To Kill a Mocking Bird (Theme: Prejudice)

Prejudice: The Root of Evil “Prejudice is burden that confuses the past, threatens the future, and renders the present inaccessible.” – Maya Angelou Prejudice is a force of destruction in our world. Even after much time has gone by, prejudice has yet to diminish once and for all. As implied by Maya Angelou, prejudice has undeniably created a burden in our past that has held us back. Our future is at stake as it continues to linger throughout the world. Prejudice has impacted our present so immensely that it is too solid to crack. Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird also relates to prejudice. It speaks of how much more severe it was in the past that it would seem unacceptable in our time. To Kill A Mockingbird reveals that prejudice is judging without knowing the entire truth, makes people persecute others simply because they are different, and causes pain and suffering. Prejudice is judging without knowing the entire truth. For instance, Nathan Radley automatically assumed that the person he shot at in his collard patch was a Negro. He said, “If anybody sees a white nigger around, that’s the one.” However, the trespassers were actually Jem, Scout, and Dill. Another example of “Maycomb’s usual disease” is shown when most of Maycomb calls Atticus a “nigger lover” for defending Tom Robinson in the trial. Even children and Atticus’s own flesh and blood were saying it. In their eyes, they saw Negroes as the dirt beneath their feet, and for Atticus, a white man, to defend Tom, a black man accused of raping a white woman, was just as bad. But, if they had overlooked Tom’s skin color, they’d be able to

realize that not all blacks are immoral. Although Atticus was doing his duty as a lawyer, he had the ability to look past Tom being black, and saw an innocent man on trial for his list, and knew it was the right thing for him to do. Lastly, the folks of Maycomb made a false accusation that Arthur “Boo” Radley was an insane monster. They accused him of the heinous