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Examples Of Biases In To Kill A Mockingbird

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“Prejudice is opinion without judgment.” -Voltaire.
Throughout the fiction novel To Kill A Mockingbird written by: Harper Lee
The book takes place in a town called Maycomb located in Alabama during 1933-1935. At the time prejudice was normalized as it took place where women were treated unequally, whites were seen as superior to blacks, the blacks also were in a system where racism was fueled by the Jim Crow era. A young girl named Scout who is also the protagonist navigates her life through witnessing experiences with prejudice, many in the community also may have faced or challenged prejudice rooted in the community, learning that prejudice may form many biases and that it may affect how someone acts.

Throughout the story To Kill A Mockingbird …show more content…

He mainly experiences prejudice due to gossip and rumors which go around about him throughout the town. At the beginning of the book Jem and Scout were educating their friend named Dill about their mysterious neighbor, Boo Radley, Jem proceeds to give a description… "Boo 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."(page 13) The exaggerated stories describe Boo Radley as a violent individual. Due to the running rumors about him is seen as an outcast in society and is rarely seen outside of his house. The people in the community look down upon him. The night of the agricultural play Jem and Scout were on their way back, and that's when they were surprised and attacked by Bob Ewell. Boo in the act of courage protected the kids which in the process killed Bob. “Bob Ewell fell on his knife. He killed himself.”(page 227) Boo falls victim to prejudice as the people of Maycomb don’t get to know him truly. The town only knows him from the falsely spread rumors about him. The kids realize that they are wrong after Boo Radley saved them both from Bob Ewell’s attacks. Boo is an adult who faces prejudice against the community as his opinion of him is not what he is. The kids learn that Boo is a kind and generous man and learn that prejudice blinds the

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Primary Evidence: Jem tells Scout that he thinks that Boo stays in his house because Boo knows that if he was to be seen in public he would be judged by Maycomb citizens (Lee 227). 2. Interpretation: Like a mockingbird, Boo is misjudged and people are scared that he will harm them, but he is actually innocent and loving. B. Claim: Boo radley is a loving giving man who likes to bring joy to

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The Prejudice Community of Maycomb The book “To kill a Mockingbird” is based in a small town in Maycomb, Alabama during the great depression. Some of the main characters are Tom Robinson, Mayella Ewell, Bob Ewell, Atticus Finch, and many more. Tom Robinson is a black male who is accused of raping Mayella Ewell who is Bob Ewell's daughter. Atticus Finch is the lawyer defending Tom and has to put up a battle against the Ewells and the jury to try and defend this man.

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“Nobody in Maycomb had nerve enough to tell Mr. Radley that his boy was in with the wrong crowd.” (10) Before Boo came out to save the children many people assumed he was bad from stories they have heard, this shows the unfair maltreatment towards

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He is a kind, innocent man that loves Jem and Scout as if they were his own. The town views Boo as a monster, but as he leaves gifts for the children and mends Jem’s pants, the reader begins to see his true nature and learns that he is misjudged by society. Boo also saves the lives of Jem and Scout. In the process of saving the kids, Boo had to kill Bob Ewell. By killing Mr. Ewell; Boo Radley killed his innocence.

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Furthermore, Boo Radley is another character that improves Scout’s maturity. According to Jem, Scout’s brother, “Boo 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” (Lee 16). Because of the assumption that many people in Maycomb came up with about Boo, he is known to be a lunatic and no one wants to mess with him. Boo is not what he seems like or what people had said about him. Following the case of Tom Robinson, Scout finally understood why Boo never wanted to be involved in society and why he wanted to be a recluse.

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The novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee, is placed in Maycomb County, Alabama, in the era of the Great Depression. The novel stars Scout, a girl who is trying to grow up in the Great Depression era, Scout’s father, Atticus, is acting as a defense attorney for a falsely accused black man, Scout also has to deal with growing up next to a scary, and mysterious neighbor. To Kill a Mockingbird contains many types of prejudice including: Racial Prejudice, Prejudice against Atticus, and prejudice against lower class citizens. To Kill a Mockingbird contains many types of prejudice, including Racial prejudice. Some examples are, the Tom Robinson Trial, which showed the true colours of the men and women inside Maycomb County, Alabama, people just started assuming that Tom is instantly guilty just because he is black, Lynch mobs tried to kill Tom because they took a white man’s word over a black man’s word, people disrespected the black community during the trial, and Whites were unable to be around black churches/communities

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To Kill a Mockingbird takes place in a fictional town called Maycomb, Alabama. The book is built around a colored man, Tom Robinson, being taken to trial for being falsely accused of raping a young white girl. This town is home to many different problems occurring in the 1930’s. Throughout To Kill a Mockingbird, the main character, Scout,

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Most are under the impression that all juries are chosen at random and are unbiased, however, this could not be more untrue. The results of court cases are still affected, if not determined, by bias. The novel, To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, highlights the difficulties faced by a black man, Tom Robinson, when trying to defend himself to a white jury. Harper Lee also called attention to the inequalities in court with Mayella and her testimony as a white, impoverished, female and the struggles that Boo Radley, an individual with disabilities, faced. In the historical context of the story it was a regularity for the topics of race, class, gender, and disabilities to be subject to bias.

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(20) Jem’s exaggerated description demonstrates the community’s intense prejudice towards Boo Radley. The people are able to alienate a member based off of speculations. Scout, an innocent member of Maycomb, has grown up with the idea that Boo acts and looks like

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The experiences of Boo warns the children that the world will always remember, and hold actions against people. Alongside decades of absence, the citizens of Maycomb had created superstitions that he was a “malevolent phantom,” and that he kidnapped children.

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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.

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First, the Town Council is able to get Boo home. When Boo stabs his father with a pair of scissors, he is sent to live in the courthouse basement because his father insists he did not do anything wrong, then “Miss Stephanie Crawford [says] some of the town council told Mr. Radley that if he [does not] take Boo back, Boo [will] die of mold from the damp” (Lee 14). Even though most of Maycomb is scared of Boo, his life is saved which he is then able to use to save Jem and Scout’s life. Another person, Atticus, tries to protect Boo’s personal space by telling the kids to leave him alone.

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They assign characteristics to Boo without any purpose but entertainment and peculiarness; they want to see Boo not as their neighbor, but as an ugly, twisted, mutant, with a taste for eating rodents and cats. Watching the injustice that Tom suffers from being a black man in a white world helps the children understand why Boo may choose to be a recluse. " Scout, I think I'm beginning to understand something. I think I'm beginning to understand why Boo Radley's stayed shut up in the house all this time... it's because he wants to stay inside."

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After Boo saves them from Bob Ewell, Scouts perception of Boo as a monster changes. She realizes he is a “nice” person who had just been a victim of her innocence. The loss of innocence closes the door of their own imaginary world and opens the door up for the actual world. In conclusion, during the duration of the novel, Harper Lee portrays that a lack of maturity, causes innocence, making them oblivious to reality.

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During the beginning of the book Scout mentions the Radley Place and how Boo Radley was a horrifying person who never came out of his home. Scout says, “Radley pecans would kill you. A baseball hit into the Radley yard was a lost ball and no questions asked. ”(10). During the school year, Scout and Jem would quickly run past the Radley home and over the summer and when Dill would arrive, they would try to get Boo to come out of his home.

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