Prejudice in "To Kill A Mockingbird"

Dear Readers,

I hope you had a fantastic Chinese New Year. Today I will be talking about prejudice in the novel "To Kill A Mockingbird".

After a Language Arts lesson done on prejudice in class on 13th January, I have learnt about the differences between prejudice, discrimination, stereotypes and over-generalisation.

Prejudice is a prejudgement whereby one does not know the actual facts of the situation before judging an individual or group.

In “To Kill A Mockingbird”, there are three significantly rampant types of prejudice, namely gender prejudice, racial prejudice and social class prejudice.

Gender prejudice is evident in the Maycomb County, even in the Finch family.

Aunt Alexandra insists that Scout has to dress ladylike, behave ladylike and do mundane activities such as embroidery, due to her social status. However, Jem was allowed autonomy of doing whatever he wished to. This illustrates the difference in treatment between a male and a female back in the 1960s.

The most significant type of prejudice which propels the story is the racial prejudice.

In the county of Maycomb, the whites ostracise the blacks simply because of the difference in their skin colour. For example, Atticus found many loopholes in the Ewells’ story during the trial. The wounds found on Mayella Ewell suggested that they must have been inflicted by a left-hander. However, Tom Robinson was a right-hander and his left hand was maimed. Sadly, the court still ruled in favour of the white Ewells over that of the innocent black Robinson, by virtue of their skin colour. This incident clearly illustrated the severity of racial prejudice during those days.

In addition, during the court trial, the blacks were congregated in the upper balcony away from the whites. Another example was that the blacks had to wait for all the whites to enter the court before being allowed in.

Lastly, we have the social class prejudice.

On the highest point of the hierarchy in Maycomb comes the affluent like the Finches. Below them are the ordinary townspeople followed by the farmers like the Cunninghams. Below these peasants come the despised Ewells and at the rock bottom of the community, the so-called niggers. The presence of this hierarchy prevented Scout from consorting with Walter Cunningham, at Aunt Alexandra’s insistence.

Feel free to comment should you spot other types of prejudice or examples in "To Kill A Mockingbird"! (:

Best Regards,
Nathan (: