In To Kill a Mockingbird one of the themes portrayed by Harper Lee is that prejudice is a disease with deep and far-reaching roots. This theme can be seen throughout the book, whether it is based on race religion or even social status. One of the first instances of prejudice that really drives the story is when Scout tells one of her schoolmates, Cecil Jacobs, to take back what he said about Atticus, to which Cecil responds, “You gotta make me first! My folks said your daddy was a disgrace an’ that nigger oughta hang from the water-tank”(102). This moves the story forward because it is one of the first instances of racism that Scout witnesses in the novel. This interaction also helps introduce the reader to Atticus’s big case with Tom …show more content…
Near the middle of the novel the children take a trip down to the town square where there are lots of people at the courthouse and having picnics. The blacks are all sitting in one corner and the whites are everywhere else, Scout notices Dolphus Raymond over by the blacks and asks Jem and Dill why he sits with the blacks. Jem tells Scout about what happened to the women he was supposed to marry and how he sits with the blacks because he likes then better. Jem also tells Scout and Dill that Dolphus Raymond has mixed children, Jem also mentions that it can be hard to tell mixed children from normal children and says,” ...once you have a drop of negro blood, that makes you all black”(216). When Jem says this he means that in Maycomb anyone who is part black is treated as if they are full black by the whites and as if they are full whites by the blacks. This is one of the