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Theme Of Prejudice In To Kill A Mockingbird

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“The air is the only place free from prejudice,” said Bessie Coleman, the first female pilot of African American descent. Meaning, that everyone has experienced prejudice in their lives, either as victims themselves, or guilty of using prejudice towards others due to differences between them. There are different types of prejudice in To Kill a Mockingbird illustrated by the situations of Boo Radley, Tom Robinson & Dolphus Raymond.

The person who deals with the most prejudice is 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. There was a long jagged scar that ran across his face; what teeth he had were yellow and rotten, his eyes popped, and he drooled most of the time,” said Jem Finch. (Lee 13) That is not fair to him to have that name placed on him without any true facts behind it. Boo Radley has been misjudged by others because he never comes out of his house and so little was known about him. The rumours of ghosts stories the children have heard, increase their fear of Boo Radley. "Every night sound I heard from my cot on the back porch was magnified three-fold; every scratch of feet on gravel was Boo Radley seeking revenge, every passing Negro laughing in the night was Boo Radley loose and after us; insects splashing against the screen were Boo Radley 's insane fingers picking the
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There is a strange story that Boo was sitting in the living room, and when his parents came in the room he stabbed scissors into their leg. When the police showed up, Mrs. Radley was sitting in the living room perfectly fine. It was also told that at night Boo would be seen peering into the windows of his neighbors houses. Boo was so well known that if a negro was walking down the street, they would cross the street and under no circumstance walk past the house on the same side of the road. Boo was also part of a gang.

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Harper Lee uses the progression of the mockingbird references to show how rumors are dangerous because the can alter the view on one’s life. In to kill a mockingbird, Boo Radley is a mystery to the town of Maycomb. Boo Radley has several rumors about him circulating the town. According to Miss Stephanie,”Boo Radley was sitting in the living room cutting some items from the Maycomb Tribune to paste in his scrapbook. His father entered the room.

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We will always live with Prejudice, because we may experience it first hand or do it without realizing .In the book To Kill A Mockingbird , Harper Lee portrays many themes, but a theme that is seen throughout most of the book is prejudice. In the city of Maycomb ,many civilians are treated differently based on the color of their skin, economic status ,beliefs ,identity and much more. In To Kill A Mockingbird , Harper Lee shows that prejudice takes over the minds of civilians in Maycomb and prevent them from seeing citizens for who they truly are. This is seen through the civilians in Maycomb towards Tom Robinson, Boo Radley and Atticus Finch.

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Boo’s backstory and the details of his life have been twisted into wild stories that confuse and mislead people, causing him to be a source of fear in the town. Boo is said to be “six-and-a-half feet tall… he dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch, and that’s why his hands were bloodstained” (14). This description of Boo is completely false but shows how many rumors are spread about the poor man. He is imprisoned, literally and figuratively. Boo has been held captive in the Radley house, unable to come out because of his brother and the fear of the townspeople’s reception to his liberation.

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“Scout, I’m beginning to understand something. I think I’m beginning to understand why Boo Radley’s stayed shut up in the house all this time…” (227). Prejudice and discrimination are major issues that are present in the town of Maycomb; Scout and her brother Jem are young children who learn about the disturbing existence of the bigotry that they were previously unaware of in their familiar southern hometown throughout the trial of Tom Robinson, an innocent African American who is accused of rape by a white woman. To Kill a Mockingbird introduces a world that harbors prejudice against some of its very citizens and describes how discrimination was a major flaw in society and still is a flaw present day society. The author, Harper Lee develops a major theme of people should not discriminate against others solely due to prejudice on the basis of differences for it leads to consequences using dialogue between the characters, thoughts from the narrator 's perspective, and descriptions of beliefs during the time period throughout the book To Kill a Mockingbird.

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In To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee teaches us about the town of Maycomb County during the late 1930s, where the characters live in isolation and victimization. Through the perspective of a young Jean Louise “Scout” Finch, readers will witness the prejudice that Maycomb produces during times where people face judgement through age, gender, skin colour, and class, their whole lives. Different types of prejudice are present throughout the story and each contribute to how events play out in the small town of Maycomb. Consequently, socially disabling the people who fall victim from living their life comfortably in peace. Boo Radley and his isolation from Maycomb County, the racial aspects of Tom Robinson, and the decision Atticus Finch makes as a lawyer, to defend a black man has all made them fall in the hands of Maycomb’s prejudice ways.

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