In the book, To Kill a mockingbird written Harper Lee, there are prejudices expressed in this book, racial prejudice, Social prejudice and Fear of the unknown. These prejudices were expressed in the Town of Maycomb County in the eyes of Scout. Racial prejudice was expressed very carelessly in the book, a lot of people could go around calling African American people a ‘nigger’ and even more so, a ‘black’ or ‘coloured’ person. When Atticus knew he would be defending Tom Robinson, he knew he would be receiving negative comments and gossip, he also knew that his kids will also be getting negative comments from school or around the community. One example is when scout was at school and Cecil Jacobs approached scout and told her that “scouts daddy defends niggers”, when Scout told her father, he told scout to ignore any gossip because Atticus knew what he was doing was right.
He sewed Jem's pants and left them on the fence so he could get them easily. He also saved Scout's and Jem's lives while risking his own. Boo was a fragile and gentle person. Throughout the novel, Scout, Jem, and Dill are curious about the "mysterious" Boo Radley because he never comes outside from his house or associates with anyone in the neighborhood. The children are afraid of him because of all the stories they hear about him from the people in Maycomb.
The novel does not solely highlight racial prejudice, through characters such as Tom Robinson, but it also illuminates the gullibility of society and how dubious figures of evidence can cause prejudice to an individual, such as Boo Radley. In the novel, Boo Radley is not accepted nor does he fit into Maycomb society because he is different from the other residents of Maycomb and due to his idiosyncrasy, he is punished by the very judgemental society of Maycomb County. In the words of Miss Stephanie Crawford, ‘One day Boo was cutting the newspaper with scissors, and when his father passed "Boo drove the scissors into his parent's leg, pulled them out, wiped them on his pants, and resumed his activity". According to Stephanie Crawford’s account, Boo just sat there after stabbing his father without any confession or regrets for his actions. Similarly, there were many hollow rumours running around the county based on Boo Radley, and the majority of the residents of Maycomb decided these unjustified stories resulting in the alienation of Boo.
The lack of knowledge in Maycomb about the outside world and their opinions about black people ingrains ‘Maycomb’s usual disease’ into their minds as they have no other opinions about black people. This is shown by the crowd’s outrage as they gather to lynch Tom, not knowing that he was innocent, but blinded by ... ... middle of paper ... ...sirable traits to have as they can motivate you through the toughest tasks and drive you to do what should be done instead of abandon your duties. In conclusion, Harper Lee’s book To Kill a Mockingbird highlights the horrible prejudice and ignorance towards black people in the southern town of Maycomb, but also shows wisdom and compassion as not only desirable but necessary traits to have to withstand the bombardment of pre-conceived ideas from the people surrounding you, and also portrays these qualities as a shield to people around
A prejudiced society is usually ignorant of its flaws, many prejudiced people do not realise the extent of their hypocrisy. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird (1960), Scout and Jem encounter prejudice in their little southern town of Maycomb, in which many social divisions exist. Maycomb County harbours many kinds of prejudices, and this lack of acceptance negatively affects many characters, which are stereotyped based on their race, economic status and level of education. Firstly, the 1930’s have large amounts of racial tension between strangers, neighbour, and even fellow family members. The white community feels that the black people are beneath them in the world.
These include; those who purposely refrain from outer society and those who are prejudiced by others, this is mostly due to their physical appearance. An outsider – a person who is seen as a threat to normality or isn’t perceived as the ‘norm’ and is therefore shunned into being a minority by a majority, not belonging to a particular group of people; in Shelley’s ‘Frankenstein’ for the creature’s case this would be the whole of society as he is seen as the “ultimate outsider” and he is subject to many of society’s demons. For instance, prejudice. This is one of the most significant reasons for most of the outsiders within Shelley’s ‘Frankenstein’ and Huxley’s ‘Brave New World’. The creature is rejected from society starting from his creation because of how different he looks to the rest; Shelley uses “abhorred” to describe the creature and throughout the novel this reinforces the fact of how despised he is by others.
Soon to be followed by the first example of Huckleberry’s father abusing him. “Pap he hadn’t been seen for more than a year and that was comfortable for me; I didn’t Barbara A. Crane Page 2 want to see him no more. He used to always whale me when he was sober and could get his hands on me; though I used to take to the woods most of the time when he was around” (11). Huckleberry at the assumed age of 12 had gone through plenty of abuse. Why did he chose to have Huckleberry be abused, and why Huckleberry’s father was abusive.
We Are All Outsiders Here Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “Men often hate each other because they fear each other; they often fear each other because they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they cannot communicate; they cannot communicate because they are separated.” The separation between one man and his fellow neighbor is large, it is found in the most common places; in art, movies, everyday life, literature, and history. In Harper Lee’s novel, , a mysterious and unlikely character, known as Arthur “Boo” Radley and Frederick Douglass, the author of an eye-opening narrative named “Learning to Read and Write”, both reveal a quality about human nature, when faced with obstacles such as encroachment and oppression. They overcome these acts of inequality by preserving themselves;
The Faults in Human Nature In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, the author Harper Lee highlights the negative aspects of human nature through the eyes of a 7-year-old girl named Scout. Throughout the novel there are situations where the people of Maycomb fall under the influence of their neighbours, leading them to bring out a repugnant side of themselves. The townsfolk were filled with prejudice against the blacks in their community simply for the fact that they did not understand the way they live. This is usually caused by heredity because children are taught from a young age only one opinion, and presume it is right. Sadly, not knowing any better, they discriminate against them, not knowing what else to do.
She shows it through Atticus, Tom Robinson and the Negro community and Arthur “Boo” Radley. Social inequality can happen to someone because of a choice they made like Atticus or because of his or her color like the Negroes in the book or even because you are antisocial like Arthur. The era of the story had a big affect on all the examples because in the thirties it was wrong for a white man to actually try to defend a black man and, it was expected that Negroes were bad people when they were not. With Arthur’s case it is different, his was because of the fact they lived in a small town where everyone was in each others’ business