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How Is Prejudice Shown In To Kill A Mockingbird

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Bob Marley, a famous singer once said, “Prejudice is a chain, it can hold you. If you prejudice, you can 't move, you keep prejudice for years. You’ll never get nowhere with that.” Prejudice is shown in our everyday society and their are many reason on why prejudice is shown. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, the author shows why prejudice is shown and the effects of it. The novel takes place in Alabama in the 1930s, and it is narrated by a young girl who is a tomboy. She lives with her older brother and a father who is a lawyer. The father 's name is Atticus and he is a lawyer who decides to defend a black man who is falsely accused of rape. As the two kids grow up surrounded in an environment based on prejudice and misunderstandings, …show more content…

Atticus then tells Jem that if the jury was made up of him and eleven other boys, like Jem, then Tom Robinson would be a free man today. He then says,"There 's something in our world that makes men lose their heads --they couldn 't be fair if they tried. 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" (295). This is implying the prejudicial ways of Maycomb and how their views on the different races. When Atticus says, "There 's something in our world that makes men lose their heads --they couldn 't be fair if they tried, he implies how the white men can’t give a fair case to others. Since the jury is made out of all white farmers everyone expected them to convict Tom since it was a white man 's word against a blacks. The town shows prejudice to the blacks again by showing that they are superior so they have the power to say what is right. When Atticus says, “In our courts, when it 's a white man 's word against a black man 's, the white man always wins, he implies how again the whites are superior and their word will always be taken higher than a blacks. This quote shows the prejudicial ways of Maycomb through racial inequality. The final characters

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For the closing statement of Atticus was moving speech that could not determine the fate of Tom Robinson’s verdict. Atticus used artistic proofs, anaphora, and multiple other persuasive tools to connect with his audience and to prove to the jury that Tom Robinson was innocent. Even with the substantial evidence against the Ewell’s testimony the prejudice and racism that was being shown to the black community in Maycomb overcame the truth. In Atticus’s closing statement he attempted to create people of all races equal in the court

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Therefore, some people pissed to Atticus. The people, who live in Maycomb, say such ugly things about Atticus Finch, a white man, for defending Tom Robinson in court, because Atticus believe Tom and he tried to defend Tom seriously. Long time ago, many people believed that black men is not good, polite, and NOT believable, so they were treated like slaves. Now in real life, people who believe idea of racism by skin color are less than before. However, some people

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If you were Negro, you were either a slave, a crime committer, or just trash. Being white was the best thing back then. No one wants to get to know the Negroes of Maycomb so they assume many things about them. In trial, Atticus tries to explain Negroes are like us with this statement, “....have presented themselves to you gentlemen, to this court...confident that you gentlemen would go along with them on the assumption--the evil assumption--that all Negroes lie, that all Negroes are basically immoral beings, that all Negro men are not to be trusted around our women…” (Lee 273).

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This quote is a perfect example of Tom Robinson, a black man who the people of Maycomb inappropriately label as a criminal and therefore act prejudiced against. Tom can be likened to a mockingbird in the sense that he too is innocent. Furthermore, it is a criminal offense to kill a mockingbird because everyone knows they are harmless creatures that do no wrong. Unfortunately for Tom, this precedent does not apply to black men in Maycomb even once they are proven innocent. This is seen during Tom Robinson’s trial just before Judge Taylor announces if he is guilty of asssuluting and raping Mayella Ewell.

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Atticus Finch, the best lawyer in Maycomb, was sitting nervously in his chair as he waited for the town Judge to arrive in court. Tom Robinson, Atticus client, was in court for raping a white women. Which he didn’t do. Tom looked over to Atticus in a deep, scared voice “we won 't win. Look at the way everyones looking at me.

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Innocence is a time in one’s life of carefreeness and peace. In youth, children have yet to experience the harsh realities of life, and when they do, it is often hard to cope with. In her novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee portrays Maycomb’s prejudiced ways through an unfair trial of an innocent man, and through the treatment of certain members of the community. The young narrator, Scout, and her older brother, Jem, experience growth and learn compassion when the trial exacerbates Maycomb’s intense intolerance. In this novel, Lee uses the characterization of the Finch children to demonstrate that innocent children who have been exposed to their community’s prejudice, often have trouble adjusting, but need a mentor figure to help them mature.

