Prejudice In 'To Kill A Mockingbird'

Language Arts (B) Coursework
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Mdm Fiona Ho
Name: Joel Ng (13) Class: 4.16 Enoch
Language Arts (B) Coursework
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Mdm Fiona Ho
Name: Joel Ng (13) Class: 4.16 Enoch

Rationale
My opinion column will be based on the broad theme of prejudice, where it argues that prejudice leads to unfairness. I will be writing as a columnist for Reader’s Digest and my column’s primary aim is to raise awareness that prejudice does result in acts of unfairness and the extent of hurt it can cause to someone.
Besides discussing the reason for prejudice and the unfairness and hurt it brings, the opinion column also seeks to urge readers to make an active effort to overcome our prejudices against others. This opinion column is mainly targeted at teenagers and young adults, as at this stage of life prejudice is a common issue that they have to deal with. This group of people are also the most likely people to be willing to effect a change.
To probe the readers to consider the harmful effects of prejudice, a slightly more serious tone was adopted with the use of a more negative choice of words with respect to prejudice. Later, to exhort the readers to overcome prejudice, the column switched to a more hopeful and encouraging tone by switching to more optimistic vocabulary. Since the audience of this opinion column is a younger age group, slightly less formal language was used to connect and convey the message. Besides the style in which the opinion column is written, it also uses many examples, episodes and quotes from the novel, “To Kill A Mockingbird”, to illustrate and elaborate on various points in the opinion column.

(250 Words)

Written Task
Prejudice Leads to Unfairness
Prejudice is defined as a preconceived opinion formed without knowledge, thought or reason and usually of hostile nature. This commonly results in it influencing one’s perceptive, thoughts and judgement. Therefore, I am inclined to believe that prejudice does lead to unfairness.
Prejudice often leads to unfairness because of a psychological reflex to stereotype, which is to generalize about the “typical” characteristics of all members of a group. Stereotyping generates a false impression of others, an unfair one, and normally leads to further inequitable acts. In “To Kill A Mockingbird”, blacks were stereotyped as substandard people; the whites saw them as inferior. This led to an unfair treatment of the blacks: biased court trials, unequal educational and economic opportunities, and Jim Crow laws, which mandated segregation in public facilities, such as the church. Despite the lack of concrete evidence, witnesses and testimonies to convict Tom Robinson of rape, prejudice towards the blacks was still dominant among the jury and the town, making them reluctant to take the word of an innocent black man over the word of white accusers, eventually delivering a guilty verdict. Prejudice is made even less fair because most people do not even know why they bear those negative feelings.
Hating or judging without any rhyme or reason, simply because my parents and my uncle said, “Don’t go near him”. Earlier in the novel, Boo Radley is described by the folk of Maycomb as a freak. This gave the children a preconceived impression that he was a frightening phantom that lurked in the Radley Mansion prompting Dill to lead Scout and Jem to mock and conjecture the Radleys through their games. The children’s subconscious prejudice against Boo Radley may have been out of innocence but as Atticus puts it, they were “tormenting” him. Later in the novel, they realised Boo Radley was vastly different from what they heard about him, instead he was someone who wanted to befriend them by gifting them and even saved them when Bob Ewell tried to kill them. This further brings out the injustice of the children’s prejudice as they had already judged Boo negatively, prior to knowing him when actually he was nothing like what the townsfolk told them. From this short episode, we learn that lacking a reason to bear prejudice can bring about a greater injustice towards the
victim. Lastly, prejudice is due to a lack of love and understanding for each other.
Since, love and understanding is the basis of relationships, the lack of it brings dislike, hostility and unjust behaviour. Scout initially prejudiced against Walter Cunningham, without bothering to understand him, rubs his nose in the dirt, criticizes him because “he’s gone and drowned his dinner in syrup” and does not treat him as a guest, as we can see from “ He ain’t company, Cal, he’s just a Cunningham“. However, later in the novel, when she faces the same unfair treatment due to Atticus’ support of Tom Robinson, she finally matures and seeks to understand people. Therefore, she is able to speak innocently to Mr Cunningham about his legal entailments and his son, without any of the earlier prejudice, eventually even persuading him and his mob to back off from Atticus. Truly, “you never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view… until you climb into his skin and walk around it”, which simply put, means that to understand someone, you must put yourself in that person’s position and situation. In conclusion, prejudice leads to injustice and unfairness. It can only be defeated by one’s willingness to love, understand and accept. Therefore, I exhort you to always do so because to harm the innocent is wrong, because they only do good things to us, “remember it 's a sin to kill a mockingbird”, they “don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy… That 's why it’s
a sin to kill a mockingbird”.

(700 Words)

Bibliography
Books:
1. Harper Lee, To Kill A Mockingbird (London: Arrow Books, 2006)
Websites
1. Do Something.org, 'Background on Racial Discrimination ', in Do Something.org <http://www.dosomething.org/tipsandtools/background-racial-discrimination> [accessed 1 August 2012] 2. Mockingbird Addicts, 'Themes/Symbols ', in Mockingbird Addicts <https://sites.google.com/site/timonmockingbirdaddicts/themes-symbols> [accessed 1 August 2012]

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[ 1 ]. Mockingbird Addicts, 'Themes/Symbols ', in Mockingbird Addicts [accessed 1 August 2012]
[ 2 ]. Do Something.org, 'Background on Racial Discrimination ', in Do Something.org [accessed 1 August 2012]
[ 3 ]. Harper Lee, To Kill A Mockingbird (London: Arrow Books, 2006), pg. 230-33.
[ 4 ]. Ibid. 3, pg. 10-14
[ 5 ]. Ibid. 3, pg. 54-55
[ 6 ]. Ibid. 3, pg. 38
[ 7 ]. Ibid. 3, pg. 290, 298
[ 8 ]. Ibid. 3, pg. 25-27
[ 9 ]. Ibid. 3, pg. 166-170
[ 10 ]. Ibid. 3, pg. 33
[ 11 ]. Ibid. 3, pg. 99-100