Every person young or old, is labelled with either a positive or negative stereotype. Stereotypes affect one’s social life, emotions, and how one interacts with the community. In the 1940’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird written by Harper Lee, there are many stereotypes that are destructive and can prevent individual growth. The three stereotypes that will be focused on are, people who supposedly do bad things are evil and scary, people should not judge others by their actions, and black people are treated poorly based on their skin tone.
Firstly, the stereotype that people who do bad things are supposedly evil and scary is shown through the characters, Tom Robinson and Boo Radley. Tom Robinson is seen as an evil and scary person because he is accused for raping and assaulting Mayella Ewell. Tom Robinson is hated by a majority of the white people in Maycomb except for a white lawyer who is ready to stand up for someone who is innocent. Later on in the novel, Tom Robinson ends up committing suicide himself because he did not want to be put in prison for something he did not do.
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Two characters in the novel face this stereotype. Calpurnia a cook for the Finch family is the first character. Aunt Alexandra attempts to get rid of Calpurnia just because her skin tone is black. The other example is Tom Robinson, he is stereotyped this way because he is being accused for raping Mayella Ewell. During the court case Tom Robinson is hated by most of the white people in Maycomb except for the Finch’s because they know what fairness is like. Although it is clear to a lot of people who live in Maycomb that Tom Robinson did not actually rape Mayella Ewell the judge still goes on and decides he is guilty. This is truly not fair. Atticus explains to Jem, “No jury in this part of the world’s going to say, We think you’re guilty, but not very, on a charge like that. It was either a straight acquittal or nothing.”