To Kill A Mockingbird Prejudice Quotes

Charles R. Swindoll once said: “Prejudice is a learned trait. You’re not born with prejudice; you’re taught it,” (Brainyquotes). Prejudice has been around for as long as man has noticed other unfamiliar humans; and will probably continue until the end of time. Harper Lee mentions prejudice numerous times throughout To Kill a Mockingbird, which is the story of a young girl who learns about the kinds of prejudices (especially racial) in the South through a black man’s trial, her reclusive neighbor, and many other characters to try to become a better person. Learning from history, including To Kill a Mockingbird, and identifying and seeing the faults of prejudices help the reader to become less prejudicial. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird,

One way Harper Lee criticizes socioeconomic prejudice is how she differentiates between Walter Cunningham and Burris Ewell; while both are poor, Walter is very respectful and honest, while Burris comes from “trash”. Harper Lee criticizes social prejudice by differentiating between 2 people who are poor. One of them is friendly sand respectful, while Burris has a terrible attitude and lacks respect. Another way Lee criticizes socioeconomic prejudice is when she refers to the lifestyle of the Ewells and the blacks of Maycomb. Bob Ewell’s house is described as having,”a roof shingled with tin cans,” (Lee 227), their windows were just open spaces in the wall, and also , ”the Ewells gave the dump a thorough gleaning everyday,” (Lee 228). However, the houses of the blacks in Maycomb,” looked neat and shug with pale blue smoke rising from the chimneys and doorways … there were delicious smells about” (Lee 229). Social prejudice is criticized in this case by logic. It is illogical that the blacks of Maycomb are considered worse socially, when in fact people such as the Ewells live in worse housing in comparison. Finally, Harper Lee criticizes socioeconomic prejudice when Aunt Alexandra is not allowed to hang out with Walter Cunningham outside of school for fun (Lee 300). Lee criticizes socioeconomic prejudice again here by showing that Aunt Alexandra makes unfair assumptions of Walter based solely on his lineage. In reality, the reader is aware that Walter is an incredibly kind and intelligent child who frankly does not have a lot of money. To summarize, Lee criticizes socioeconomic prejudices by referring to the contrast of the Ewell’s and Cunningham’s, the contrast between the Ewell’s and the blacks of Maycomb, and the unfair beliefs Aunt Alexandra has of