Importance Of Prejudice In To Kill A Mockingbird

Describe at least ONE idea that you thought was important in the text. Explain how the writer made you think the idea was important.

An important idea in the novel “To kill a mockingbird” by Harper Lee is that prejudice in all its forms is wrong. The main prejudice Harper Lee tackles is the racism between Blacks and Whites as Harper Lee shows the reader the terrible consequences of racism through the trial of Tom Robinson, showing the importance of overcoming of prejudice to stop such tragedies happening today. Moreover the prejudice of social classes is shown through Aunt Alexandra and her judgement on others based on their family history causing her to look down on people. Harper Lee shows the assumptions people make about those they do not understand and how it important not to let prejudice affect our attitudes towards others.

The
At first Scout and Jem are prejudiced towards Boo Radley based on their belief in the rumours spread even though there was no real evidence .This shows how we should not trust gossip and should not allow ourselves to make assumptions based on what we hear. Because of their prejudice towards Boo Radley, Scout and Jem mock him and are afraid of anything associated with the Radley place. Harper Lee uses the tree, where Boo Radley leaves gifts for the children, to symbolise Scout and Jem’s prejudice towards Boo Radley because of their lack of understanding. Near the end of the novel Scout realised that “We never put back into the tree what we took out. We had given him nothing, and it made me sad.” Scout regretted her unfounded prejudice towards Boo Radley as she realised how wrong and hurtful her assumptions were. The idea of prejudice is important as I can see how the children’s prejudice towards Boo Radey affected their behaviour towards him, which taught me how I should not let my own prejudices affect my behaviour towards