Prejudice Shown In To Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee

Improved Essays
Prejudice Shown in To Kill a Mockingbird
Michael Crichton stated “Do you know what we call opinion in the absence of evidence? We call it prejudice.” This is applied to To Kill a Mockingbird by: Harper Lee because the people in the city of Maycomb discriminate against others without knowing anything about them. This is a standard way of thinking in the small city of Maycomb, Alabama during the 1933 and the depression. Told through the eyes of Scout, the story follows the 3 characters Scout, Jem, and Dill through their interesting lives in Maycomb.They live in a town filled with racism, social class, and discrimination. The story illustrates the imperfections of the tiny town. To Kill a Mockingbird shows of the lives of African Americans and
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For instance Scout doesn’t dress like a traditional girl during that time period, because of that she is often ridiculed and teased due to the way she dresses. She is told that she must wear a dress and act like a normal girl. One day she was wearing a dress which was unusual for her and Miss Maudie asks Scout if she is wearing jeans under her dress and she replies that she is. This causes the women around Miss Maudie to laugh. While Miss Maudie was asking the question out of curiosity and not at all trying to be rude but the women found the fact that she dressed different very funny. Another way gender discrimination is demonstrated in To Kill a Mockingbird is during the trial of Tom Robinson. In the trial the jury is made up of all men and no women, Jem asks Atticus why the picking for the Jury is so random and Atticus answered “... I guess it's to protect our frail ladies from sordid cases like Tom's. Besides...I doubt if we'd ever get a complete case tried--the ladies'd be interrupting to ask questions” (Lee 74). This shows that women are not allowed to do many things in society. Women are looked at differently as well as treated differently in the town of …show more content…
Social class prejudice is described in the social ladder of Maycomb, and they ways the people see the differences of the people in their own town. Gender prejudice is evident in the way the people of Maycomb see Scout and the way she dresses also in the trial of Tom Robinson where there is no women on the trial. The way the town treats Dolphus Raymond and Tom Robinson show the racial discrimination within Maycomb. When looking deeper into what Harper Lee is teaching us throughout To Kill a Mockingbird it makes us look at our world and ask “Does this still happen today” also “Are people treated differently because of the way they look, act, or talk”. Today we should constantly working to eliminate these problems in our world and to be kind to others, to show compassion, and to treat every person with the same amount of respect. I hope that there will be a day in our world where this would be

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