Examples Of Racial Prejudice In To Kill A Mockingbird

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To Kill A Mockingbird is a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel on racial prejudice. Although the novel focuses more on racial prejudice, there are other forms seen as well throughout the reading. For example, gender prejudice. This essay will have facts, statements, and citations regarding the prejudice stated. Scout Finch is a six-year-old girl living with her older brother, Jem Finch, who is ten years old, and their father, Atticus Finch. Sisters and brothers will have quarrels, however, they are not taken seriously. Scout, more so at the beginning of the text, is constantly being shut down or out by her older brother and his friends because of her gender. The major prejudice shown in the text is racial. From the middle to the end, a trial is taking …show more content…

Unjust behavior deriving from unfounded opinions, harm caused by opinions and judgment, and being biased, all of which are shown throughout the novel To Kill A Mockingbird. With that knowledge, it is clear how races, especially in the 1900s, were unfairly treated in their countries, states, towns, schools, and even homes. The Tom Robinson case took place in the courthouse of Maycomb County. Tom is held accountable for the rape of a white woman, Mayella Ewell, on the evening of November 21, 1934. Atticus’ thought upon it is, “In our courts, when it's a white man's word against a black man's, the white man always wins. They're ugly, but those are the facts of life” (Harper Lee 251). According to this detail of the text, it's a vital message conforming to how blacks and people of color were and are treated by the justice system. Skin color plays a role in ignorant people's lives by creating a stigma of preconception for no real reason or cause. The Center for American Progress states, “People of color, particularly African Americans and Latinos, are unfairly targeted by the police and face harsher prison sentences than their white counterparts. Given the nation’s coming demographic shift, in which there will be no clear racial or ethnic majority by 2044, the United States cannot afford these trends to continue. Not only could the money spent on mass incarceration—$80 billion in 2010—be put to better use, but the consequences for people …show more content…

In the country Syria for example, women have been cut off from political engagement. In To Kill A Mockingbird, one can visualize a concept of how and why that is a misconception. In addition, gender inequality is the act of discrimination because of one's sex or gender, causing one sex or gender to be privileged and or prioritized. Gender equality is a fundamental human right, but is constantly violated by gender bias. Gender-based discrimination is more seen between men and women, with women being mistreated. These men believe that they are superior to women because of their mindset, their craving for power and control, and simply how they are born as narcissists. Jem says to Scout, “Scout, I’m tellin’ you for the last time, shut your trap or go home—I declare to the Lord you’re gettin’ more like a girl every day!” (Lee 58). Again, women are mistreated in different ways for different reasons, but it all leads back to their gender. Women are stuck in a hole of discrimination for the simple reason of being upset, or like Scout, asking her brother why she is not allowed to hang out with him and his friend. Jem tells Scout she is acting like a girl multiple times throughout the story because of the way she “acts” when she is only a child. Stereotypes are a powerful concept, it is hard to interfere with one's beliefs for the better,