Examples Of Prejudice In To Kill A Mockingbird

Prejudice and Racism in To Kill a Mockingbird In her historical fiction novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee follows two young children, Scout and Jem Finch, as they witness the racism and prejudice within their "tired old town" (6) of Maycomb, Alabama. Atticus, their loving father, takes it upon himself to courageously fight these concepts outside the neighborhood Scout and Jem "[confine] their activities to." (132). Atticus, a lawyer, willingly accepts to "[defend] a Negro…[,] Tom Robinson" (100), who was convicted of raping Mayella Ewell, a white woman. The evidence presented makes it glaringly obvious that he never committed this crime, but due to the overwhelming presence of racism in Maycomb, the plaintiff, Mayella's father, could

Knowing the harm the dog could cause, Atticus heroically kills Tim in "one… shot" (126). The Finches' neighbor, Miss Stephanie, however, claims that Tim Johnson "[was not] mad" (129) at all. She argues that since the dog never attacked anyone, he was "just full of fleas" (129) and completely innocent. Lee implies the events of Atticus's monumental case as "no different from [that]... morning" (281), which therefore compares Tim Johnson to the racism Atticus fought in the courthouse. Not only does Atticus stand up to and "[pull] the trigger" (282) on both Tim Johnson and racism, but Tim and racism also "advanc[e]" (126) in a society and spread like a terrible sickness. Lee utilizes this parallel to draw attention to the way Miss Stephanie oversimplifies the concept of discrimination. She believes that, because she, just like Tim, has not viciously "lunged at [anybody's] throat" (125), she is not prejudiced. However, it is "Miss Stephanie's pleasure" (290) to spread rumors and gossip that are offensive toward African Americans, which is equally destructive. Through this comparison, Lee confirms Miss Stephanie has indeed "[caught] Maycomb's usual disease" (117) and is prejudiced

Weeks after Atticus's big case, Miss Gates gives a lesson on "one of the most terrible stories in history" (329) -- Hitler's horrendous persecution of the Jews. Lee elucidates that Miss Gates hates Hitler "a lot" (330), mainly for the way he treats the Jews. Ironically, Scout notices that even though Miss Gates says "[she] doesn't believe in persecuting anybody" (329), she herself "[is] ugly about [African American] folks" (331), persecuting just the way Hitler would. Scout noticed Miss Gates spreading her beliefs that "[Negroes] were gett[ing] way above themselves" (331) just after Atticus's case. Consequently, Lee proves Miss Gates thinks persecution is only "putt[ing] people in prisons" (327), just like Miss Stephanie believed. Unfortunately, they find it acceptable to "have mean thoughts" (331) and comments about African Americans. Lee uses this to display how widespread this misrepresentation of prejudice and racism is in Maycomb. This ideology resides in multiple townspeople, not just Miss Stephanie. Lee even employs the fact that Miss Gates is a teacher to show this oversimplification of discrimination, contrary to the ethical concept of "equal rights for all" (328), is being passed down and taught through generations. This means the racism in Maycomb will likely remain for years to