To Kill a Mocking Bird Essay

“To Kill a Mockingbird” is an award-winning novel. In this novel, prejudice is demonstrated in many ways. According to Bannon’s Dictionary, prejudice is an unfavourable opinion or dislike formed without examining the facts fairly. Prejudice is a recurring theme in “To Kill a Mockingbird” and can be seen in a variety of ways. I will show prejudice can be seen in three different ways in “To Kill a Mockingbird”. It is shown in terms of age differences, with regards to Miss. Caroline Fisher thinking Scout is too young to practice literature at home, in race differences as the Whites did not trust the honest words of the coloured people and the tension between coloured and white people, and someone who is considered “different” from others, mentally, such as Arthur “Boo” Radley and Mr. Dolphus Raymond. I will explore the prejudice these characters/groups of people experienced.

Prejudice in terms of age difference is very common, despite what ethnicity; religion or other group one belongs to. In the novel “To Kill a Mockingbird”, Miss Caroline Fisher, Scout’s teacher, is a teacher with no previous experience. She also wants all her students to be at one level so she can teach the students the material the way she wants it to be taught. This often brings out the worst in her. As Scout tries to show how much she knows before she even started school, she was disappointed at her teacher’s reaction towards Scout’s jump-start in learning. Surprisingly, she scolded Scout and told her not to learn from her father any more. “ Now you tell your father not to teach you anymore. It’s best to begin reading with a fresh mind” (“To Kill a Mockingbird”, P.17) On the other hand, Scout was confused, as her reading ability did not have much to do with Atticus. She was able to read well because she was born with talent in her and she practiced a lot at home. Miss Caroline Fisher thought Scout was lying and using her imagination just because of her young age. “Let’s not let our...