The Importance Of Injudice In To Kill A Mockingbird

Prejudice, like evil, lurks in everyone, whether it is visible or hidden beneath the surface of a calm, clear pool. It is the cause of an invisible line, a separation, between people. Often that line is unreal, created in the minds of people, but requires conformity and rejects individuals. Prejudice is explored in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, a captivating novel that revolves around the experiences of two children, Jem and Scout, who witness prejudice and hatred in an unfair conviction of a black man, but also morality and courage through their father and other characters. At the same time, their childhood innocence and unawareness of underlying evil fall away, leaving them to face the realities of maturity and adulthood. As the children grow up, the veil of childhood leaves them, revealing the evil and prejudices hidden under the exterior of their neighbors, and discover the harmful consequences of sexism, social hierarchy, and racism.

In Harper Lee’s book, To Kill a Mockingbird, Lee uses Scout and Jem to suggest that discrimination and prejudice mindsets force to choose a herd mentality or to choose individuality.

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.

Throughout the novel it has been a recurring theme for Atticus to say that a man should not be judged until someone has stood and walked in his shoes, it is crucial to defend such wise words as they are greatly significant to the story. Each person has their own point of view on the amount of judgement that should be given.While some people believe that no one should be judged, others are incredibly quick and harsh to judge. Harper Lee’s classic novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, gives countless numbers of evidence in which characters , such as Atticus Finch, prove the idea that a man should not be judged until they are truly understood.

Whatever the age and whatever the reason, the impact and effect of discrimination and prejudice on children and young people can be extreme and can also have far reaching consequences for the sufferers – even following them into adulthood.

“Prejudice is a burden that confuses the past, threatens the future and renders the present inaccessible”(Maya Angelou). To Kill a Mockingbird is about a young girl called Scout and the important lessons she learns through the events of a racist trial, the mysterious neighbour, and growing up. She learns many lessons about perspective and understanding people. One of the most important lessons she learns about prejudice. Lee demonstrates the message that prejudice does not only harm an individual but damages a society in the events of “To Kill A Mockingbird”. Prejudice becomes affects society most when the views become what people expect. We can see this in the three main types of prejudice, racial, gender, and class or wealth.

The definition of prejudice is “a preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience.” Prejudice is a serious issue today, as it has been throughout history. Society prejudices people for many different reasons. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus Finch, Tom Robinson, and Arthur “Boo” Radley all demonstrate the three different types of “mockingbirds” and the prejudices that they face.

Prejudice in society dates back to the beginning of mankind. It has been taught subconsciously from the beginning of one’s life, then is held on to forever. The theme of prejudice has been greatly displayed in many forms during the 1960’s. The novel To Kill a Mockingbird is one of the many examples which demonstrate society’s quick, unjustified judgement calls made by adults, children, and elders. Throughout the beginning, middle, and end of the novel, Jem and Scout demonstrate the theme of prejudice towards the mysterious character, Boo Radley, form a sense of friendship, then come to appreciate him. It is through prejudice of young eyes

Charles R. Swindoll once said, “Prejudice is a learned trait. You're not born prejudiced; you're taught it.” In both these stories the main characters learn about discrimination in their communities. They also learn how certain parents teach their kids to be prejudice of people who aren’t necessarily the same as them. To Kill Mockingbird is a book written by Harper Lee set in rural Alabama in the 1930’s.

We are not born with prejudice; we learn prejudice from our family, community and society at large. These institutions influence how we view the world. Such prejudice is shown in the true story ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’, written by Harper Lee in 1960. To quote from this book, “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view, until you climb into his skin”. Referencing “To Kill A Mockingbird”, this essay explores prejudice using discourses of race and class.

We as humans have a predisposition to separate ourselves from things we don't understand and the things we find to be different than ourselves. Harper Lee has done a good job of capturing this instinct, and showing the reader the evolution of prejudice amongst humans and how it can impact our society. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, the most important theme found is Prejudice plays a big role in human interaction.

In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Scout learns that she must see past prejudices to address others as individuals because her prejudices hold the power to harm others. Initially, Scout’s perception of prejudices are static and unconcerned, but when she comprehends the malevolence of Maycomb’s racism and prejudice against the Ewells. When she looks past her negative prejudices against her father and her aunt, Scout learns that social expectations create prejudice. Lastly, she addresses the negative effects that prejudices inflict upon Mayella and Arthur Radley, and learns that prejudices cause injustices. Lee clearly illustrates that when one fails to look past prejudices, they harm others. This is still relevant today, and is seen in

Abraham Joshua Heschel once said “ Racism is man’s gravest threat to man- the maximum of hatred for a minimum of reason.” Heschel is demonstrating that there is a lot of hate for such miniscule reasons. This belief is popular theme within in literature. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird a community’s morals and beliefs regarding race, gender and compassion determines that justice is a privilege for a few rather than a right for all. While some characters are immaculate, morally educated,and believe that every person should be reverenced, and treated equally, some believe that it is correct to be racist and prejudice to others.

Racism is a big problem in today’s modern society and it has been going on for many years. In his book, Prejudice and Your Child, author Kenneth Clark asks his readers, “Are children born with racial feelings? Or do they have to learn first, what color they are and, second, what color is “best”?” Many years ago social theorists argued that racial and religious prejudices are inborn, that they are inherent and instinctive. These theorists believed that children do not have to learn to dislike people who differ from them in physical characteristics; it was considered natural to dislike those different from oneself and to like those similar to oneself. However, research over the past decades has refuted these earlier theories. Social scientists are now convinced that children learn social, racial and religious prejudices in the course of observing and being influenced by, the existence of patterns in the culture in which

Although it is commonly believed by skeptics that Harper Lee’s bestselling novel promotes the discrimination of women and African Americans, the opposite holds true. To Kill a Mockingbird challenges the inequality and discrimination that prevails in human society. In her novel, Harper Lee clearly shows disapproval of the cruelty that people inflict upon others by the holding of preformed ideas, “the simple hell people give other people”, as Dolphus Raymond puts it (269). To Kill a Mockingbird reveals that prejudice is a learned trait. Nobody is born prejudiced and, instead, one is taught it. Harper Lee also wishes to convey the message that everyone should be treated equally. The amount of respect one gives another person should not be influenced by said person’s race, sex, or social status. Even now, decades after To Kill a Mockingbird was published, humanity fails to learn right from wrong. Numerous types of inequalities still prevail in human society. Today, the wars that are fought and the crimes that are committed are often driven by the hate and fear that mankind has towards certain minorities. If mankind is able to accept people of different ethnic origins, different sexes, and different social statuses into their society, and treat them like