English Essay
Prejudice and racism are both portrayed in the fiction novels "To Kill A Mockingbird" by Harper Lee and "The Merchant of Venice" by William Shakespeare. From Shakespeare's time to the present day, racism and prejudice will always be a factor in the judgement society faces. The characters in "To Kill A Mockingbird" Tom Robinson and Aunt Alexandra are both victims and perpetrators along with Jessica and the prince of Maroco from "The Merchant of Venice."
Aunt Alexandra is a prime example of a racist and a perpetrator. She judges people by class, she does not want anything to do with those of a lower class, including blacks. In the story To Kill A Mockingbird , Aunt Alexandra would not let Scout and Jem to back to Cals church throughout the story due to her hatred for the "lower class people", which can also show that she is racist due to the fact Cal is black. She also didn't let her nephew play with Walter because he was black and she refered to him as trash. Everyone at my school is judged on what they wear on dress down days, those who don't wear nice and expensive clothes are considered lower class and poor to those who do have money.
At trial Tom Robinson was accused of the raping of Mayella even though there was solid evidence that he did not. He was found guilty just because he was black. After trial Tom attempted to escape to prevent going to jail, and got shot 17 times instead of the police attempting to stop him first. My opinion is that if he was white, they wouldn't of shot him unless they couldn't stop him from escaping. In modern day, people see black people and right away think that they are up to no good. Police will stop black people in nice cars because they think they are stealing the car, which is a huge act of racial profiling.
Jessica was ashamed of her father because everyone hates him because he is rude and Jewish. Jessica is both a victim and perpetrator because the hate that her father gets reflects on her reputation, but also a
Aunt Alexandra is a prime example of a racist and a perpetrator. She judges people by class, she does not want anything to do with those of a lower class, including blacks. In the story To Kill A Mockingbird , Aunt Alexandra would not let Scout and Jem to back to Cals church throughout the story due to her hatred for the "lower class people", which can also show that she is racist due to the fact Cal is black. She also didn't let her nephew play with Walter because he was black and she refered to him as trash. Everyone at my school is judged on what they wear on dress down days, those who don't wear nice and expensive clothes are considered lower class and poor to those who do have money.
At trial Tom Robinson was accused of the raping of Mayella even though there was solid evidence that he did not. He was found guilty just because he was black. After trial Tom attempted to escape to prevent going to jail, and got shot 17 times instead of the police attempting to stop him first. My opinion is that if he was white, they wouldn't of shot him unless they couldn't stop him from escaping. In modern day, people see black people and right away think that they are up to no good. Police will stop black people in nice cars because they think they are stealing the car, which is a huge act of racial profiling.
Jessica was ashamed of her father because everyone hates him because he is rude and Jewish. Jessica is both a victim and perpetrator because the hate that her father gets reflects on her reputation, but also a