Discrimination And Prejudice example essay topic
425 words
The novel "To Kill A Mockingbird" by, Harper Lee, presents many different issues throughout the story. The main issues faced are discrimination and prejudice. These issues are both relevant to the time that the novel was published, as it was a time when most white people where in favour against black people no matter what the circumstances are. This takes place today, except it is no where near as bad as it was back then, and isn't carried into courts, it is mainly peoples views. In this novel, we see the effects of discrimination being explored, and the end effects of discrimination, when Tom Robinson is sent to jail for the rape of Mayella Ewell. Although Tom didn't actually rape Mayella, and although there was circumstantial evidence to prove this, the jury votes against him because he was black, and they were afraid of being hated if they proved him innocent. This is similar to today's world, because if, for example, if a teenager was with a group of friends whom where saying racist remarks and he / she spoke out, they would be an outcast and then be the focus of the remarks. Prejudice is the other main issue that is addressed in this novel. And it comes up a couple of times through the novel. We see the first signs of prejudice in May combe County when Scout, Jem and Dill are trying to find out more about Arthur 'Boo' Radley. They ask the towns people questions, and get told many different stories that make him out to be an evil person, which therefore makes the children frightened to go into, or near the yard, but towards the end of the novel, this is proved wrong. The next sign of prejudice and discrimination in the novel comes when Atticus is appointed to defend Tom.
Most of the town is prejudice towards Atticus, as they believe that a 'nigger' isn't worth defending. Atticus, on the other hand, believes that everyone should have a fair trial and defends him with pride and takes all that comes with it. I believe that this novel was aimed at showing people the effects that discrimination and prejudice have, and how easily it can be stopped. I think it was mainly directed at people in the 1960's, but has great relevance in the world of today, and gives an excellent view of what happens when people take sides based on what other people believe.
