This quote by David references the harsh ideas of the Waknuk people and how they discriminate against any organism that is not up to their standards. There are many instances of prejudice shown against living things. An example of this is when David says, “We would sing a hymn while my father ceremonially slaughtered the two-headed calf, four-legged chicken” (19). This quote shows that because these animals are different in some way, they would be killed, even though they could provide like any other animal. The Waknuk people are not the only prejudiced society in the novel. During the battle between the Fringes people and the Waknuk people, the Sealand woman's fish-shaped craft shoots out a few glistening threads like cobwebs that catch everyone. As David and the others are freed, they all notice an eery silence, and at …show more content…
This theme is first encountered in the novel when Scout starts first grade. During their first lesson, Miss Caroline makes her read, and after discovering she is literate, she looks at Scout with great distaste and says, “Now you tell your father not to teach you anymore […] You tell him I'll take over […] and try to undo the damage” (Lee 23). Miss Caroline tells Scout that she has to be like everybody else and that she shouldn't be reading. When Scout goes home and talks to Atticus about it, he says, “If you concede the necessity of going to school, we'll go on reading every night…” (41). This quote is Atticus's way of not conforming. The children are not expected to know how to read, but Atticus is rebelling against this expectation. Another example of Atticus not conforming occurs when a person from the Idlers' club says, “The court appointed him to defend this nigger,” then another guy says, "Yeah, but Atticus aims to defend him..." (218). These people think that Atticus should not defend Tom Robinson and that he should be like the others and not care. This is because Tom Robinson is black. Atticus does not conform to their ideas and does what he thinks is