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To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee tells a story of racial prejudice during the Depression and how it is combated. The main development in the novel is that a Atticus, the father of Scout and Jem, has been appointed to defend Tom Robinson, a black man accused of raping a young white woman named Mayella. Many people in the town of Maycomb, particularly people involved with the case of Tom, have a negative attitude towards African Americans. Prejudice was a terrible issue in the South during the Depression, but Atticus Finch shows that racial injustice can be combated in two main ways, each having different levels of effectiveness.

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I think black people have to be in control of their own image because film is a powerful medium. We can’t just sit back and let other people define our existence’’~ Spike Lee ~. Although many people may argue that Atticus received prejudice throughout the novel, it was Tom Robinson who experiences the most prejudice. In Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird, Tom experiences the most prejudice in this novel because he got accused of rape, a mob full of farmers tried to kill him, got shot 17 times.

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Racism has been a prominent piece of Southern culture in the past. The novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, by author Harper Lee, addresses this culture head-on. The story follows the young narrator, Scout, a girl who lives in Maycomb County, Alabama with her father who is a lawyer, and her older brother. The story is about Scout growing up in a deeply racist town and the hardships involved with defending a black man as a white family. Throughout the book, many valuable lessons are taught about empathy, courage, and racism, and it gives many good examples of racism and prejudice.

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People are capable of forming their impression of someone within ten seconds of meeting them. This can begin to form prejudice; an adverse opinion or leaning formed without just grounds or before sufficient knowledge according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Another factor that can influence a person’s opinion towards another is the views of their society. Atticus says, “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view--until you climb into his skin and walk around in it” (22). This quote how unfair and unjust prejudice is without solid facts to base your opinion on.

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Tom Robinson is a young African-American who's been accused of raping and abusing Mayella Ewell, a young and closeted white woman. Racial discrimination is hinted throughout Tom’s trial as Atticus Finch explains to Jem that a white man’s word will always win over that of a black man’s - "... 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" (220). Atticus explains to Jem that in the courts of Maycomb, a black man’s state of innocence or guilt is truly determined by a white man’s testimony.

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1157 Words | 5 Pages

How did prejudice happen in this world that God made? Prejudice is an unfavorable opinion or feeling formed beforehand or without knowledge, thought, or reason. In this world, there are a lot of prejudice. Prejudice doesn´t happen suddenly but it happens from a root. Everything happens from a root and that causes to be or do something.

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This behaviour is deemed as natural, and few people question the roles put in place, this is truly terrifying so we are lead to wonder if what we accept as normal is perhaps corrupt instead. Race is the dominant cause of inequality in To Kill A Mockingbird, thus Maycomb’s views on race heavily influence every aspect of life. Although racial inequality is clearly illustrated in the in the injustice, prejudice, discrimination and antagonism surrounding the Tom Robinson trial, it is also shown more subtly throughout the novel. In Chapter 25 Atticus Finch is quoted disclosing that the corrupt justice system is a direct cause of a racist society. “In our courts, when it 's a white man’s word against a black man’s, the white man always wins” (Lee, 295).

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Atticus fears that "There's something in our world that makes men lose their heads—they couldn't be fair if they tried. In our courts, when it's a white man's word against a black man's, the white man always wins” (Page 224) Atticus confirmed that Maycomb won’t have a just system due to white men’s words to black men. This would only make Maycomb welcoming to white people and unwelcoming for black people. Maycomb is unwelcoming and unjust for the prejudice view for black

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Atticus Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird famously said in his closing arguments: "You know the truth, and the truth is this: some Negroes lie, some Negroes are immoral, some negro men are not to be trusted around women- black or white. But this is a truth that applies to the human race and no particular race of men." (pg 232) What Atticus is trying to convey is a foreign concept to most people in Maycomb county. Atticus is trying to convey a point of equality and no prejudice in a world of social inequality which, as one can imagine, didn 't go over so well.

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