Examples Of Bias In To Kill A Mockingbird

As Robertson Davies once said, “The eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend.” Bias is prevalent throughout everyone's lives whether they notice it or not. Each person has their own perception on different things and that is what creates bias. In To Kill a Mockingbird bias is shown throughout the story, and affects the lives of the citizens of Maycomb, Alabama. Bias is also all over America, but many people just don’t realize it even though it affects their daily lives. My personal biases impact my daily life in good and bad ways as well. Biases constrict us from seeing the real image of the world, and that shapes it to make it how it is today.

In To Kill a Mockingbird bias takes a huge impact on the characters. In the town

In the town of Maycomb many families and people have a bias towards them. This is portrayed when Scout explains that the Cunninghams are poor and never take what they can’t pay back to their new teacher. Another is when Scout finds out about the Ewells that there kids come the first day of school but then never come back so they have a bias against them that they are all dirty, poor, and uneducated bums. This affects the characters because the families are downgraded because of what they are and people see them that way instead of who the are. It affects the plot because it adds a foreshadowing aspect on the Ewells and what they are. Another way bias is shown in To Kill A Mockingbird is when Atticus has to defend a black man named Tom Robinson. Everyone except some family members and the blacks were against Atticus because he was defending Tom. In the case of Tom Robinson everyone knows he will be guilty for the crime he had done just because he was black, and to them blacks are always guilty. Even though it's obvious he wasn't guilty they convict him as charged and he is sent to jail

Biases in sports is a major one. In sports such as the NFL women aren’t allowed to play because they are said to be “not good enough”, and things like that . This shapes the world because it causes many people to think that women aren’t worthy to play some sports, and puts a filter on our brain causes us to think things that aren’t true. Another example is poverty in America.. Many people believe that these people living in poverty are homeless, jobless bums. The truth is most of these people own a home, have a job, and are trying there hardest to make a living. Its also proven that 40% of people ages 25 to 60 will live in poverty at some point in their lives. So the truth is most people living in poverty are ordinary people,but that's not the way everyone sees it. This causes people to think badly of other and makes our world a worse place to live in. Another bias in America is in the market. Girls and boys toys have created a huge impact in america with the colors, and types of things they use to aim a specific item towards a single gender. In stores such as target the aisles are separated by so called boy colors and girl colors. Also toys are named different things just for an appeal to genders such as dolls and action figures, when they are really all the same thing. This affects our world because it shows that boys and girls have to get or buy certain things aimed