Examples Of Racism And Prejudice In To Kill A Mockingbird

In the 1930s, racism and prejudice was a big issue on how people interacted and treated each other. It’s human nature to judge someone before meeting them. The assumptions that are made about these people can either be wrong or right. People can be deceived as someone who they really aren’t until you get to actually know them. This can relate to how throughout To Kill A Mockingbird, Jem and Scout Finch learn how many people in the world are not as they first appear. This lesson is received through multiple characters, including Mr. Raymond, Dill Harris, and Boo Radley. Mr. Dolphus Raymond is originally shown to be a drunken, wealthy, white man. In chapter 20, after Mr. Raymond confesses that there is only Coke in the bag he drinks from, says “...if I weave a little and drink out of this sack, folks can say Dolphus Raymond’s in the clutches of whiskey- that’s why he won’t change his ways. He can’t help himself, that’s why he lives the way he does.” From this the kids eventually figure out that he uses his ‘alcohol abuse’ as an excuse for how tired he is by the hypocrisy of his white society …show more content…
He is their small, confident, imaginative friend. Although, in chapter five the author says, “Dill Harris could tell the biggest ones I ever heard” in referring to him lying, “been up in a mail plane seventeen times, he had been to Nova Scotia, he had seen an elephant, and his granddaddy was Brigadier General Joe Wheeler and left him his sword.” Dill tells a lot of these lies to cover up his life. He’s hiding the fact that he’s not happy with his life. He tries to make it seem interesting so he won’t have to face the unfortunate realities in his life or have to let his friends know the saddening truth. This connects to the teaching of how some people aren’t how they first appear to be because at first look, you wouldn’t assume that Dill is actually sad and doesn’t enjoy his