To Kill a Mocking Bird Movie Review

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Christopher Dietz Professor Becky Hubbard Course EDU241: Learners and Diversity 18 September 2013 Prejudice in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird Throughout the film To Kill a Mockingbird there were several different themes that were very evident. These themes were growing up, being brave, and being prejudice. However the theme that was the most profound and that we will be discussing is prejudice. Prejudice is defined as an "opinion formed without taking the time and care to judge fairly". The movie takes place in Maycomb, Alabama in the 1930’s during the Great Depression, a time in which our country was at its lowest economic point in its history. Many people were without jobs and some even without homes. Prejudice was also a common problem during this time period. In the film prejudice was not just a black and white issue it was also in the form of class prejudice, and gender prejudice. The events throughout this story are seen through the eyes of a young girl named Scout. In the movie there is a scene of Scouts father, Atticus, he tells Boo and Tom “I’d rather you shoot at tin cans in the backyard, but I know you'll go after birds. Shoot all the blue jays you want if you can hit them, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mocking bird". The meaning of this quote has the mocking bird symbolizing the characters Boo and Tom being that a mocking bird does not have a song. Since a mockingbird does not sing its own song, we characterize it only by what the other birds sing. This applies to both Boo and Tom because both of these characters do not really have their own song in a sense, therefore are characterized by the viewpoints of other people making them targets for peoples prejudice. Throughout the film Boo Radley is a victim of prejudice. He does not fit into Maycomb society because he is different from others therefore he is continually
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