Effects Of Prejudice In To Kill A Mockingbird

American journalist Edward R. Murrow once said, “Everyone is a prisoner of his own experiences. No one can eliminate prejudices- just recognize them”. It is human instinct to judge people before one gets to know them. In this way, prejudices can have a negative effect, as they cause people to make assumptions about one’s character. Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird tells a story of a young girl, Scout, growing up in a primarily white, racist small town. The novel exhibits several prejudices as Scout’s father is appointed to defend an innocent black man in court, much to the town’s disapproval. Several characters are subject to prejudice in the novel, one of them being Boo Radley, the Finches’ allegedly mentally insane neighbor who has not …show more content…
Scout understands that Boo does not want to come out of his home, and only killed Bob in order to protect her and Jem. Therefore, she does not think he should be tried for his actions. Scout realizes that her past prejudice against Boo contributed to her inaccurate understanding of his character, as she realizes that he is actually as innocent as a mockingbird, who only tries to help her and her brother. Next, in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, the other kids on the reservation are prejudiced towards Junior because of his brain condition, which does not allow them to understand how intelligent Junior actually is. From the start of the novel, Junior reveals that he has a brain condition that he likes to call having “water on the brain” (Alexie 1). This brain condition causes Junior to have a stutter and a lisp, which in his opinion, becomes annoying rather than adorable once you turn nine and ten. Since he has this disability, the other kids on his reservation treat him poorly. Junior explains, “They call me a retard when they are pantsing me or stuffing my head in the toilet or just smacking me upside the head” (Alexie 4). The kids demonstrate their immaturity by acting violent towards