Many novels of the past hold powerful themes that could be influential. The memorable novels Alice In Wonderland by Lewis Carroll and Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte share some of the themes one would see in the novel To Kill A Mockingbird. The novel To Kill A Mockingbird shows the different prejudices in the 1930’s by apprising small stories that are leading up to the main plot and is about a six year old girl named Scout Finch who matured in many different ways throughout the story.
Scout grew up in the bigoted town of Maycomb, Alabama with very discriminatory and prejudiced people yet, she believed that all f the people in Maycomb were kind-hearted and could do no wrong, except the Ewell’s. She had not realized the discrimination in her hometown until her father, Atticus Finch, defended an African American man in court. The citizens’ reactions of her father wanting justice for the man named Tom Robinson showed her that not all people have as much sentimentality as her father.
Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird demonstrates the prevalent theme of prejudice. This is evident in the gender prejudice, the class prejudice, and the racial prejudice in Maycomb. First and foremost, To Kill A Mockingbird llustrates the theme of prejudice by incorporating a gender prejudice. A gender prejudice is a stereotype that can be used against both genders and is often known as sexism. The sexist stereotype is shown when Aunt Alexandra moves into the Finch household as a “feminine influence” for Scout.
Scout had grown up with her father and her brother, but without her mother. Atticus did not mind if Scout acted more like a lady or if she kept her boyish behavior and acted the way she had been acting her whole life. Scout was not interested in the activities one would ind any other six year old girl participating in. When Aunt Alexandra hosted a Missionary Society meeting Scout was called into the house and Scout said “When I appeared in the doorway, Aunty would look as if she regretted her request; I was usually mud-splashed or covered with sand” (132).
Aunt Alexandra looked at Scout in almost a disgusted way for behaving in this sort of manner. Scout did not care what other people thought of her and her actions. She had contradicted the stereotype given to young girls that they should wear dresses and act like a lady. Another example of the sexist stereotype was when Atticus made a comment about how women could not be a part of the jury. He stated, “I doubt if we’d ever get a complete case tried– the ladies’d be interrupting to ask questions” (221). Atticus was trying to say that all women interrupt and was assigning them a stereotype.
It is an unusual occurrence that Atticus Finch would make a comment as sexist as this. Atticus believed that all people are equal, however, Harper Lee included this comment to show the gender prejudice and that Atticus contributed to the sexism in Maycomb. Scout was shocked that her father express the biased statement. Another way To Kill A Mockingbird exemplifies the theme of prejudice is shown through the class prejudice. Walter Cunningham was a kind boy who was the same age as Scout but was underprivileged and not very wealthy.
Walter and Scout became friends so, Scout invited him to dinner a few times before Aunt Alexandra tells Scout not to invite him anymore. Aunt Alexandra exclaims “I’ll tell you why, because he is trash, that’s why you can’t play with him. I’ll not have you around him picking up his habits and learning Lord nows what. You’re enough of a problem to your father as it is” (225). Aunt Alexandra believed that if Scout was around Walter she would become what Walter is, which in Aunt Alexandra’s eyes, is trash.
She was showing the class prejudice even against children by degrading Walter just because his family was a part of the lower class. Also a part of the lower class, the Ewell’s were the most contemptuous family in Maycomb. They believed that since they were a part of the lower class that they could treat people with disrespect. An example of the disrespectfulness would be on Scout’s first day f first grade and Burris fulminated their teacher, Miss Caroline.
Burris shouted at his teacher “Report and be damned to ye! Ain’t no snot-nosed slut of a schoolteacher ever born c’n make me do nothin” (28)! Since Burris had grown up in a lower class family with people always looking down on them, he believed that he could treat the upper class with antipathy and discourtesy. The Ewell’s showed absolutely no sentimentality to any of the citizens of Maycomb, simply because they were below the rest of the town on the social pyramid. Ultimately, the racial prejudice throughout the novel shows the revalent theme of prejudice.
When Calpurnia takes Jem and Scout to her church, a churchgoer named Lula ridicules Calpurnia for bringing white children to an African American church. Lula scolded Calpurnia. “You ain’t got no business bringin’ white chillun here. they got their church, we got our’n. It is our church, ain’t it, Miss Cal” (119)? Lula displayed the racial prejudice by criticizing Calpurnia and the kids. She believed that the African American churches were not obtainable to the white citizens and that they should only attend their own church.
By elieving this, Lula feels that the blacks and the whites should be separated because of their race. Lastly, racial prejudice was shown when a man named Tom Robinson was convicted of a crime he did not commit exclusively because of his race. Mayella Ewell had accused Tom of raping her and beating her with very little evidence and an indefinite testimony. However, the intolerant jury convicted Tom of this crime because he was an African American.
Atticus defended Tom in the court case and stated “The witnesses for the state, have presented themselves to you gentlemen. the cynical confidence that their testimony would not be doubted, confident that you gentlemen would go along with them on the assumption… that all Negro men are not to be trusted… ” (204). Atticus came up with a plethora of approaches that would debunk the evidence against Tom, yet none of them were good enough for the jury because Tom was an African American. Although the evidence was not plausible and the jury took many hours presenting the verdict, Tom Robinson was found guilty for raping Mayella EwelI. Tom was sent to jail despite all of the indication that he was innocent.
Tom Robinson has been murdered when trying to escape jail. An editorial, written by B. B. Underwood, was published shortly after and Scout did not understand what Mr. Underwood meant at some parts of the article until she thought about it. Scout said “Atticus had used every tool available to free men to save Tom Robinson, but in the secret courts of men’s hearts Atticus had no case. Tom was a dead man the minute Mayella Ewell opened her mouth and screamed” (241). Scout began to realize the truth; no matter what Atticus presented to the jury, Tomwas going to be guilty because he was black.