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To Kill A Mockingbird Pride And Prejudice Analysis

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In her Southern Novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee shows how prejudice and racism are a main component in the novel.

In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee uses the characterization of Tim Johnson, Tom Robinson and Atticus and the symbolism of prejudice to show that ‘While it may not be completely eradicated, it is still worth it to fight against prejudice.

Tim Johnson represents how Atticus protects his kids from Maycomb’s disease other known as racism. However, he can not completely rid of the amount of prejudice in Maycomb. Atticus shooting Tim is a representation of him shielding his children from the prejudice present in Maycomb. The incident is brought back to light when Tom is declared guilty in Chapter 21. “... it …show more content…

Atticus is first questioned about the reasons for why he was actually trying to defend Tom Robinson in the case and answers, “For a number of reasons… The main one is, if I didn’t I couldn’t hold up my head in town, I couldn’t represent this country in the legislature. I couldn’t even tell you or Jem not to do something again.” (Lee 75). This emphasizes that Atticus most likely believes Tom deserves justice just as much as a white man does. He also does not want his children to turn out prejudice like the rest of Maycomb. After the case he speaks with Jem about how Tom’s case was unfair, “There's something in our world that makes men lose their heads—they couldn't be fair if they tried. In our courts, when it's a white man's word against a black man's, the white man always wins. They're ugly, but those are the facts of life.” (Lee 295). Atticus explains to his children in this quote that the reason there’s so much prejudice towards colored people is that of the white people themselves. Atticus himself is very representative of the theme because he does not have a bias toward black nor white people making him an extremely important figure in the attempt of eradicating

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