Prejudice is a deathly disease, a near incurable malady, which has plagued our society for many years, and will be here to stay for many more. Even today, in arguably our most liberal and free age so far in human history, we still face this pressing issue of people prejudging or being prejudged, having preconceived opinions and thoughts. This problem has gotten better over the years, but there was a time when this discrimination was at its absolute worst. Often the late 1800s to early 1900s are mentioned as being very strong in this with the infamous Jim Crow laws and separate but equal rules. Authors have even written novels where the setting is based around these times. Two notable books that come to mind around this era, specifically the …show more content…
Simply because he made this mistake of stabbing his father in the leg, he is now viewed as the town monstrosity, and this discrimination isolates him. He is an individual of society, equal to everybody else, but when mentioned, things come to mind such as “a malevolent phantom(Lee 10),” and Jem Finch’s description of him which was “reasonable” to Scout includes: “Boo was about six-and-a-half feet tall… he dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch, that’s why his hands were bloodstained (Lee 16).” These views are synonymous with many people of Maycomb. And all of this harms him. He is isolated because of how the people discriminate him and do not want any affiliation with him at all, shown as “A baseball hit into the Radley yard was a lost ball and no questions asked (Lee 11).” Nobody will associate with Arthur, and he is the town’s monster. This view causes him to be effectively separated from the community, with the town’s vicious prejudice towards Arthur Radley causing him to be …show more content…
She is a member of the infamous Ewell family. Being under this moniker of Ewell, she is subject to a lot of unfairness which segregates her, causing her not be who she wants to be in society. As known, the Ewells are according “The disgrace of Maycomb for three generations (Lee 40)”. Most of Maycomb thinks the same has Atticus, a very honorable man, showing this notorious family has a reputation. And it is true that the Ewells have done very dishonorable things. However, Mayella has not done much to be a disgrace of Maycomb. She is in fact, “the loneliest person in the world. She was even lonelier than Boo Radley, who had not been out of the house in 25 years (Lee 256).” To add to that, she had no friends at all, which she admits when questioned by Atticus, caused by town intolerance of her family. It isn’t possible for her to make friends under the name of Ewell, and she is certainly very lonely as she has tempted a colored man, hence the isolation. She tries to make a difference from the rest of the family, as in their yard there are “six chipped-enamel slop jars holding brilliant red geraniums, cared for as tenderly as if they belonged to Miss Maudie Atkinson (Lee 228).” Mayella wishes to do is to be better than most of the Ewells. However, she will not be able to do this because of the harsh bias of the town members, alienating her and stopping her from what she