Examples Of Hypocrisy In To Kill A Mockingbird

In To Kill a Mockingbird, a coming-of-age novel by Harper Lee, the author demonstrates how children are taught that discrimination against a certain race is the norm. Children, being the most impressionable in a community, absorb the lessons that are taught by adults around them to apply to their own lives, whether they be morally good or bad. In the novel, protagonist Scout Finch is exposed to teachings at school as well as at home that challenge her worldview by demonstrating a false ideology that prejudice against colored people is acceptable, even in judicial situations. She learns that racism is prevalent everywhere in society, including her town of Maycomb, shaping the way she views the world as an innocent child. Maycomb’s hypocrisy

Atticus explains how colored people are at a disadvantage in court, despite the justice that must be served. Atticus explains, “The one place where a man ought to get a square deal is in a courtroom, be he any color of the rainbow, but people have a way of carrying their resentments right into a jury box” (Lee 295). Scout learns about the hypocrisy that is carried into a courtroom, where every man should have a fair chance. Even though the court is supposed to carry out proper justice for the innocent and guilty, a black person would still have a slim chance winning against a white person. The verdict should be determined based on evidence and witnesses, although the jury in Tom Robinson’s case manage to pronounce him guilty simply because of their opinion. Because Scout is exposed to injustice and Atticus’ honesty, she learns the harsh truth of their community along with its many flaws, something that can only be learned from personal experience and influential adults around

Her teacher, Miss Gates, comments on how terrible prejudice against Jews is and that no one should ever be put above Jews. However, the hypocrisy is evident when she talks badly about Tom Robinson because he is black. Scout describes the scene to her brother Jem when she says, “I heard her say it’s time somebody taught ‘em a lesson, and they were gettin’ way above themselves[...]. Jem, how can you hate Hitler so bad an’ then turn around and be ugly about folks right at home-” (Lee 331). Since Miss Gates hates Hitler while being prejudice against race in her own community, she acts as if discrimination against blacks is second nature and does not consider it to be a morally incorrect idea. Scout is witness to this and begins to understand that Maycomb’s preconception about blacks affects her education by demonstrating a hypocrisy that can influence children in the town. She uses this experience to further develop an opinion on equality between all races as she discovers the accepted black discrimination compared to other discriminatory