In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee demonstrates how prejudices are generalized. This novel depicts how the family of Scout, Jem, and Atticus live with differing opinions in the prejudiced town of Maycomb, Alabama. When a black man Tom Robinson, is being accused of raping a young white girl Mayella Ewell, Atticus defends Tom in the court case. Atticus was able to hold out the jury but was unable to win the case over the biased town. Harper Lee emphasizes that society will often create prejudices and generalize them onto people of different groups by events including Tom Robinson's death, Scout's feelings toward women, and Aunt Alexandra’s thoughts on the Cunninghams.
To begin, in To Kill A Mockingbird Harper Lee emphasizes racism following the death of Tom Robinson. The novel states, “Just shows you, that Robinson boy was legally married, they say he kept himself clean, went to church and all that, but when it comes down to the line the veneer's mighty thin. Nigger always comes out in 'em” (Lee 322). In the novel, this is an example of the mindset of many people in Maycomb preceding the death of Tom Robinson. This reveals that the people of Maycomb use their established
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When Scout helps Calpurnia serve Aunt Alexandra’s missionary group she dislikes, it causes her to think to herself, “There was something about them, no matter how much they cussed and drank and gambled and chewed; no matter how undelectable they were, there was something about them that I instinctively liked they weren't- "Hypocrites, Mrs. Perkins, born hypocrites," Mrs. Merriweather was saying.” (Lee 313) Although she is cut off, Mrs. Merriweather finishes her thought. These thoughts demonstrate that she was willing to give men a pass for what she views as their faults, but unwilling to give women a pass for theirs. Then she takes that bias and assumes that all women must be