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Examples Of Racial Prejudice In To Kill A Mockingbird

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Racial Prejudice in To Kill a Mockingbird There are a lot of themes in the classic novel To Kill a Mockingbird written by Harper
Lee. One major theme that is demonstrated all throughout the book is racial prejudice. This novel takes place in the 1930s in the South. During this time period racism was substantially large, primarily in the Southern states. This book was filled with racial advantages towards whites and continuous unjust for blacks. Racial prejudice is a negative mindset towards a group of people because of their race. In the novel, Maycomb County was filled with this prejudice. The main example in the story is Tom Robinson and his trail. This man was already used as basically a slave, and then one day he is falsely accused of rape. His …show more content…

She states, “Over here we don’t believe in persecuting anybody. Persecution comes from people who are prejudiced. Prejudice.” (Lee 329). While saying this she has completely disregarded her own comment made during Tom Robinson’s trial; she clearly persecuted him by basically saying he got what he deserves. Scout catches this and marvels, “…how can you hate Hitler so bad,” she says, “an’ then turn around and be ugly about folks right at home--”
(Lee 331). Miss Gates has the same discrimination, but she is not taking it to an extremity to kill people. How can they care so whole heartedly over a foreign fault when the same thing is happening right where they live? Although this was during the 1930s, racism issues are still alive today as well. In
Ferguson, there are multiple issues regarding people getting killed or somehow harassed by cops because of race. One big problem was the young teenage boy that was shot by a cop. He was unarmed and was doing nothing to harm anyone, but was shot to his death. This incident connects to To Kill a Mockingbird in terms of death of an innocent person. In one scene

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In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the Maycomb court system is totally biased in a discriminatory way. The case of Tom Robinson, if it had not been in this court with its racist jurors, would certainly have not ended the way it did. It only ended the way it did because of peer-pressure, a scared victim being manipulated and believed, and an honest man not. Through her testimony, Mayella Ewell constantly lied.

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When she hears this, Scout does not understand why her decent teacher seems to disapprove persecution when she actually is promoting it. Lastly, when the people blindly accept the Ewell’s claim that Tom Robinson committed this crime merely because he is black, the results are all divisive. In the novel, the jury says, “Guilty...guilty...guilty...guilty…” ‘I peeked at Jem: his hands were white from gripping the balcony rail, and his shoulders jerked as if each “guilty” was a separate

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In the book, To Kill a Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee, there are three main events when Lee was trying to make the point that prejudice is a real issue, and the town can move past it. Harper uses great character development, as well as a creative writing style, to entertain readers and persuade them that we can move past prejudism. The first way Harper Lee tries to help us that prejudice is an issue, when Tom Robinson is frames into looking like he raped Mayella Ewell. Of course, we know this is not true, and Tom is clearly a good guy. but, the town of Maycomb pre-judges him and immediately thinks he is a rapist.

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Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is a thought provoking novel about childhood in an old Southern town. Prejudice is a recurring theme; throughout the novel we watch Scout absorb the discriminatory views of the town, and eventually find the fault in these views and form her own. There are many parallels between the novel and the Australian film Jasper Jones – they both address everyday prejudice, systemic prejudice and show characters overcoming prejudice. By using characterisation, lighting, setting, mis en scene, symbolism and camera shots both texts thoroughly examine the theme of prejudice.

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The case between Tom Robinson and his prosecutors portray one of the many examples Miss Lee wrote of “killing mockingbirds” throughout the plot. The mockingbird, during the case, represented an innocent being that has been wronged by another unjustly. Thus is the case for Tom Robinson, he had been wrongly indicted for an unforgivable felony and set through a futile attempt to redeem himself and the whole reason why his innocence was unattainable, was because his skin colour contrasted to his white neighbours (Lee, 248,

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Examples Of Racial Prejudice In To Kill A Mockingbird

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