Prejudice Affecting Our Societies

Prejudices Affecting Our Society

In our society, we are able to witness how our prejudices can affect the way people live. At times, there are people who come forward and confront the injustice in our lives and try helping the victims. However, there are numerous occasions were we fail to confront the prejudice, and take no notice of the consequences that may result; this is evident in the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird where the numerous prejudices and injustices heaped upon various characters brings the society itself to moral conflict. We witness first hand how failing to confront various types of prejudices may result large repercussions.

In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, we take notice of three mockingbirds that are victims of different types of prejudice. The main prejudice is discrimination against the coloured people, and how it resulted in an innocent man being killed. In this novel, there is a white man, Atticus, who is in the highest social echelon in the town of Maycomb. He is a knowledgeable, caring, and an understanding man, who decides to do the unspeakable. He chooses to defend a black man who is charged with raping a white woman. When he made his decision to defend a black man, he went against the ways that the town of Maycomb functions by. When his daughter, Scout, asked him why he chose to defend a black, he said, "If I didn't (defend him) I couldn't holy up my head in town, I couldn't represent this country in legislature. I couldn't even tell you and Jem not do something anymore" (pg. 75). This meant that he couldn't live with the guilt of not trying to help an innocent man. Later on, Scout asks him if they are going to win it, and why defend him if we are not, and Atticus answers, "No honey, simply because we were licked a hundred years before we started is no reason not to try to w in."(pg. 76) Atticus knew there was little hope of winning a case where a white man's word meant more than a black man's word, but he was the only one that came before court to confront the situation. The town of Maycomb, the society, saw the way Atticus was treated for his decisions, and they saw the way Atticus was able to prove that Tom, the black man being charged, was innocent. Yet, under no circumstances, did they attempt to intervene, or confront the prejudice. The town knew that if people started to speak up, to say their opinions, it result in grave disputes. When Jem and Scout were asking Atticus why people of Maycomb were not on the jury, Atticus answered by saying, "We generally get the juries we deserve. Our stout Maycomb citizens aren't interested, in the first place. In second place, they're afraid." (pg. 221) Here, Atticus mentions that the citizens are afraid, they are afraid of voicing their opinions, afraid that the town will split, and the consequences may be severe. Yet, because they fail to confront the prejudice, an innocent black was killed, even though all evidence proved that he should have been a free man.

In addition to racism, this novel deals with many other types of prejudices, which affect the society greatly. Another major prejudice is the one against the poor. In the past, the poor were seen as the lowest of Maycomb's social structure. In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, the Ewells are the poorest people in this society. When Atticus is telling Scout about the Ewells, he tells her that the Ewells had been the disgrace of Maycomb for three generations. They have never done an honest day of work. The children only go the first day of school, and never come back. The Ewells are frowned upon in many ways; for instance, the head of the family, Bob Ewell, is considered in Atticus's eyes Ð''white trash'. He is rude, arrogant, selfish, and extremely lazy. The Maycomb society has to comprise with him because he spends his relief checks on whiskey, instead of feeding his starving children. Bob Ewell does not only drink continuously, but he also takes pleasure in mocking the blacks, for he believes that the blacks are much lower echelon then he is on the social structure. When Atticus is talking about Bob, he says, "There's nothing more sickening to me than a low-grade white man who'll take advantage of a Negro's ignorance." (pg. 221) Yet, because of his poverty, no one in the Maycomb society really accepts him or his family; they will always remain isolated from the rest of the town. In the novel, the readers notice that the daughter of Bob Ewell, Mayella, is extremely lonely. When Atticus asks her about her social life, and her friends, she seems puzzled and confused at what Atticus is asking her. She is a victim of her father's abuse, drinking, and ignorance. In the end, she finds herself so lonely, that she did something that is considered in the society Ð''unspeakable'. When Atticus was explaining the situation to the jury he says, "She was white, and she tempted a Negro. She did something that in our society is unspeakable: she kissed a black man. Not an old Uncle, but a strong young Negro man. No code mattered to her before she broke it, but it come crashing down on her afterwards."(pg. 204) Mayella was so isolated from everyone, and she knew that since her family was at the bottom rang of society; no man would ever marry her. She turned to extreme measures to be noticed, to feel that someone cared about her, to get attention from anyone. Yet, because of the way the society of Maycomb was made, everything crashed down on her. She was caught by her abusive father and was beaten. She cost an innocent black man his life. Because of the Maycomb's ignorance, she was forgotten. Ignorance in the society cost a man his life, and instead of trying to resolve the situation, the people of Maycomb push it away as fast as possible. Mayella was desperate and truly needed someone, and in the end was a victim of prejudice against the poor. To prove that there is a prejudice against the poor, there is another character in the novel, Mr. Dolphus Raymond. He is an extremely wealthy white man who married a black woman. Yet, the town isn't harsh towards him because, not only is he wealthy, but also because he is always seen drinking out a brown bag that contains alcohol. When Scout discovers that all he drinks if cola, she asks why he pretends, and he answers, "Ð'...folks can say Dolphus