The Effects of Discrimination -to Kill a Mockingbird
The Effects of Discrimination
Kaitlyn Hrasko
“If you believe that discrimination exists, it will.” -Anthony J. D’Angelo. Discrimination has been around since the beginning of time. In Harper Lee's novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, the narrator, a young girl by the name of Scout, comes to realize all of the different types of discrimination. Her father Atticus is a lawyer and fights for the rights of others; Scout is taught by her father at a young age, that discrimination is erroneous. With the guidance of her father, she sees what can happen when prejudice attitudes are taken too far, and how it can affect the lives of people. Some of the types of discrimination that Scout encounters throughout the novel are race, age, and social status. Initially, a person can really alter someone’s life by being prejudice towards them because it dehumanizes and humiliates them; however this is hard to change when years of prejudice, discrimination, and racism are present in society. Consequently, when people drop the need to point out others differences and judge them on superficial things, people have a better understanding of one another. Often in life, people do things without fully thinking of the consequences and how it will affect the other person. This is the first instinct, and usually happens naturally without fully thinking it through. However, this hurts the person emotionally, and creates things like racial tension. Ultimately, people discriminate because they are insecure, and feel the need to feel better about themselves. People also feel the need to point out another’s differences because they are strange to them, and do not fully understand the beauty of being unique.
Equality between men and women is probably the oldest type of discrimination there is. Women have been treated without respect, due to their gender. Women are expected to act proper, and to do what they're told. Throughout the book To Kill a Mockingbird, gender discrimination is prevalent with
Kaitlyn Hrasko
“If you believe that discrimination exists, it will.” -Anthony J. D’Angelo. Discrimination has been around since the beginning of time. In Harper Lee's novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, the narrator, a young girl by the name of Scout, comes to realize all of the different types of discrimination. Her father Atticus is a lawyer and fights for the rights of others; Scout is taught by her father at a young age, that discrimination is erroneous. With the guidance of her father, she sees what can happen when prejudice attitudes are taken too far, and how it can affect the lives of people. Some of the types of discrimination that Scout encounters throughout the novel are race, age, and social status. Initially, a person can really alter someone’s life by being prejudice towards them because it dehumanizes and humiliates them; however this is hard to change when years of prejudice, discrimination, and racism are present in society. Consequently, when people drop the need to point out others differences and judge them on superficial things, people have a better understanding of one another. Often in life, people do things without fully thinking of the consequences and how it will affect the other person. This is the first instinct, and usually happens naturally without fully thinking it through. However, this hurts the person emotionally, and creates things like racial tension. Ultimately, people discriminate because they are insecure, and feel the need to feel better about themselves. People also feel the need to point out another’s differences because they are strange to them, and do not fully understand the beauty of being unique.
Equality between men and women is probably the oldest type of discrimination there is. Women have been treated without respect, due to their gender. Women are expected to act proper, and to do what they're told. Throughout the book To Kill a Mockingbird, gender discrimination is prevalent with