Essay On Prejudice In To Kill A Mockingbird

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How would you describe prejudice? Prejudice can be seen in many different ways. It is especially shown in the classic American novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. The people of Maycomb Alabama have a heavily divided town and believe that people should be respected based off of race, class, and gender. Atticus Finch is a man in Maycomb who believes in equality for people of different races so he defends a black man, something no one else in the town would ever do. Another character named Jean Louise Finch (scout) is told that she needs to be more ladylike as she grows up to stick with what the idea of a woman has always been which is proper and polite. Scout doesn't believe in racism so she said "Naw, Jem, I think there's just one …show more content…
Throughout the trial, Toms lawyer shows great reasons why Tom is innocent. One statement being he is crippled in the left arm so he couldn't have done it. But Tom was convicted. Why? Because he is African American. He had no reason to lose the trial other than the color of his skin. “Guilty...guilty...guilty....guilty…” Judge Taylor was polling the jury. (Lee 282) But this is not the only time that the people of Maycomb discriminated against African Americans. They won't allow them to attend the same church or live in the town, only on the outskirts. If the town could believe in equality for race, the town could see that Tom Robinson is a good and kind citizen.

Other than racism, Maycomb still has problems with discrimination and prejudice. Their other big problem is how they think people belong in groups or a certain class. They think that the townsfolk belong up top with the most rights and the most deserving of pride and wealth. Then the bottom three are the Cunninghams who are a poor family that earns respect by paying with what they have, the Ewells who no one likes, and finally the African Americans at the bottom. This does end up relating to racism but is a huge reason why the town is divided the way it
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