Charles R. Swindoll once said: “Prejudice is a learned trait. You’re not born with prejudice; you’re taught it,” (Brainyquotes). Prejudice has been around for as long as man has noticed other unfamiliar humans; and will probably continue until the end of time. Harper Lee mentions prejudice numerous times throughout To Kill a Mockingbird, which is the story of a young girl who learns about the kinds of prejudices (especially racial) in the South through a black man’s trial, her reclusive neighbor, and many other characters to try to become a better person. Learning from history, including To Kill a Mockingbird, and identifying and seeing the faults of prejudices help the reader to become less prejudicial. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, …show more content…
One way Harper Lee criticizes socioeconomic prejudice is how she differentiates between Walter Cunningham and Burris Ewell; while both are poor, Walter is very respectful and honest, while Burris comes from “trash”. Harper Lee criticizes social prejudice by differentiating between 2 people who are poor. One of them is friendly sand respectful, while Burris has a terrible attitude and lacks respect. Another way Lee criticizes socioeconomic prejudice is when she refers to the lifestyle of the Ewells and the blacks of Maycomb. Bob Ewell’s house is described as having,”a roof shingled with tin cans,” (Lee 227), their windows were just open spaces in the wall, and also , ”the Ewells gave the dump a thorough gleaning everyday,” (Lee 228). However, the houses of the blacks in Maycomb,” looked neat and shug with pale blue smoke rising from the chimneys and doorways … there were delicious smells about” (Lee 229). Social prejudice is criticized in this case by logic. It is illogical that the blacks of Maycomb are considered worse socially, when in fact people such as the Ewells live in worse housing in comparison. Finally, Harper Lee criticizes socioeconomic prejudice when Aunt Alexandra is not allowed to hang out with Walter Cunningham outside of school for fun (Lee 300). Lee criticizes socioeconomic prejudice again here by showing that Aunt Alexandra makes unfair assumptions of Walter based solely on his lineage. In reality, the reader is aware that Walter is an incredibly kind and intelligent child who frankly does not have a lot of money. To summarize, Lee criticizes socioeconomic prejudices by referring to the contrast of the Ewell’s and Cunningham’s, the contrast between the Ewell’s and the blacks of Maycomb, and the unfair beliefs Aunt Alexandra has of
U3EA2 The“Queen of the Tomboys” grew up during the Jim Crow era; seeing justice unsatisfied in the Scottsboro trial at the tender age of five. Her father is a lawyer who was given a case to defend two African Americans in court, but he was unsuccessful due to racial norms in their home of Monroeville, Alabama. Many years Years later she was known by her peers as an individualist at the University of Alabama. While staying there she started by studying law but; first studying law and then then switched ing majors to become the aspiring writer known as Harper Lee, author of To Kill A Mockingbird (TKM). In Chapter 9 of said novel, Lee’s young character Scout confronts a classmate who had “announced in
In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee argues that prejudice can affect people's decisions. She uses people like the Cunninghams, Ewells, Aunt Alexandra and Tom Robinson to develop her argument. One event that shows that prejudice can affect people's decisions, is when Miss Caroline, the school teacher tried to give a quarter to Walter Cunningham because he didn’t have a lunch. “Went to her desk and opened her purse. “Here’s a quarter” she said to Walter.
In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee characterizes Atticus as a person who see’s the prejudice people in his town. As he said in a trial involving a black man, “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view”, said Atticus (lee 30). In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird the people of Maycomb County are very prejudice. This is a lesson that Atticus tries to teach his children. This quote from the novel is saying that a person has to try and see a situation from the other person's point of view, before the make a judgement.
In the book, and in everyday life, prejudice is often promoted and portrayed by those who are only a step above the lowest class or people who are part of the normal crowd against people who are different. When talking about the insulting name that Atticus is being called, he said “Ignorant, trashy people use it when they think somebody’s favoring Negroes over and above themselves” (Lee 108). It’s clear that he doesn’t support this type of vocabulary and he thinks that low people are prone to use it. In relation to low classes, an example is the Ewell’s treatment and vocabulary towards people who are one step lower than them like Tom Robinson. Another example of a majority against the minority is the treatment of the Finches.
