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Examples Of Prejudice In To Kill A Mockingbird

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Death of the Mockingbirds by the Trial of Prejudice.

Prejudice can be described as an opinion or judgement of a person based usually on race or beliefs before all the facts are known. In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee shows the effects prejudice has on certain characters as it distorts the town's view of who they really are. This claim can be supported by examining the characters: Arthur Radley, Dolphus Raymond and Tom Robinson. Arthur Radley is outcasted as a monster by the town, Dolphus Raymond must pretend to be a drunk to avoid further discrimination and Tom Robinson is found guilty in court despite his innocence. No matter what a character does, thinks or feels: prejudice will always be present to sabotage their credibility …show more content…

According to the town, he is a drunk who has made terrible decisions in his life as he lives with his black wife and spends most of his time with black people. In reality, Dolphus Raymond consciously prefers to spend time with Negroes and masks all of his life choices behind the facade of alcoholism. This can all be shown as Dolphus Raymond explains his situation with Scout, Jem and Dill.
I try to give 'em a reason, you see. It helps folks if they can latch onto a reason… folks can say Dolphus Raymond’s in the clutches of whiskey - that's why he won't change his ways… that's why he lives the way he does. (Lee, 200)
As explained to the children, Dolphus Raymond pretends to be a drunk to avoid any further prejudice and discrimination from the townspeople thus creating an endless stream of prejudice as everybody in the town assumes he is a drunk, and never give him any chance to prove himself.

Near the beginning of the book, Tom Robinson, a black man, has been accused of rape. Atticus presents facts that reveal Tom Robinson’s innocence beyond all reasonable doubt. Ultimately, the jury believes that the black man did it without considering the facts put in front of them. This prejudice and racism lead to Tom Robinson’s death and it can be shown through the quotation of Atticus finch when he talks about the unjust values in the

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In society today there are those that are pushed out of the crowd because of what they look like, how they act, and what others say to be true about them. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee shows that unselfish, kind hearted people can experience prejudice from others. Always wanting to be the better person, Atticus Finch is like the mockingbird when taking the responsibility of defending Tom Robinson, who is a black man. Once Atticus gets the news that he will be defending Tom Robinson, who is accused of rape, he is very stressed until the end of the trial. Harper Lee shows this when she says, “It’s this Tom Robinson case that’s worrying him to death...”

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Have you ever been judged just because of your actions? Well if you have then you can relate to Dolphus Raymond. In this passage of To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the literary elements of irony, symbol and the character of Dolphus Raymond help convey the theme that people have the right to live life the way they choose to live it, and if people wish to criticize you, let them because at the end of the day it is your happiness that really matters. The character of Dolphus Raymond is constantly criticized for having a different lifestyle than everyone else and in chapter 20 Dolphus is sipping on a bottle of Coca- Cola and is explaining to the children about how he deals with people and their opinions.

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In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee conveys that prejudice divides communities and that persecution of innocent people is evil; furthermore; these two minor themes reinforce the major thematic idea that a simple assumption can divide people. When Tom Robinson is put on trial for supposedly raped Mayella Ewell, the racism in Maycomb surfaces and creates conflict. In the novel, a stranger says, “You know what we want,” ‘another man said.’ “Get aside from the door, Mr. Finch.”(172). Some drunken men want to harm Tom Robinson for the wrong that he did.

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The kids never knew this they always viewed him as a drunk but as the met him and heard his secrets and viewed the way he lived his life they understood that he wasn’t an evil, drunk, or alcoholic he just tried to give folks a reason to understand. This relates right back to Atticus’s statement because the kids never truly understood the life of Dolphus Raymond until they actually got to meet him and hear how his life was. As the story went on the children began to understand Atticus’s statement, “You never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them.” Through the interactions with Dolphus and Boo it really changed how they viewed life in Maycomb, and showed how the children aged throughout the story.

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Atticus Finch once said, “You never understand a person until you consider things from his point of view… until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” (Harper 39) Harper Lee’s novel, “To Kill A Mockingbird”, is a story that has a lot to do with the acceptance of all types of people. One way the novel “To Kill A Mockingbird” shows acceptance is Dolphus Raymond marrying a black woman. The second way the novel “To Kill A Mockingbird” shows acceptance is Calpurnia being a mother figure to Atticus’s kids. Another way the novel “To Kill A Mockingbird” shows acceptance is Atticus defending Tom Robinson.

