Society’s opinions shape prejudice because …show more content…
Ewell, Mr. Heck Tate, Mayella Ewell, and Tom Robinson had been called to the stand and had testified. The prosecuting attorney, Mr. Gilbert, had also given his statement to the jury. In his statement, Atticus told the jury, "She was white, and she tempted a Negro. She did something that in our society is unspeakable: she kissed a black man. Not an old Uncle, but a strong young Negro man. No code mattered to her before she broke it, but it came crashing down on her afterwards," (Lee 90). By clearly identifying the races of the two people involved in the case, Mayella being white and Tom Robinson being black, Atticus is illustrating the importance of race in Maycomb County Alabama. By including the clarification of "in our society", Lee identifies that Atticus does not agree with his own statement. If that phrase had been left out, it would have implied that the statement were true anywhere, but by specifying, Lee gives the sense of misplacement. The choice of the word "code" implies unspoken and unreadable rules that are found in the society of Maycomb County. It also implies that the rules are unique only to that …show more content…
When Pip has been with Ms. Havisham for a while, he starts to question the way he has been brought up in a lower class family. He feels ashamed of his home because of the way Ms. Havisham and her adoptive daughter Estella treat him. They mock his clothes, his speech and his class which causes Pip to feel self conscious of not only himself but of his family. After his defining realization, Pip goes on to be educated by Biddy in order to become more like a gentleman. He vows that “whatever I acquired, I tried to impart to Joe. This statement sounds so well, that I can't in my conscience let it pass unexplained. I wanted to make Joe less ignorant and common, that he might be worthier of my society and less open to Estella's reproach,” (Dickens 65). Pip feels a need to be accepted not only by Estella and Ms. Havisham, but by society itself. By referring to the upper class society as “my society”, he is associating himself with the upper class. In this way, he recognizes the change that he has made in order to fit society’s standards. Rather than becoming a blacksmith like Joe, he completely distances himself from this profession and class by separating himself from Joe. This can be seen when Pip remarks that he hopes that Joe would be “worthier of my society”, putting himself above Joe. In addition to this, he says that he would like to “make Joe less