What Are The Similarities Between To Kill A Mockingbird And 12 Angry Men

When Isaac Newton first hypothesized about the mechanics of the world, he probably didn’t think of prejudice. But in many ways, the movement of prejudice is like that of any object. A snowball rolling down a hill gradually gains momentum it turns into a destructive avalanche. Sliding down the mountain, the avalanche consumes everything with it: trees, cars and houses. This motion can be explained by Isaac Newton’s first law of motion; something at rest wants to stay at rest and something in motion wants to stay in motion. Like the avalanche, prejudice contains momentum and can be destructive, like an avalanche colliding with the mountainside. In both Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird and Reginald Rose’s play, Twelve Angry Men, the themes

Juror Four boldly states, “He was born in a slum. Slums are breeding grounds for criminals (Rose 18).” Without any rational evidence, Juror Four can justify that the defendant is guilty because he was born in a slum, thus making him a criminal. This assumption is based on another preconception: the defendant is not white so he must be different from them. When Juror Five is treated like a normal human, it showcases the hypocrisy of Juror Four’s statements. Juror Five is a white man, also born in the slums, but no one assumes that he is a criminal because he is white. Through the statements of Juror Four, his partiality is shown towards people of lower socioeconomic status. His prejudice, based on the race and social status of the defendant, is something not taught, but intrinsic in his psyche. Through this characterization, Twelve Angry Men reveals the origins the

It is like swing being pushed; the more energy is added, the more momentum and speed it has. Substantiating exposure combined with bias equals more prejudice. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Tom’s death helped fuel the bigoted momentum of Maycomb. By attempting to flee, he ascertained the unfair assumptions of black people: “To Maycomb, Tom’s death was typical.Typical of a n[*****]’s to cut and run. Typical of a n[*****]’s mentality to have no play, no thought for the future, just run blind first chance he saw” (Lee 322). Scout’s impression clearly shows the town’s biased attitude towards blacks. The already negative and belittling thoughts that the town possessed were confirmed by Tom’s death. To Kill a Mockingbird shows how humans create