The Role Of Prejudice In To Kill A Mockingbird
There is no shortage of debate whether prejudices are learned inside the nucleus of a family, or if there are other societal influences which trigger this fashion of judgement. According to Gordon Allport’s studies, both play an important role on the development of prejudices. Also, Allport states that these types of attitudes toward people are not stationary, but there are different stages in its development. The first stage is called Pregeneralized learning. In this phase “the child seems to live his mental life in specific contexts. What exists here and now makes up the only reality” (Allport, 1966, p.308). The next stage is the one of Total rejection. Here, infants generalize the characteristics they consider “bad” and judge people according
…show more content…
A good example of how prejudices are developed, is found in the book To Kill a Mockingbird. In this novel the protagonist and her brother face different situations that involve prejudices. These circumstances, sometimes, make their judgment collide with the values they have been taught by their father and other important adults in their life. Allport (1982), called this clash between values and prejudiced attitudes as “inner conflict” (p.326). In this essay, I will point out the way these three stages of prejudice development in children were manifested during the novel, and depict how inner conflict (mostly triggered by some adults) helped them to debunk those …show more content…
Because of the stories they have listened from some adults (people who represent authorities and truth to them) they accept these legends about their neighbor as facts. They assign monstrous characteristics to Boo Radley because what is told about him goes against the patterns they understand as “good”. This view is challenged in the case of Scout, when she asks miss Maudie why Boo never comes out of his home. Here, the woman tells her about Boo’s family and the conflicts that surrounded them. From that point on, Scout understands that there are always explanations that underlies a person’s behavior, so she should try to pay attention to those hidden reasons before judging. Consequently, her pregeneralized vision was challenged by her new inner
A good example of how prejudices are developed, is found in the book To Kill a Mockingbird. In this novel the protagonist and her brother face different situations that involve prejudices. These circumstances, sometimes, make their judgment collide with the values they have been taught by their father and other important adults in their life. Allport (1982), called this clash between values and prejudiced attitudes as “inner conflict” (p.326). In this essay, I will point out the way these three stages of prejudice development in children were manifested during the novel, and depict how inner conflict (mostly triggered by some adults) helped them to debunk those …show more content…
Because of the stories they have listened from some adults (people who represent authorities and truth to them) they accept these legends about their neighbor as facts. They assign monstrous characteristics to Boo Radley because what is told about him goes against the patterns they understand as “good”. This view is challenged in the case of Scout, when she asks miss Maudie why Boo never comes out of his home. Here, the woman tells her about Boo’s family and the conflicts that surrounded them. From that point on, Scout understands that there are always explanations that underlies a person’s behavior, so she should try to pay attention to those hidden reasons before judging. Consequently, her pregeneralized vision was challenged by her new inner