Boo Radley Discrimination

Just one year after To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee was published, it was awarded the illustrious Pulitzer Prize as well as several other literary awards. This novel displays the prejudice and discrimination against African American people that was present in the south during the 1930s, which was during the Great Depression. Prejudice is an unfavorable opinion that is formed before actual knowledge or experience, and discrimination is the unfair treatment of others. Discrimination includes but is not limited gender, race, and social status. Some examples of prejudice and discrimination shown in To Kill A Mockingbird are Aunt Alexandra pushing Jean Louise (Scout) to behave “like a lady” would, Boo Radley being prejudged for staying inside

Boo Radley is one of the many victims of prejudice in To Kill A Mockingbird because he is not considered normal in their judgemental society. The town of Maycomb blames Boo for anything bad that happens. He is always gossiped about just because he does not come outside. Since so many rumors about him have been spread, people think he is an awful person and that he has a mental illness. When Jem, Dill, and Scout are trying to get Boo Radley to come out, Jem thinks Boo would “kill [them] each and every one” (Lee 15). He continues to say that he would gouge their eyes out. This is because the town’s gossip has made him believe Boo is not a good person. As the story progresses, Scout and Jem realize that Boo Radley is reasonable for staying inside, which is shown in the text when Jem states that he is “beginning to understand why Boo Radley’s stayed shut up in the house all this time… it’s because he wants to stay inside” (Lee 259). Jem realizes that nobody can get along, and this is a reasonable reason to stay inside. Boo is finally being understood. The more the story continues the more they realize that they were wrong about Boo Radley. Later in the story, Bob Ewell tries to murder Scout and Jem, and Boo Radley saves their lives. They learn that Boo never did any of the bad things that were said about him, and this teaches them that judging someone with actually knowing them is not

Tom Robinson, a black and disabled man, was accused of raping Mayella Ewell. The Ewells were a low status family that were poor and not liked by most of Maycomb. However, during the case, people supported the Ewells just because Tom was not white. It is made obvious in the story that Tom did not commit this crime, but he was convicted due to the color of his skin. During the trial, Tom was treated disrespectfully, and this made even white people start to feel like the whole situation was wrong. For example, Dill starts crying at the trial due to the way Mr. Gilmer is hatefully treating Tom by referring to him as “boy” and “nigger” when Tom is a married man with a wife and children. Scout tries to reason that Tom is “just a Negro,” but Dill doesn’t care and responds, “‘I don’t care one speck. It ain’t right, somehow it ain’t right to do ‘em that way. Hasn’t anybody got any business talkin’ like that—it just makes me sick’” (Lee 226). Dill learns from this trial that it isn’t right to treat anyone disrespectfully. Jem also realizes that discriminating people based on their race is wrong. This is shown when he cries in the novel because “it’s not right” that Tom was convicted (Lee 242). Jem realizes that it doesn’t matter if one is the most honest person alive because the citizens of Maycomb will not support a black person over a white person. Scout learns about the