To Kill a Mockingbird

To Kill a Mockingbird:
Prejudice against Citizens with Mental Disabilities
As racism, discrimination and prejudice against citizen with mental disabilities has been a part of our culture for many decades, it seems as we have found peace with all of this after many years. During the early nineteenth and twentieth century people where not at peace with citizens with mental disabilities, for they were being mistreated and institutionalized for having mental disorders. Many did not see people with mental disabilities as equal citizens, or even helpful to the community even though they were just as equal as everyone else. They were discriminated on badly during the 1950’s and 60’s just as much as African Americans were. Unlike back then, today this would be frowned upon not including citizens with mental disabilities. Although in To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee highlights how there is prejudice going on against people born with mental disabilities, her purpose for writing this show the social norms, and the cultural context during the time period of the novel taking place with such a strong hidden message for citizens. Prejudice of people with mental disabilities is an ongoing event in To Kill a Mockingbird. Lee highlights this throughout her writing in many different ways. Lee presents us with a character Boo Radley, born in the South back when racism and prejudice was taking place. Boo Radley is not institutionalized, but locked up in his own home. He is unable to leave and be a normal citizen like everyone else. Although, many have not seen Boo they describe him as a monster. “Boo was about six-and-a-half feet tall, judging from his tracks; he dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch, that’s why his hands were bloodstained- if you ate an animal raw, you could never wash the blood off. There was a long jagged scar that ran across his face; what teeth he had were yellow and rotten; his eyes popped, and he drooled most of the time” (Lee, 12.) This is how Jem describes Boo Radley in To Kill a Mockingbird, without ever seeing Boo all the other children in the novel believes this description is correct of Boo. Throughout the book, Lee uses Scout and the children to tie in everything that is going on with Boo Radley. Although he goes un-seen for almost the first half of the book, the children try to play games involving Boo Radley and his house so he may be seen. With this being done, the children believe Boo is crazy. In the second half of the novel, you see Boo Radley as a real person through Scouts voice a young naïve girl. She explains Boo Radley as a citizen who is not crazy or a monster, but a real person. As Lee continues to highlight prejudice against mental disabilities; she also, shows the social norms that are happening during that time period in To Kill a Mockingbird.
Another topic that Harper Lee Highlights on in To Kill a Mockingbird, is her purpose of why she wrote this novel and societies norms that were present. Many believe that Harper Lee wrote this novel to show prejudice against the unknown, and all the discrimination that was present not just against mental disabilities, but also gender, and race discrimination that was also a major issue. Lee also wanted to inform her readers of the prejudice that was occurring during the 1930’s. Although Lee was taking a chance by voicing her opinion on such a strong topic she did so anyways to get her purpose across. As she states her purpose in To Kill a Mockingbird, the books tone is set as informal as she uses such a young girl, Scout to narrate the story. By doing this it affects what happens to her characters and how they grow and develop throughout the novel. Social norms for mental disabilities were not as strong and powerful as for the groups they had against African Americans. These were hate groups that were strongly against blacks. For social groups against citizens with mental disabilities they just wanted them “out of sight, out of mind” (Barnhill). Anyone with mental disabilities was either in prison, mental institutions or hospitalized. Even though they were normal human beings with just mental developmental problems, no one wanted anything to do with them, they just wanted them institutionalized. “In order to “protect: society people with intellectual disabilities should not be allowed to produce offspring.”(Barnhill) Even if you have a mental disability that does not mean you will automatically give birth to a child with mental disabilities. Society thought that this was the best way to prevent from having more children with disabilities, which in this cause is untrue.
Some experts have argued that deinstitutionalization, and reinstitutionalization is the only chose for citizens born with mental disabilities. Although in some situation citizens may need to me institutionalized for most of their lives in severe causes of mental disorders. Such as in this article by Xie, “In some extreme situations patients intentionally harm themselves or others to merit admission. In a sensational case in 2006 in the United States, a young patient name William Bruce with florid symptoms of schizophrenia was hospitalized at the Riverside Mental Health Center in Maine but the patients advocacy organization opposed treatment with medication insisted that he be discharged against medical advice; two months after discharged he murdered his mother with an ax in their home.” (48) In some extreme cause like this patients need to be under close care and medicated. Most would argue that back in the 1930’s this was the case for all patients with mental disabilities to be institutionalized.
Lastly, Lee shows context that is taking place during To Kill a Mockingbird and the strong message that she is trying to get across in this novel. Lee shows that since in society it is not correct for people with mental disabilities to be treated as equal citizens she has Boo Radleys character locked inside as he would be “institutionalized” in his own home. This was going on in the 1950’s and 60’s citizens with mental disabilities being locked up in mental hospitals. The point that Harper Lee was trying to get across was that although Boo Radley was different from all the other characters in To Kill a Mockingbird, such as Scout, Jem, and Atticus he was just as normal as any of those characters. He may have had trouble learning and was not as intelligent as Atticus, but he was a citizen just like him. Lee shows throughout the novel not only that Boo Radley is treated different because of his mental disabilities but also for his race. Lee was trying to portray through Scouts voice of how corrupt and prejudice whites where against citizens with mental disabilities, different race, and gender.
Although prejudice against mental disabilities being institutionalized no longer remains, some citizens are still judge mental of people with disabilities even though they are equal as everyone else. Harper Lee shows throughout in To Kill a Mockingbird, how prejudice the citizens in Maycomb are against people with mental disabilities, race, and gender. Lee highlights all of this in her novel, but portrays a strong message to everyone who reads her novel, that everyone is created equal and should get equal opportunities. Although experts argue where to draw the line to institutionalize and deinstitutionalize patients with mental disabilities is still a struggle within the United States today in some severe cases. Lee voiced her purpose through Scout trying to portray that prejudice against people with mental disabilities should not take place, for they should have a chose and not just be locked up for the rest of their lives.

Works Cited
Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1960. Print
Barnhill, Sarah Kathleen, and Jarrett Barnhill M.D. "NADD Bulletin Volume V Number 5 Article 3." NADD. Web. 21 Feb. 2012. .

Cited: Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1960. Print Barnhill, Sarah Kathleen, and Jarrett Barnhill M.D. "NADD Bulletin Volume V Number 5 Article 3." NADD. Web. 21 Feb. 2012. .