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Examples Of Prejudice In To Kill A Mockingbird

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Bias and Prejudice in To Kill A Mockingbird
Spending their childhood growing up in a small town in Alabama, Jem and Scout come to know the views of those around them. Many folks in Maycomb, Alabama have very strong views on those of different race and social class. The reader can see the prejudice against different races, the bias that was shown to those of a lower social class, and the prejudice towards the outcasts of Maycomb. Lee does an excellent job of portraying the loss and courage of the characters in the novel and she also shows the reader different themes throughout. Bias and prejudice against race and social class is one of the strongest themes Lee portrays throughout the novel.
Prejudice against different races is clearly shown with the African American character Tom Robinson. Tom’s final verdict at his trial was guilty, but Lee …show more content…

Lee shows this in many ways and one of those ways was with Boo Radley. “Boo Radley was about six-and-a-half feet tall, judging from his tracks, he dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch, that’s why his hands were bloodstained” (16). Even though they had never met or seen Boo, the children have heard many rumours about him from neighbours which shows that they have cast him out of their society. In the first few chapters, Scout is afraid of Boo Radley because of the stories she hears about him. “Every night sound I heard from my cot on the back porch was magnified three fold, every scratch of feet on gravel was Boo Radley seeking revenge, every passing Negro laughing in the night was Boo Radley loose and after us” (74). The quote shows more about the people of Maycomb rather than about Scout. Scout was afraid of Boo Radley and that he would come seeking revenge. Even though Boo is a nice man, she only knows the stories from those around her. Boo Radley was a mystery to the people of Maycomb and was feeling more prejudice than he should

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At first, Scout and her brother, Jem, had feared Boo Radley because of the rumors spread of him like “he went out at night when the moon was down, and peeped in windows”(9) or “when people’s azaleas froze in a cold snap, it was because he had breathed on them”(9). However, Scout and Jem begin to learn more of Boo Radley and his life, they begin to see him as a human when Scout says “Atticus was right. One time he said you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them. Just standing on the Radley porch was enough”(279). This shows that Scout and Jem have come to understand Boo’s perspective and have developed empathy for him.

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And Boo Radley felt that he didn’t fit in or wasn’t like the rest of the people in Maycomb county. Throughout almost the whole book he is misunderstood and judged, but when Scout met him, he was nothing like a scary monster he was. He was just like any other person in Maycomb County. As for Scout, she is really close to her dad, Atticus, and she was kind of a tomboy.

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Throughout the story “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee to lead characters Jem and Scout come to terms with their feelings about Boo Radley. In the novel Boo Radley is a recluse who doesn't leave his house. Throughout the novel Boo leaves Jem, Scout and Dill little presents and making their thoughts grow more fondly of Boo. In the novel as scout grows older, she grows wiser. At the beginning of the book Boo isn't considered a human being to her he’s considered a myth, and she begins to understand Boo’s life.

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Prejudice leads to many consequences. In the book To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee shows us how the evils of prejudice impact on the lives of innocent people such as Atticus Finch and Tom Robinson. Atticus Finch, the most famous lawyer in Maycomb County, is a highly respected and honoured individual in the community who becomes a victim of prejudice. Atticus, a white man is defending Tom Robinson, a black man.

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Boo Radley had been kept in isolation for so long, he didn’t know how to communicate or socialise properly. He has been misunderstood as a malevolent person, when he actually is a benevolent person. He displays this when he put a blanket around Scout, whilst she and Jem watched the fire. As readers, we are shown social prejudice by the assumptions made about the Radley’s. Another example of social prejudice is the

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First, Scout and Jem had always had an interest in Boo Radley and she unknowingly has gave in to all the rumors and tried to learn things about Boo for herself. “ What reasonable recluse wants children peering through his shutters, delivering greetings on the end of a fishing-pole, wandering in his collards at night? (278). Scout realizes that what they have been doing to Boo Radley may have been disrespectful and she could be questioning her and Jem’s actions.

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Scout sees Boo Radley differently now since she has seen him and she sees with her own eyes that he is no monster but a hero and an average person. A detail to support this is in, Chapter 31, pg 283, “I had never seen our neighborhood from this angle. There were Miss Maudie’s, Miss Stephanie’s—there was our house, I could see the porch swing—Miss Rachel’s house was beyond us, plainly visible. I could even see Mrs. Dubose’s. I looked behind me.

