Discrimination is the prejudicial treatment of different categories of people or things. Discrimination is shown in many different ways throughout the novel but is mainly shown through Boo Radley, Tom Robinson, and Atticus Finch. Boo Radley in discriminated against because he is shy and different. Most people were scared of him because the people of Maycomb county say that when he was younger he stabbed his dad in the leg with a pair of scissors. No one really knew anything about Boo, but they knew about his past. “People said he went out at night when the moon was down, and peeped in windows. When people’s azaleas froze in the cold snap, it was because he had breathed on them. Any stealthy small crimes committed in Maycomb were his work” (Lee 9). Everyone thought that he …show more content…
Tom was discriminated against because of his color and the fact that he is poor. He was not well known in the town of Maycomb. He was accused of raping a white women and not very many people Parkhurst 2 were on his side because of his color. During Tom’s trial he says he feels bad for Mayella. After Tom says he feels bad for her the judge Taylor says “You felt sorry for her, you felt sorry for her?” (197) as if it was not right for a black man to feel sorry for a white women. Another character that is discriminated against is Atticus Finch. He is discriminated against because of his beliefs and the fact that he is well educated. Atticus was the lawyer who took on Tom Robinson’s case. He defends Tom knowing that people in Maycomb would not like him for taking on the case. When Scout asks Atticus why he is defending a nigger, he says “For a number of reasons, the main one is, if I didn’t I couldn’t hold up my head in town, I couldn’t represent this county in the legislature, I couldn’t even tell you or Jem not to do something again” (75). Atticus knows he is not going to win the case but that does not stop him from