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 right to

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.