Robert Heinlein once said, “You can sway a thousand men by appealing to their prejudices quicker than you can convince one man by logic”. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, the young narrator’s naivety and innocence shows that prejudice and racism overweigh logic and reason. Throughout the book, Scout encounters the once thought sweet and nice townsfolk to have their darker side with racism. Harper Lee uses the experiences of the young and impressionable Scout throughout the racially-charged trial of Tom Robinson to amplify the cruelty of prejudice and its deterioration of innocence on children As Scout watches the trial, she slowly begins to see how her beloved town encourages this unfair racial prejudice. From its own courthouse, Tom Robinson, a black person, was judged guilty from the accusation of raping a white teenage girl. When all evidence was pointing towards the innocence of Robinson, he was denied his¬¬¬¬¬¬¬ freedom, …show more content…
Although most believe school teachers are trusted moral compasses, Scout unfortunately learns people are not always as seemed from her teacher. Through Miss Gate’s words on Hitler, Scout’s third grade teacher, Scout’s innocence is taken away with prejudice. In chapter twenty-six, Miss Gates talks badly about Hitler and Scout says, “Jem, how can you hate Hitler so bad an’ turn around and be ugly about the folks right at home” (Lee 210). With the Nazis gaining control in Germany, huge prejudice was taken against the Jews; as in Maycomb, huge prejudice was shown against the blacks having them in a separate part of town and buildings from the whites. Miss Gates hating the Nazis for the prejudice against Jews but then looking down upon blacks shows her ignorance towards her own prejudice. Scout then seeing this ignorance with racism degrades her innocence because she is getting exposed to this obvious prejudice and makes her realize there is worse in the world than she