The Real Boo Radley Prejudice

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.

The novel To Kill a Mockingbird was written by Harper Lee and was published in 1960. This novel is included in various curriculums to enable students to take this well-written novel to identify the themes and messages and be educated from their literature. Prejudice is defined as a preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience. The different forms of prejudice that will be analysed are racial, class and social, thus, leads to the citizens of Maycomb to marginalises characters and treat them as an insignificant. It is evident that many characters in this novel suffer from different types of prejudice, which creates a sense of marginalisation. Tom Robinson, Mayella Ewell and Arthur Radley are the important, main

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.

Also, even the children of the county view the blacks as lower class. They know that they are above them, and sometimes the children act like it. Scout says during the trial, “Well, Dill, after all he’s just a Negro,” (Lee 226). This shows that even innocent Scout can just act like she’s better than Tom.

In the story “To Kill A Mockingbird” by Harper Lee, the main character Scout realizes the town she lives in is full of bias and prejudice toward negros. Scout, the only daughter of lawyer Atticus Finch, is faced with the activism that follows this prejudice when her father decides to defend a negro, Tom Robinson, in the court of law. She is constantly harassed and tormented by the residence of their small town, Maycom. What Lee is trying to show through these events is that people are always going to have prejudices, and sometimes these prejudices come from the people you least expect it form. In the story, neighbors, friends, and family all show their prejudices about the defendant Tom Robinson to Scout, who finally realize the world isn’t perfect but is, in fact, full of flaws and prejudices.

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.

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.

Harper Lee once said, “My book had a universal theme, It’s not a ‘racial’ novel. It portrays an aspect of civilization, not necessarily Southern civilization.” The aspect of civilization Harper Lee was most likely referring to was prejudice. Prejudice is very prominent in our culture today. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee shows humans have a natural tendency to prejudice those that are different from themselves in order to teach her 1960s readers that anyone can become a perpetrator of prejudice.

“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.

Many people have experienced racism or prejudice at least once in their lives, but they are not aware of the different ways it could take place. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee demonstrates how racism and prejudice presents itself in many ways in the town of Maycomb. This is shown in the characters Tom Robinson, Walter Cunningham Jr, and Scout, who are all victims of prejudice or racism. These characters are subjected to all kinds of prejudice and from all kinds of people, sometimes so much it would change their lives.

The exact definition of a prejudice thought is a preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience. Throughout the story, each person faces their own individual problems dealing with the prejudice people of Maycomb. These problems have a pattern of involving racism, sexism, or social class. These are the three key points Harper Lee is expanding on throughout the book. Tom Robinson is surrounded by issues involving his race while Scout is dealing with the sexist belief that to be a lady she has to act a certain way. On the other side of town, the Ewells and Cunningham's experience the low end of the spectrum due to Maycomb’s strong social class system. Prejudiced beliefs dominate much of the story of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, which causes the

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 the book, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee evokes the reader’s emotions by perfectly capturing the injustice of Maycomb through the eyes of an innocent child. Even Atticus’ wish for his children was to shelter them from the malevolent nature of humanity. This nature represents the individuals of the town and their prejudices in any controversial issue. Prejudice, therefore, brings about the injustice we see in our world today. Unfortunately, this issue exists because people cannot live in harmony with others that appear to be different than themselves.

“To Kill a Mockingbird” is the book which gives us the perfect view of prejudices that were present in the South of the USA at the beginning of 20th century. What interests us the most is whether these prejudices managed to find their place in today’s world.

Throughout history, prejudice has been prevalent within diverse civilizations. This fact was especially true in the 1930’s, a period of both hardship and racism in America, with minorities seeing the worst of The Great Depression. Within To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee utilizes setting and external conflict between characters to emphasize the idea that the prejudice in people can cause them to mistreat other human beings.