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To Kill a Prejudice In To Kill a Mockingbird, the classic novel by Harper Lee, many of the characters adhere to the rigid social structures of America in the early 1900s. Townsfolk hide their true character behind polite guises and do not dare tarnish their reputation. These people view children and other races as their inferiors, subject to blunt opinions and open ridicule. However, one character in particular, Mr. Dolphus Raymond, distances himself from these cultural "norms" and sacrifices a good name for his beliefs.

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Racial Prejudiceness In the book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee it displays racial prejudiceness when they falsely accuse a black man of rape, which ended up costing him his life because of their false accusation. In the time period that the book took place, there was still a lot of segregation and racial discrimination in the south, which led to people believing a guilty white man’s word over an innocent black man’s word. All throughout the book there were many examples of racial prejudice which eventually built up to the main display of racial discrimination. In chapter 6 the main characters of the book, Jem, Scout, and Dill decided to go to the Radley house and Mr. Radley saw their shadows and thought it was someone trying to break

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This shows that Mr. Raymond is willing to live with this lie in order to satisfy his neighbors' need to understand his lack of racism. Just like the mockingbird he means no harms to anyone and wishes only to live in peace with his family. Furthermore, Mr Raymond symbolizes a mockingbird because he doesn't like to fight. For instance, when scout asked him why does he pretend he’s drunk, he says When I come to town, if I weave a little and drink out of this sack, folks can say Dolphus Raymond's in the clutches of whiskey—that's why he won't change his ways. He can't help himself, that's why he lives the way he does" it indicates that Mr. Raymond's leads a double life instead of fighting for what he believes in.

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The novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is an inspiring read that displays how others point of view can change the perspective of others. Throughout the book, many of the characters perception of other characters can change the aspect of a persona. For example, Arthur Radley, also known as Boo, is perceived as a very mean person. Also, Tom Robinson is accused of being a rapist. Finally, the town’s people perceive many characters such as Dolphus Raymond, for being an alcoholic.

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Prejudice leads to many consequences. In the book To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee shows us how the evils of prejudice impact on the lives of innocent people such as Atticus Finch and Tom Robinson. Atticus Finch, the most famous lawyer in Maycomb County, is a highly respected and honoured individual in the community who becomes a victim of prejudice. Atticus, a white man is defending Tom Robinson, a black man.

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Social prejudice is shown throughout Harper Lee’s award winning book, To Kill a Mockingbird. Harper Lee powerfully analyses the theme social prejudice, and its effect on people. Such as how the Social prejudice is discrimination based on your status in society. An example of social prejudice would be the Radley family, which consists of Boo Radley, Nathan Radley and Arthur Radley. As they haven’t been out of their house in years people are lead to believe the rumours.

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Essay In the novel ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ by Harper Lee, there are many important messages shown throughout the book. However the primary focus was set on racial prejudice that existed in the 1930s-1940’s in the fictional town of Maycomb County. The racism in the novel was very much a reality in 1930s-1940s America. A very good example of the racial prejudice that existed was in the courtroom during Tom Robinson’s trial, an innocent Negro man held against his will for a crime he did not commit.

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To Kill a Mockingbird: The Physical Effects Of Prejudice The consequences of prejudice can be to the biggest or to the smallest extent as seen in the classic, To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee. Although prejudice effects all people differently, the characters throughout the novel experience the uniting commonality of being considered outcasts in their society. This is depicted through Harper’s writing when Dolphus Raymond is victimized due to his actions, Boo Radley’s reputation becomes forever tarnished and Atticus is besmirched by the citizens of Maycomb.

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Today and in the past, prejudice makes a man blind to the truth. The greatest instance of prejudice blinding the truth in To Kill a Mockingbird is the trial of Tom Robinson. In spite of Atticus proving without a doubt that Tom could not have raped Mayella Ewell the jury lets their own prejudices and preconceptions take precedence over the facts of the case. To the members of an extremely biased jury, Tom was guilty the moment he stepped onto Ewell property.

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Steve Jobs, one of the most successful businessmen to ever live, once said, “Your time is limited, so don 't waste it living someone else 's life. Don 't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people 's thinking. Don 't let the noise of others ' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition” (qtd. in Dubey n.pag.)

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