Examples Of Stereotypes In To Kill A Mockingbird

In Harper Lee’s classic novel “To Kill a Mockingbird”, Lee writes about the coming of age of a young girl named Scout. It is set in the town of Maycomb, Alabama in the 1930’s. This town happened to be a very racially driven place. Lee touches upon many societal problems and flaws, some of them being justice, and the consequences of prejudice. One of the main ones highlighted in the story is racism. It focuses on the presence of racial inequality, and how damaging stereotypes can be. It shows how even laws can be discriminative towards a certain race. The novel encourages readers to challenge societal norms, and change the way they look at things.

The story is set in a racially divided town, where white people are treated much better than

Some of the stereotypes mentioned in the novel were gender roles and class stereotypes.The main stereotype focused on in the story is racial stereotypes. A stereotype aimed at African Americans during this time was that they were less educated due to their skin color. The limited educational opportunities for black children in their town enforced this stereotype further. Certain characters, like Calpurnia, challenged these stereotypes by being wise and well educated. She was highly respected by the Finch family. She had the ability to guide Scout and Jem, and teach them to read, which not many African American women knew how to do. One of the most common examples of racial stereotypes in the novel is how black men were viewed as dangerous and aggressive. This is shown when Tom Robinson is falsely accused of sexually harassing a white lady, Mayalla Ewell. Regardless of the lack of evidence to support their claim, the racial stereotypes in the town influenced the outcome of the trial, which stated that Robinson was guilty. This shows that the people of this town were blinded by the fact that he was a black man, and didn’t care about the details of the case, only wanting to get their way. As a result of the case, Tom Robinson was thrown in jail, only to be killed later while attempting to escape. Despite all this, Jem was confident that Atticus would win the case, because he

The main example of this is the trial of Tom Robinson. As I mentioned earlier, despite the evidence of Robinson’s innocence, the jury convicted him purely because of his race. Atticus Finch, who was Robinson’s lawyer, found challenges in defending his client, and encountered resistance from the prosecution, and faced prejudice from the townspeople. The court’s proceedings show a lack of empathy from some of the jury and the townspeople. The racial biases prevented them from considering the evidence, and concluded with an unjust outcome. The bias in Maycomb shows the deep divisions and injustices that arise when prejudice and discrimination influence the legal system. The novel pushes readers to reflect on the injustices and the biases in the legal system. We also learn that the legal system has its flaws, showing that it can preserve injustice when it is meant to have the opposite effect. This challenges people to advocate for equality and fairness in the system. It pushes us to work towards reforming legal systems so that we can ensure that they are free from biases and