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Atticus was right. One time he said you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them. Just standing on the Radley porch was enough” (Lee 374.) All this time Scout thought that Boo was just the crazy neighborhood kid when he was really a very nice person. Everyone told her that he was crazy and there were so many rumors which caused her to believe something that was not true and judge someone wrongly.

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In To Kill a Mockingbird there are lots of racial, gender, and religious, discrimination. Which is shown a multiple amount of times throughout the novel. To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel written by Harper Lee which takes place in Maycomb Alabama, where there is a lot of racial discrimination. But there is also some gender, and religious, discrimination.

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Harper Lee conveys that in the novel by showing that Scout asks one too many questions to the other characters. She is young and young children are known to ask questions about absolutely everything. Scout asks Miss Maudie about her perspective on all of the Boo Radley rumors. Miss Maudie says that during her younger years Boo was actually a really kind kid. Now Scout can see a different side to Boo just because she was just curious if everything said about the Radley family were true.

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How does Harper Lee vividly capture the effects of racism and social inequality on the citizens of Maycomb county in ‘To kill a mockingbird’? In the novel, ‘To kill a mockingbird’, Harper Lee conveys the theme of racism and social inequality by setting up the story in Maycomb, a small community in Alabama, the U.S back in 1930s. Lee presents some of the social issues of 1930s such as segregation and poverty in the novel. These issues are observed and examined through the innocent eyes of a young girl, Scout, the narrator.

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In To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee teaches us about the town of Maycomb County during the late 1930s, where the characters live in isolation and victimization. Through the perspective of a young Jean Louise “Scout” Finch, readers will witness the prejudice that Maycomb produces during times where people face judgement through age, gender, skin colour, and class, their whole lives. Different types of prejudice are present throughout the story and each contribute to how events play out in the small town of Maycomb. Consequently, socially disabling the people who fall victim from living their life comfortably in peace. Boo Radley and his isolation from Maycomb County, the racial aspects of Tom Robinson, and the decision Atticus Finch makes as a lawyer, to defend a black man has all made them fall in the hands of Maycomb’s prejudice ways.

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Throughout the entire book, Scout is curious about Boo Radley; how he looks, how he acts, and why he has been hiding in his home for so many years. Scout is led to believe that Boo is some sort of monster, and she would run passed his house every day. “As the year passed, released from school thirty minutes before Jem, who had to stay until three o’clock, I ran by the Radley Place as fast as I could, not stopping until I reached the safety of our front porch.” (page 33) Scout was afraid of Boo, because she grew up hearing all of the terrible rumors about him.

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In the 1930s, if a black man was on trial there was a ample chance he would be convicted even if evidence proved he was innocent. Throughout history humans being prejudice and bias have affected the lives of thousands of people; some ending with favorable outcomes while others weren’t so fortunate. Within the book To Kill a Mockingbird the readers learn that prejudice and bias people outnumber the understanding and kind. One decision or in this case twelve decisions decide the fate for an unfortunate man. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee reveals that people often follow their biases and prejudices rather than the truth.

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In the novel, ‘To kill a mockingbird, Harper Lee demonstrates the small, imaginary town, the Maycomb County, as a place where racism and social inequality happens in the background of 1930s America. Not only the segregation between whites and blacks, but also the poor lived in a harsh state of living. As Scout, the young narrator, tells the story, Lee introduces and highlights the effects of racism and social inequality on the citizens of Maycomb County by using various characters such as Boo Radley, Tom Robinson, and Mayella Ewell. Firstly, Harper Lee portrays Boo Radley as a victim of social inequality through adjectives and metaphor in the phrase, “There was a long jagged scar that ran across his face; what teeth he had were yellow and rotten;” ‘Long jagged scar that ran across his face’ tells us that Boo Radley has stereotype about his appearance, which forces to imagine Boo as a scary and threatening person. The phrase, ‘yellow and rotten’ make the readers think as if Boo Radley is poor and low in a social hierarchy, as he cannot afford to brush his teeth.

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