“Real courage is when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what.” is a quote in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. This quote shows that although many characters within the movie faced hatred and judgment from those who did not agree with their actions, they still pursued what they believed to be morally right, rather than what the majority thought. To Kill a Mockingbird is set in the early 1930’s within the small town of Maycomb County. During this time period, the Great Depression was beginning to present itself. The Great Depression caused several disadvantages to the western society, such as the stock market crashing, which caused bank failure, unemployment, and excessive amounts of
Harper Lee uses a direct connection from “To Kill A Mockingbird” and Maycomb to the racism occurring in the south. Harper states that people change the way they act for power, language and social status. Harper Lee says “As you grow older, you’ll see white men cheat black men every day of your life, but let me tell you something and don’t forget it - whenever a white man does that to a black man, no matter who he is, how rich he is, or how fine a family he comes from, he is trash.” (Lee 220) By Harper Lee expressing her feelings and emotions to everyone, and wanting to include everyone in as a group, think about the ways that Harper Lee uses to connect the town of Maycomb in “To Kill A Mockingbird” to the racism that happened in the south.
To Kill A Mockingbird written by Harper Lee is a novel based on growing up and racism during the 1930s in Maycomb, Alabama. Told in two perspectives; one as Jean Louise Finch, who is reflecting back to her childhood, and the other as her younger self who went by the name of Scout. As the story progresses, Scout’s father, Atticus, has been assigned to represent Tom Robinson, a black man, who has been accused of raping and assaulting Mayella Ewell. At the end of the trial, Tom is still convicted guilty of the crime, even though there was enough evidence to prove his innocence. This is because of the power Mayella holds since she is white, but because of her class and gender, her power is limited.
Harper Lee uses symbolism to explain the idea of prejudice in the novel. She does this by letting the reader know the people of Maycomb’s feeling towards Tom Robinson with out knowing the whole story. For example, in to kill a mockingbird Tom Robinson is put to death for a crime he did not commit. This can relate to when Atticus says, “shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit tem, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird”. This means that it was also a sin to kill a tom Robinson.
To Kill A Mockingbird In the novel, “ To Kill A Mockingbird” the author Harper Lee uses conflict to express the idea that it takes courage to stand up for injustice just because of racism. “Tom was dead man the minute Mayella Ewell opened her mouth and screamed.” What this quote is basically is trying to say that Tom Robinson is being accused of something he did not do. "Yeah suh i felt right sorry for her she seemed to try more’n the rest em.
In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird, the readers are introduced to Maycomb, a small town in Alabama. Throughout the book the main characters observe society, whilst realizing that the seemingly perfect social norms in the town are acts of prejudice. After viewing the effects these actions have on one another, the children begin to reevaluate their morals by becoming more open minded. When blindly following societal norms, the citizens are unable to realize society’s strong need to visualize themselves from the perspective of others. This renders them unable to understand if their morals are socially acceptable and come to terms with how they affect others.
There is social, gender, and racial inequality shown throughout the chapters. The characters and community displayed in the book are extremely prejudiced and racist while the book demonstrates that some people are considered more worthy than others based on their skin color, their gender, or their place in society. Maycomb is a small town, which stimulates a lot of gossiping between the neighbors, and a lot of classing others into groups based on their family name, their wealth, their race, and the things spoken about them. Boo Radley is the perfect example of a victim of social inequality. He is shut out by his family and community due to his mental disability and is discriminated against and blamed for all the problems that happen around Maycomb.
Mrs. Merriweather made these remarks when talking about Mrs. Roosevelt, “At least we don’t have the deceit to say to ‘em yes, you’re as good as we are but stay away from us. Down here we say you live your way and we’ll live ours (313).” She also claims that people in Maycomb treat black people better than the people “up there” do. This is not an accurate statement because later Tom Robinson is convicted, only because of his skin color and all evidence points to him being innocent. Aunt Alexandra also shows hypocrisy in a totally different
Racism springs from ignorance - Mario Balotelli. I think that this quote by Mario Balotelli, a soccer player from italy is right, because to be racist you have to be ignorant. Racism is a big issue in To Kill a Mockingbird and in real life. Harper Lee, through her characters of Bob Ewell, Atticus, and Scout illustrates that in her novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, racist views are a choice one makes. In her descriptions of Bob Ewell’s actions and reactions to African Americans, Harper Lee shows that Bob Ewell chooses to be racist because she described him as a mean spirited person.
In To Kill a Mockingbord,Harper Lee Clearly shows how wide spread prejudice is, by using Atticus's standpoint ,Boo Radely, and mostly Tom Robinson's standpoint. Tom Robinson and Boo Radely are not once ever close to being given a chance. The whole reason Tom died because he was not given a chance, but because he had black skin, and also because he was prejudged by most of Maycomb. He was convicted guilty of murder, and ended upshot and killed by seventeen bullets because of his black
In which we had to think carefully and cohesively about the characters and their backgrounds. Although Harper Lee proves the point that social prejudice was a highly regarded prejudice. Harper Lees’ novel helps us to become more aware of prejudicial situations that occurred in the