Prejudice In To Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee

The 1930s were a difficult time for minorities as preconceptions and stereotypes were very prevalent in society. Bias from this affected daily lives, which can also be known as prejudice and this prejudice is represented in the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. To a great extent, the setting affects the conflict of the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, as the setting of 1930’s Alabama influences the character's views and bias, thus depicting the harmful reality of prejudice.
Lee depicts the harmful reality of prejudice through the characterization of Tom Robinson during his unfair trial. A trial takes place where Tom Robinson, a black man, is falsely accused of raping a white woman. While Atticus is explaining the situation to his children,

They're ugly, but those are the facts of life”(Lee 252). The usage of the literary convention metonymy is displayed with the phrase “men lose their heads” which is explaining the idea that the men lose control of their behavior when it comes to the case of a black man in the trial. Atticus explains how the court of law also contains prejudice just like society which makes the trial unfair as there is bias which depicts the harmful reality of prejudice. This bias is from the Jim Crow era which is the time period of the novel. Jim Crow laws are seen in the novel during the trial when the black citizens had to sit separately from white citizens in the courthouse.The cultural context of the setting in the novel is when African Americans experienced severe racial injustice and racism from white Americans (“Civil Rights”). This issue directly impacts the conflict as a black man was on trial against a white woman. As the novel takes place in the 1930s, it takes place during a time period called the Jim Crow law era, a time of vigorous racism and discrimination. During this time, slavery had been abolished but this did result in equality for

The character, Boo Radley, in the novel is impacted by prejudice as he is perceived differently in comparison to his neighbors and the other residents in the small town of Maycomb, Alabama. This is seen in the novel on page, 13 when another character Jem, describes Boo Radley: “Boo was about six-and-a-half feet tall, judging from his tracks; he dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch, that’s why his hands were bloodstained - if you ate an animal raw, you could never wash the blood off.” The usage of the literary convention of characterization is displayed as the author describes the personality of Boo Radley that is interpreted by the citizens of Maycomb which is based on prejudging and prejudice. Boo Radley is not seen as normal as he is always in his house. He is seen as mysterious since his neighbors do not know him well which results in many rumors and false accusations made towards him that make him be viewed as a bad person. This explains how one can judge someone else solely based on appearance and not fully knowing the person, and then go on to make judgmental rumors based on it. The setting of a small town helps these rumors circulate and further develops them and people’s views of the rumors. These assumptions made by Jem have no evidence to support it, however, it is still apparent that the kids in the novel are warned to make an effort to avoid Boo Radley’s