Prejudice In To Kill A Mockingbird

Prejudice cannot see the things that are because it is always looking for things that are not. This is emphasized as one of the main themes in Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill A Mockingbird. Set in the South during the 1930’s in a small town known as Maycomb County, the one of the most important morals, the one that all humans are created equal, is justified. Prejudice can be shown on a scale from most extreme down to least: genocide, expulsion, slavery, segregation, assimilation, and assimilation. The theme of the wrongs of prejudice is brought forth through the eyes of a nine-year-old girl. Prejudice is shown in many different forms throughout the novel, but also show similarities in how they are all connected to one universal idea. Prejudice
takes many forms of the symbol of a mockingbird, in the shape of judgment of Boo Radley, and racism against a colored man, showing how prejudice is a sin of mankind.
When someone has never wronged anyone in their life, they do not deserve to be treated like they were drowned, especially if all they’ve done was just.
“Shoot all the bluejays you want… but remember, it's a sin to kill a mockingbird,” the mockingbird is being represented as a recurring motif to symbolize innocence and victims of injustice throughout the novel (Lee 90). It is a symbol of innocence and goodwill against racism and hatred. The symbol shows the important moral of treating others the way they would like to be treated. The mockingbird also serves as a way relating to humans and how only actions make up a person, not what they look like. People like the Mr. Ewell only see things that make others he does not like inferior so he feels better about himself. “Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy” (Lee 90). “The symbolism reveals the prejudice and narrow-mindedness of the common citizens of Maycomb County, the fears they have, and all of the immoral things they do”
(Smykowski).
One reason for the discrimination against “niggers” is because that was the normal view for white people to have in the south during that time period, so racism usually escalated much worse than what people see today.
“I seen that black nigger yonder ruttin' on my Mayella!" This obscene language, specifically the use of "ruttin," makes Tom Robinson and black men seem like animals, giving black men a beastial, non-human quality. Ewell does not like the fact that he is discriminated as the poorest and dirtiest in Maycomb so redirects it into hatred of others he does not like. He also adds to the non-human, bestial representation of Tom Robinson by referring to him as a “big buck.” “If [Atticus] was a nigger like [Tom Robinson], [he’d] be scared too” because colored people in maycomb are treated so badly they have become conditioned to be afraid of white people. In a way, those people who are afraid are also being prejudiced against white people because they assume that all white people are just as hateful as the Ewells, stereotyping them, so it is more of a two-sided problem. He also mentions that if people would take a moment to step into another person’s shoes, they might understand their side and their perspective of things, the way they see it through their eyes. Then they would not be so narrow-minded and interracial problems would be a thing of the
past.
The form of prejudice is different from how Tom Robinson was treated compared to how Boo Radley was treated, but both being mockingbird. People in Maycomb have never even met Boo Radley but “look at the Radley place unwilling to discard their suspicions” because the people of Maycomb believe only what they want to believe. They are afraid of what might be, so instead they let their imagination take control. They are enthralled by it and it gives the community of Maycomb a common cause to unite those people to be prejudiced at what is completely false of Boo Radley.