Examples Of Prejudice In To Kill A Mockingbird

The Presence of Prejudice

In Harper Lee’s great depression era novel To Kill a Mockingbird, she fuels a raving battle against prejudice in a steadfastly racist society. The protagonist, Jean-Louise “Scout” Finch, looks on as the fires of prejudice rage all around her beginning “the summer Dill came”(3), and ending when “Bob Ewell fell on his knife”(314) several years later. During the period between these events, Lee kindles situations that, “ain’t right”(242), like the diffident treatment one lawyer gives when cross-examining Tom Robinson, a black man wrongly tried and convicted of rape, and later on where Tom’s defendant must remind the jury that not “all Negroes lie, that [not] all Negroes are basically immoral beings,” (232) and even a

Gilmer when addressing Tom Robinson as a witness for his supposed raping of Mayella Ewell. The diction used by each character is very contrasting, especially when addressing Tom, where Atticus calls him, “Tom,”(217) with respect as if talking to a friend while Mr Gilmer addresses Tom with an accusing, “had your eye on her a long time… boy”(223) treating him as if already guilty, presumably because Tom is African-American. Lee establishes Mr. Gilmer’s prejudice with the word choice of “boy” which suggests that Gilmer views Tom as nothing more than a child, and therefore unworthy of respectable titles like a name. Lee expounds upon Mr. Gilmer’s treatment of Tom when Mr. Gilmer lures Tom into telling the audience that he, “[feels] sorry for [Mayella]”(224) to which Mr. Gilmer, horrified, responds, “You fe[el] sorry for her, you fe[el] sorry for her?”(224) using italics and more scornful diction to place Tom in the wrong. Lee’s use of the italicized word, “You,” here reinforces the idea that it is wrong for Tom specifically as an African-American man to feel anything toward a white woman, especially “sorry”, an ideology bleeding racism and prejudice as many simply assume that Tom, because he is African-American, is not to be trusted around Mayella. Overall, Lee exposes extreme prejudice in Mr. Gilmer’s diction when cross-examining Tom

Lee concretes the theme of prejudice here by stating that, “Tom Robinson [is] a human being,”(231) to a jury that presumes Tom is guilty simply because of his skin color. Lee classifying Tom Robinson as a “human being” is a big deal, because it shows the necessity to remind the jury that he is actually human. Prejudice seems to go too far when an audience must be reminded that a person is, in fact, a person. Lee continues to demonstrate prejudice in Atticus’s speech by flaunting the jury’s assumptions that, “all Negroes lie… all Negroes are basically immoral beings… [and] all Negro men are not to be trusted around our women,”(232) finally attacking the prejudice observed by many at the time. Lee presents these ideas as extremes by using the word, “all,” which seems ridiculous as “all” of a race cannot be corrupt, there must be at least a few good people, therefore summing up the entire issue of prejudice in a simple sentence. Lee then expresses her opinion on prejudice remarking that it is, “a lie as black as Tom Robinson’s skin,”(232) supporting the theme of prejudice that is plentiful in the story. Ultimately, Lee definitively makes use of details in To Kill a Mockingbird to support the theme of