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Examples Of Prejudice In To Kill A Mockingbird

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In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee showed examples of prejudice in the time and place of the novel. Prejudice is “an unfavorable opinion or feeling formed beforehand or without knowledge, thought, or reason” (Dictionary.com). Tom Robinson and Boo Radley were victims of prejudice in To Kill A Mockingbird. Tom Robinson was a victim of prejudice during the court case. Boo Radley was a victim because of the preconceived opinions formed by the kids of who he is. In To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee shows how prejudice is wrong through the events that occur to Tom Robinson and how Boo Radley is described by the children. The novel takes place in Maycomb County. In Maycomb, colored people were not treated fairly even after the civil rights movement. …show more content…

Boo Radley was depicted as a strange man who never came out of his house. “Inside the house lived a malevolent phantom” (Lee ch 1; 9). They described him as a vicious ghost based on rumors they heard from other people even though they had never seen him before. This is prejudice because the kids formed an opinion on who Boo Radley is even though the only thing they knew about him was that he doesn’t come out of his house. Their preconceived opinion of Boo Radley was completely wrong. Throughout the novel, Boo Radley only does good things for the children. When Miss Maudie’s house burned down Boo Radley put a blanket around Scout to keep her warm. Also, in the novel, Boo Radley saves Scout and Jim’s lives when Bob Ewell tried to kill them. The opinions the children had at Boo Radley in the beginning of the novel are an example of prejudice because they knew nothing about who Boo Radley was.
Prejudice is still a problem in today's society. People still judge one another based on things like race, ethnicity, social status, wealth, and even age. It is common in today’s world for people in older generations to have opinions on the younger generations without knowing who they are. People continue to make preconceived opinions of other people without knowing who they

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In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, one of the themes is that people should not be quick to judge others based on the labels given by society. During the story, the children judge Boo Radley based on what other people have gossiped about him and what comes from their imagination. “Jem gave a reasonable description of Boo: Boo was about six-and-a-half feet tall, judging from his tracks; he dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch, that’s why his hands were bloodstained-if you ate an animal raw, you could never wash the blood off. There was a long jagged scar that ran across his face; what teeth he had were yellow and rotten; his eyes popped and he drooled most of the time.”

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Prejudice is preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience. According to Oxford Dictionary. In the book To Kill a Mockingbird prejudice is one of the main topics. This is demonstrated in the trial and The kids tresspancence into the Radley yard & Lulas reaction to Calpernia bringing Jem & Scout to the Jim Crow church.

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In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee uses Boo Radley, Tom Robinson, and Mr. Dolphus Raymond, to prove that societal judgment makes people perceive outcasts as monsters. To begin, Boo Radley, as an

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In the novel we see this when the kids try to get him to come out. This shows that Boo Radley is misunderstood because The kids think that boo radley is some weird, creepy, sketchy person,when in reality they don't actually know him or the truth. Furthermore, on page 43 when scout was asking miss maudie if boo was dead and why he won't come out if the house, this also shows that Boo Radley is misunderstood. This shows that Boo Radley is misunderstood, because,the kids were always asking questions about him and the never really understood much about him.

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The trial was decided before there was a verdict. The kids have a sort of prejudice towards Boo Radley. “You all’ve gone crazy, he’ll kill us”. This kids think that he is some kind of monster it is a more innocent kind of prejudice but it still in some ways is a prejudice.

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Harper Lee's novel, To Kill a Mockingbird , Jem illustrates prejudice by being biased towards Boo because of her fear of him. In her description of Boo, she describes him as a "6-and-a-half-foot tall man who eats raw squirrels and cats. His hands are blood stained because he eats raw animals. There is a long-jagged scar that runs across his face; his teeth are yellow and rotten; his eyes pop, and he drools most of the time" (Lee.14).

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To Kill a Mockingbird suggests that racial prejudice influences the injustices Tom Robinson and his family experienced. The novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee explores the segregated town of Maycomb, Alabama, and reveals the cruel realities of injustice

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The loss of innocence and the destruction of the innocent are also another major issue. In the novel, some examples of prejudice include the children’s prejudice towards Boo Radley. He is a misunderstood, innocent yet haunted person. He is believed as a myth and monster, but he is in reality a real person. Eventually the children mature and grow, to see him no longer as a myth, but as a real person they finally understand.

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In the novel, To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, there are examples of Boo Radley being a symbolism for prejudice. Boo Radley is being judged and thought of as “a Malevolent phantom”, by others in Maycomb and the main characters Scout and Jem even though “Jem and I [Scout] had never seen him” (Lee 10). Jem and Scout have a negative thinking towards Boo Radley despite that they have never met one another.

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To Kill a Mockingbird reveals prejudice when describing Boo Radley at the start of the book. Scouts and other people in town have

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He mainly experiences prejudice due to gossip and rumors which go around about him throughout the town. At the beginning of the book Jem and Scout were educating their friend named Dill about their mysterious neighbor, Boo Radley, Jem proceeds to give a description… "Boo was about six-and-a-half feet tall, judging from his tracks; he dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch, that's why his hands were bloodstained. "(page 13) The exaggerated stories describe Boo Radley as a violent individual. Due to the running rumors about him is seen as an outcast in society and is rarely seen outside of his house.

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The first instances of prejudice from the children towards Boo Radley is in the beginning of the novel. Jem and Scout are afraid of Boo Radley because they hear rumors about him. Jem and Scout are told rumors about Boo Radley and they believe them, they start to judge Boo without even knowing Boo personally. Jem states, “Boo was about six and a half feet tall, judging from his tracks;he dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch”(Lee 14).

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Rather than simply staying silent one must actively oppose the oppressor and fight back to eliminate these injustices. In To Kill A Mockingbird we should learn the effect of prejudice in an individual’s life because we witness several situations and examples of prejudice resulting in fear, anger, and death. Direct impacts of prejudice towards Tom robinson The effect of racism and classism

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Boo Radley had been kept in isolation for so long, he didn’t know how to communicate or socialise properly. He has been misunderstood as a malevolent person, when he actually is a benevolent person. He displays this when he put a blanket around Scout, whilst she and Jem watched the fire. As readers, we are shown social prejudice by the assumptions made about the Radley’s. Another example of social prejudice is the

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To kill a Mockingbird The relationship between Boo radley and the children have always been a bit bizarre as it may seem. At first Jem, Scout, and Dill have their assumptions about Boo Radley, which of course none of them turn out to be correct at the end of the story. Like the famous quote says “Do not judge a book by it's cover,” in this situation Boo’s rumor’s is the book cover and the sory behind the cover is Boo’s true identity .Yet they are still attracted by the abnornal nasty rumors and gossip about Boo’s Domestic violence and the strange things he does at night. Just how Maycomb County is biased towards Tom Robinson, The kids are biased towards Boo Radley.

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