In today’s society people are faced with different forms of discrimination and hate due to the diversity of the population that are interacting with each other and people’s different beliefs and views. With so much variety and an array of people’s stance on conflicting matters not everyone agrees with each other. This can lead to conflict and violence against a group of people who do not share the same position. Harper Lee is the author of To Kill a Mockingbird, a novel that revolves around a court case about a colored man who allegedly raped a white woman in Alabama during the 1930’s. The book publicizes the dreadful truth of prejudice towards groups of individuals with different ethnic and social backgrounds in U.S. history; This reality
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Tom Robinson was accused of raping Mayella and was sent away to a farm after being charged as guilty by the jury and judge. Although all evidence pointed to him being innocent in the end it was the word of a colored man against a white man. During the 1930’s a majority of people had a strong prejudice towards colored residents, believing they were less than human. Social change did not occur until later in time, but many colored individuals were often inaccurately sentenced to prison or death simply because of their skin color. This was the case for Tom Robinson; The jury and judge charged Tom as guilty because no one believed his side of the story due to the fact that he was African American. They believed Bob Ewell’s testimony because he was Caucasian. “ ‘In our courts, when it’s a white man’s word against a black man’s, the white man always wins. They’re ugly, but those are the facts of life.’...” (Lee 224). With cases similar to Tom Robinson's in today’s world if the judge or jury had a strong prejudice against an individual with a certain ethnic background it would result in an unjust and unfair trial. The jury or judge would automatically contemplate their decisions based on the race of the defendant not the actual evidence; causing a bias in the court …show more content…
Aunt Alexandra did not want Scout to hang out with Walter because of how economically different they were. To Aunt Alexandra the Cunninghams were considered less than her and they were unequal to her family status; she did not want Scout to pick up ideas from Walter because he was a lower class citizen. “ ‘But I want to play with Walter, Aunty, why can’t I?’ She took off her glasses and stared at me. ‘I’ll tell you why,’ she said. ‘Because— he—is—trash, that’s why you can’t play with him. I’ll not have you around him, picking up his habits and learning Lord-knows-what. You’re enough of a problem to your father as it is.’...” (Lee 227). Social class and status cause separation in modern day society more than it did before. People are commonly judged and stereotyped based off the articles of clothes that they wear, the type of house they live in, or the type of technology that they own. People repeatedly compare themselves to one another to see who has the better item. This leads to discrimination and separation among people based off how much money they
Tom Robinson was accused of raping Mayella and was sent away to a farm after being charged as guilty by the jury and judge. Although all evidence pointed to him being innocent in the end it was the word of a colored man against a white man. During the 1930’s a majority of people had a strong prejudice towards colored residents, believing they were less than human. Social change did not occur until later in time, but many colored individuals were often inaccurately sentenced to prison or death simply because of their skin color. This was the case for Tom Robinson; The jury and judge charged Tom as guilty because no one believed his side of the story due to the fact that he was African American. They believed Bob Ewell’s testimony because he was Caucasian. “ ‘In our courts, when it’s a white man’s word against a black man’s, the white man always wins. They’re ugly, but those are the facts of life.’...” (Lee 224). With cases similar to Tom Robinson's in today’s world if the judge or jury had a strong prejudice against an individual with a certain ethnic background it would result in an unjust and unfair trial. The jury or judge would automatically contemplate their decisions based on the race of the defendant not the actual evidence; causing a bias in the court …show more content…
Aunt Alexandra did not want Scout to hang out with Walter because of how economically different they were. To Aunt Alexandra the Cunninghams were considered less than her and they were unequal to her family status; she did not want Scout to pick up ideas from Walter because he was a lower class citizen. “ ‘But I want to play with Walter, Aunty, why can’t I?’ She took off her glasses and stared at me. ‘I’ll tell you why,’ she said. ‘Because— he—is—trash, that’s why you can’t play with him. I’ll not have you around him, picking up his habits and learning Lord-knows-what. You’re enough of a problem to your father as it is.’...” (Lee 227). Social class and status cause separation in modern day society more than it did before. People are commonly judged and stereotyped based off the articles of clothes that they wear, the type of house they live in, or the type of technology that they own. People repeatedly compare themselves to one another to see who has the better item. This leads to discrimination and separation among people based off how much money they