To Kill A Mocking Bird-prejudice Essay, Research Paper
To Kill A Mockingbird
Prejudice has caused the pain and suffering of others for many
centuries.
Some examples of this include the Holocaust and slavery in the United
States. In to Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee racism was the cause of
much agony to the blacks of a segregated South. Along with blacks, other
groups of people are judged unfairly just because of their difference from
others. The prejudice and bigotry of society causes the victimization of
people with differences.
Some who are discriminated against are those who are born
differently than the majority. One person that is treated unfairly is
Calpurnia, as you can see when Aunt Alexandra tried to get Atticus to fire
Calpurnia, because in her eyes, Calpurnia wasn’t a good enough female role
model (p.136). This is a prejudice action, because Calpurnia is as good
as a role model as Aunt Alexandra, if not better. Aunt Alexandra is a
bigot and doesn’t see the character of Calpurnia, just the color of her
skin. Another person who is treated like an inferior is Scout by her
teacher, because she knew how to read. “She discovered that I was
literate and looked at me with more than faint distaste. (p.17).” Scout
is treated like it is her fault that she knows more than the average child
did. She learned earlier than others so she gets punished unjustly. Tom
Robinson is also one who is discriminated by a biased community. Tom is
found guilty by the jury in his case against the Ewells (p.211). The
guilty verdict is a direct result of a racist community. Tom was never
given a fair chance in the trial, even though that the evidence was
proving him innocent. People that are born differently often get
mistreated and are discriminated against.
Another group that is treated poorly in the society based on
bigotry, are the people who have chosen to be different. One who chose to
be different is Dolphus Raymond. He pretended to be drunk so no one gave
him any trouble on the way that he lived his life (p.200). The way a
person lives should be there own personal business. He has the
live differently than others if he feels that is the way he wants to live.
Another person that lives differently is Boo Radley. Boo stayed inside
his house for a number of years without ever coming out to interact with
others. He didn’t want attention that would come from the rumors that
were said about him. Stories were made up about him and he felt it was
best for him to stay inside. The people who chose to be different took a
risk of being made outcasts of the majority of the society.
The final group that was made to feel different was the group that
defended and protected the minorities and the wrongfully treated people.
Atticus was a good example of one who defended the different by defending
Tom Robinson in his case. Atticus had integrity that gave him the
strength to endure the ridicule that arose from his decision to defend a
black man in a segregated area. Atticus was threatened and his children
were treated poorly by their peers, because he had the courage to stand up
for the oppressed. Sheriff Tate defends the different when he says, “I
never heard tell that it’s against the law for a citizen t do his utmost
to prevent a crime from being committed, which is exactly what he did, but
maybe you’ll say it’s my duty to tell the town all about it and not hush
it up. (p.276).” Sheriff Tate is trying to protect Boo from the attention
that could frighten him. The sheriff is doing the right thing by hiding
the truth from the community. By defending the different, people take a
chance of being known as strange or inferiors to the rest of the people
that they are around.
Throughout the story, people that are unlike the majority, get
hurt. They are given obstacles that they have to overcome in order to
survive. Some people in the world can survive these obstacles, and there
are some that just give up. By fighting for your rights, people start to
realize that character is the important attribute to a person. To Kill a
Mockingbird, by Harper Lee showed me that the people with differences are
not always doing things the wrong way. It is the majority that may be
going at it all wrong.