Prejudice In To Kill A Mockingbird Essay
Discuss the nature of prejudice in ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ by studying the way in which Harper Lee presents the black characters and the social stratification of Maycomb society.
‘…that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.’ – American Declaration of Independence, 1776.
The American Declaration of Independence states that all men are created equal, meaning that all men should be treated as equally as they were created. Throughout American history, this has been somewhat ignored, Harper Lee highlights this fact throughout her novel ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’.
‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ was written in 1960s …show more content…
Harper Lee shows that racists are still real people, with the same human emotions as everyone else, we are shown this when Scout casually starts a conversation with Mr Cunningham outside the county jail, within a lynching mob. This innocence on Scout’s behalf completely undermines the severity of the situation. Scout does not seem to realise how potentially dangerous the situation could be, but talks to Mr Cunningham like an old friend, this stops him in his tracks. During their brief conversation, we almost see Mr Cunningham deflate from a hotheaded bigot to his usual self, all it took was the innocence of a child to make a man with incredibly strong beliefs stop and re-think his actions and pull the others away. Atticus, being the intelligent man he is notices this right away: ‘”So it took an eight-year-old child to bring 'em to their senses.... That proves something - that a gang of wild animals can be stopped, simply because they're still human. Hmp, maybe we need a police force of
‘…that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.’ – American Declaration of Independence, 1776.
The American Declaration of Independence states that all men are created equal, meaning that all men should be treated as equally as they were created. Throughout American history, this has been somewhat ignored, Harper Lee highlights this fact throughout her novel ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’.
‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ was written in 1960s …show more content…
Harper Lee shows that racists are still real people, with the same human emotions as everyone else, we are shown this when Scout casually starts a conversation with Mr Cunningham outside the county jail, within a lynching mob. This innocence on Scout’s behalf completely undermines the severity of the situation. Scout does not seem to realise how potentially dangerous the situation could be, but talks to Mr Cunningham like an old friend, this stops him in his tracks. During their brief conversation, we almost see Mr Cunningham deflate from a hotheaded bigot to his usual self, all it took was the innocence of a child to make a man with incredibly strong beliefs stop and re-think his actions and pull the others away. Atticus, being the intelligent man he is notices this right away: ‘”So it took an eight-year-old child to bring 'em to their senses.... That proves something - that a gang of wild animals can be stopped, simply because they're still human. Hmp, maybe we need a police force of