Sophia Della Rocca 12/9/13

There May Always Be In the book To Kill a Mockingbird written by Harper Lee numerous topics are covered. However, the topic of prejudice cannot be stressed anymore in this piece of literature because the story line is about Scouts life and how she is growing up in a community that prejudice is a normalcy. This teaches us how people acted to groups and races of people in the 1930s. Not only is there prejudice for the black community, but also for low income whites. Nevertheless, there is also gender discrimination throughout this book. This is why To Kill a Mockingbird is such a wonderful book, for it shows that: It is important for each person to be aware of the damage caused by prejudice, especially when it is allowed to grow uncheckednot just the prejudice against blacks but toward any individual or group. Immediately, at the very beginning of the novel there is a prejudice against women for Scout constantly has to prove she is an equal to Jem. She thinks, I was not so sure, but Jem told me I was being a girl, that girls always imagined things, thats why other people hated them so, and if I started behaving like one I could just go off and find some to play with (41). Scout does not want to be a girl for this very reason. It is Christmas day in the novel and Scouts family went to Finchs Landing. There , Aunt Alexandra was overwhelmed by Scouts attire. She said she could never be a lady if she wore pants. Aunt Alexandra then went on about how Scout should act, dress, and play (81). This is a perfect example of the stereotype that all girls should be a sunbeam even though Atticus said he likes Scout the way she is. Not only, are girls subject to gender stereotypes, so are boys. Dill wants to see Boo Radley so he dares Jem to get him to come out. For three days Dill tells Jem that he is too scared to do it, Scout also chimes in on how Jem run passes the Radleys house every day (13). The way Jem replies to Dill, making excuses, reminds Scout on how she knew that Jem was afraid when she dared him to jump off their roof. Scout sneers at Jem because he is stalling so much (14). This leads for us to conclude that all boys must be fearless or they are seen as weak. This is the type of gender stereotyping that occurs throughout the novel. Later, now that Atticus is busy with the Tom Robinson case, Calpurnia decides to take Jem and Scout to her church on Sunday. At the church they run into Lula who begins to talk quite rudely to Calpurnia for bringing white children to the church. Calpurnia explains that it should not matter since they all have the same God. Scout feels that they should leave; however, Reverend Sykes intervenes saying that he is very happy that they did come (119). As the novel progresses Scout sees more and more

actions of prejudice; however, Jem, Dill, and Scout all witness the harshest act of prejudiced at the trial of Tom Robinson. In one part of the trial Judge Taylor says to Mr. Gilmer State will not prejudice the witness against counsel for the defense (181). He says this because Mr. Gilmer calls Mr. Finch the big bad Mr. Finch. This is extremely ironic because Judge Taylor said nothing when the Ewells called Tom Robinson a nigger. This causes the assumption that it is okay even to use foul language in a federal court room provided it is against certain groups. At the end of the trial Atticus makes his closing statement to the jury, which includes the idea all people no matter what their station or position in life they are equal in the courtroom (205). The trial is over; Tom Robinson is found guilty. Jem does not think he was guilty and Atticus tries to explain In our courts, when its a white mans word against a black mans, the white man always wins . . . Those are the facts of life (220). Jem implies that this is wrong; which is a great example of how children can see the wrong acts in the world and know that it is deceitful. Life goes on in Scouts life; she has a moment similar to Jem did when the trial of Tom Robinson was over. Scout explains to Jem her thoughts that are bothering her: It is bad to persecute people, and Miss Gates seems really upset at the way Hitler is persecuting the Jews, but she remembers Miss Gates coming down the courthouse steps after the trial saying, "it's time somebody taught them a lesson" (247). Scout cannot fathom how Miss Gates can say one thing and do the exact opposite. This is an aspect of prejudice: we may think we are not prejudice because we are not horrible people as in Hitler; however, in our own community we are the exact definition of the word which is truly hypocritical. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee will always remain an amazing piece of American literature for it shows us wrong doing that can occur in our communities. It also shows the harsh reality of how there may always be prejudice because Harper Lee wrote this book in the 1960s. However she based this book in the 1930s, this may be because she did not see an improvement in our nation in the last 30 years. Lastly, this book perceives the harshness of our communities which we think to be perfect. On the contrary, there are many examples of how we are prejudice in the way different genders feel they must behave: Boys have to be fearless, girls have to be dainty; so, children grow up to fit a stereotyped criteria, not who they want to be. Maybe our nation will not be free of all prejudices for there will always be someone who will not like a person just for the color of their skin. However, we can improve as individuals to prevent any more harm.