Stereotyping In To Kill A Mockingbird

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5/25/10 Stereotyping In To Kill a Mockingbird, Tom Robinson was killed because he was stereotyped. They believed that he beat and raped Mayella Ewell because a white person said so. Many of the characters in the book were stereotyped because of their lifestyles. For example, Dolphus Raymond was stereotyped because he was a drunk. But in reality, he pretended to be a drunk so he can give others a excuse why he likes blacks more than whites. "Attempting to get at truth means rejecting stereotypes and clinches." -Harold Evans. People use stereotyping as a conclusion to understand things. In To Kill a Mockingbird, most of the characters were stereotyped because of what they did. For example, Boo Radley was stereotyped as a creeper because he stayed in his house all the time. But really, he wanted to stay away from the world because it was cruel. Even though we know it is bad to stereotype, we do it anyway. For it is a natural human instinct to stereotype. For centuries, we have been stereotyping different races such as the blacks. The whites used to see them as evil doers, but now we realize that it is not true. In the book, Tom Robinson was killed because he was stereotyped. If he had an impartial jury, he would have been a free man. However, none of the jurors believed that Tom was telling the truth. They were raised to hate all black people. White people have been hurting and killing black people for centuries because of hatred. Therefore, the black community in Maycomb was crippled with fear. A fear that they will get lynched for a crime they did not commit. Stereotyping is a human instinct. We will always stereotype people's race, class and families. When Aunt Alexandra lived with the Finches, she said this to Scout about the Cunninghams, "Because he is trash, that's why you cant play with him. I'll not have you around him,

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