lee’s message is the harsh reality of how prejudice is built into society and is one of the most important messages of the 20th and 21st centuries. This book teaches us to stand up to prejudice and spread more love. It teaches us to look at things from another person's point of view and to be accepting of those who are different from us. Even to this day we face issues involving prejudice such as police brutality, the achievement gap, homophobia, and equal
Discrimination is prevalent in the story “To Kill a Mockingbird”, the most obvious being the excessive amount of racism (Lee). Racism is the easiest to see but there are more forms of discrimination (Lee). Boo Radley is ostracized from the community when truly nobody really knows him (Lee). People discriminate Scout for being a tomboy not a lady (Lee). The last one that no one ever thinks about is how reverse racism is seen when people threaten Atticus for defending Tom Robinson in court (Lee). Discrimination in any form is a controversial topic but everyone knows that it is not right to discriminate against people.
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.
Discrimination, it has been part of human nature for a long time, especially relevant subject in literature such as To Kill a Mockingbird. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, the main character of Scout Finch was exposed to different types of discrimination as she grows up. Discrimination affected the lives of characters in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mocking Bird because of society’s prejudicial views of race, gender, and class.
From the way scout reacts to discrimination, she disapproves of it and views it as nonessential . She always gets angry and bewildered when she sees discrimination because she thinks it is wrong and unnecessary to discriminate someone based on their beliefs, religion, gender, or color. An example of Scout 's reaction to
“Prejudices are the chains forged by ignorance to keep men apart.”(Marguerite Gardiner Blessington). Over the years, countless people have fallen in to the dark abyss of prejudice because they merely following the trend of society. Prejudice is exactly what it sounds like; its root words are firmly planted. Prejudice may be defined as the act of pre judging someone because of their race, religion, sex, ethnic background, or can be based solely on how they look. Prejudice is a flaw in society many have dealt with for centuries, but one race has suffered in the United States of America where “all men are equal”, more than any other race in history. If all men are created equal, how could we treat people of a different color so unjustly? It is a travesty that cannot be forgotten and that can not, must not, and shall not be repeated. In the book, To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee states the truth behind a world with closed minds. She put the world into perspective through her commentary that is still relevant today. Through her writing, we see the compassion, sympathy, and tolerance, or the lack thereof, from all perspectives: a father, a racist man, a confused woman, children, negroes, and a dear lawyer named Atticus Finch.
“To Kill a Mockingbird” is a novel written by Harper Lee. It is set in America in the 1930s during the Great Depression, a time of economic decline after World War II. The novel follows a young girl called Scout Finch and her brother Jem as they learn about the prejudice and racism within their society of Maycomb County. The children and their widowed father, Atticus have a unique relationship that includes the teaching of valuable life lessons and unusual, maternal nurturing.
To Kill a Mockingbird takes place in a tiny southern town in Alabama in 1932. The tiny town of Maycomb was home to deep rooted racism. Two children named Scout and Jem live in this town with their father Atticus and when their father is sent to defend a black man their lives see a dramatic change. The children soon learn the harsh truth of their little town and lose a childhood full of innocence. In her novel To Kill a Mockingbird, author Harper Lee foreshadows a loss of innocence through the symbolic significance of building a snowman, a harsh fire, and a mockingbird.
A single mother raises multiple children alone, on an income just barely enough to feed her children. She has a newborn who can’t be left alone, but also has a full time job that must be done; otherwise her family will starve. On top of all this, society treats her differently than everyone else in her town. People give her dirty looks and treat her like garbage, but she must accept it and just keep quiet. If one of these days she decides to finally stand up for herself, she will be put in jail and that will be the end. This is just one example that shows the awful consequences of prejudice in Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill A Mockingbird. In the book, a young black man named Tom Robinson is falsely accused of raping a nineteen year old girl. His defendant is Atticus Finch, a white man who is
The classic,”To Kill A Mockingbird”, takes place in a fictional town called Maycomb County in Southern Alabama in the early 1930s, during the Great Depression.
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee takes place in Maycomb, Alabama in 1903. This novel is basically a coming of age story for a young girl named Scout and her older brother named Jem. Who grows up in a time where racism is normal. They soon learn to stand up for what is right, just like their dad, Atticus.
To Kill a Mockingbird is set in a small town in Alabama in the 1930’s and follows the life of a young girl, Scout, and her father and brother for three years. Scout and Jem’s father Atticus is asked to defend a black man in a case where he was accused of taking
The Help is a film based off of a novel that represents a narrative about African American’s working in Caucasians homes during the 1960’s in the South. The main character Skeeter, played by Emma Stone, returns to this town and interviews several African American women that’s role has been being the help for white families their entire lives. Skeeter discovers many different race, class and gender complications throughout the film that is significant to analyze.