Ignorance In To Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee

"Ignorance is the root and stem of all evil." - Plato. Throughout history, the true depths of prejudice and discrimination have been tested in all aspects of the world. The main goals of people in societies have been to climb the ladder of social hierarchy; however, many times people don’t realize that they are subconsciously contributing to this prejudice. This theme of ignorance on behalf of discrimination is represented in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. The story explores themes of prejudice and outlines developments in the perception of one’s community’s discrimination. The story takes place in the 1930s, a time reflecting great racial and social injustice. In the novel, Jem and Scout Finch are introduced as the two main

During Jem’s initial characterization, his arrogance in the terms of social, political, and racial morals are shown. The main reason for this naiveness was he had not witnessed any true prejudice actions yet. This changed when Jem first witnessed the true discrimination of the Tom Robinson trial. In the beginning of the trial, “Jem smiled. ‘He’s not supposed to lean, Reverend, but don’t fret, we’ve won it,’ he said wisely. ‘Don’t see how any jury could convict on what we heard—’”(281). Through the use of emotions and foreshadowing, the Author implies Jem’s arrogance on the discrimination that takes place in his home town, and sets the foundation for the development of Jem. Jem is fully confident in the court that Tom Robinson, a minority in Maycomb, will win the trial. Jem stating “he’s not supposed to learn, Reverend, but don’t fret,” shows his belief that rules are solid, and that prejudice would not bend them. This foreshadows the actual verdict of the case, where although almost all evidence pointed towards Tom Robinson being innocent he still was declared guilty. Unlike Scout, who was unsure what the verdict may actually be, Jem walked into the case fully confident in Tom Robinson. Unfortunately, this resulted in the heartbreaking verdict having an even more severe

After the Tom Robinson trial has fully concluded, Jem begins to show his change in philosophy on prejudice. Jem explains to Scout his perspective on the social classes of society; “You know something, Scout? I’ve got it all figured out, now. I’ve thought about it a lot lately and I’ve got it figured out. There’s four kinds of folks in the world. There’s the ordinary kind like us and the neighbors, there’s the kind like the Cunninghams out in the woods, the kind like the Ewells down at the dump, and the Negroes.” (302) Through specific use of language, the author shows us what development has taken place in Jem following the trial, both helpful and harmful. The way Jem describes the group he falls into as the “ordinary kind” implies he still has leaps to go in figuring out true equality. However, Jem’s eyes have opened up compared to before the case, as he now realizes the realist truth of Maycomb. Splitting the Cunninghams, the Ewells, and Negroes into 3 different groups runs parallel with economic, political, and social inequality. This differs from Jem initially, when he was ignorantly participating in the perpetuation of these ideals. Now, he sees clearly the existence of this hierarchy and its true level of injustice. While Jem hasn’t fully