To Kill A Mockingbird - Prejudice

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To Kill A Mockingbird In the book To Kill A Mockingbird, by Nelle Harper Lee, there is a lot of prejudice that happens. Everyone is prejudice in some way at some time in his or her life. Prejudice is sometimes defined as an "unfavorable opinion formed before the facts are known"� or "unreasonable bias, intolerance, or hatred"�. Prejudice is all around us whether we are aware of it or not. Everyone does it. For example, when we go to the store and we see someone with old ragged clothes and they look dirty with messed up hair, we assume that they are poor, but we don't know for sure.

Everyone is a little prejudice in some way. In the book To Kill A Mockingbird, the narrator says, " 'Francis looked at me carefully, concluded that I had been sufficiently subdued, and crooned softly "Niger lover "¦' "�.

Obviously, Francis is extremely prejudice. He probably believes what everyone tells him because he is not capable of making his own beliefs. Most likely he doesn't know what is going on or why he hates black people, he just follows what other people say and do. (84) Not everyone is prejudice for a real reason. Sometimes it is just that they don't know the real facts. In the book To Kill A Mockingbird, Jem invites Walter Cunningham over for dinner with the Finch's. While they we eating dinner, Walter pours syrup all over his plate. Scout disapproves and makes some remarks, then Calpurnia asks for her presence in the kitchen. Calpurnia explains that as long as it is her company, she will treat them nice. Then Scout says, " 'He ain't company, Cal, he is just a Cunningham-"˜ "�. Scout thinks that just because the Cunningham's don't have as much money as them, they aren't good enough for her. (24) Sometimes people aren't so severely prejudice. Most of the time it is just the little things that set people off. In the book To Kill A Mockingbird, the narrator says, " "˜She discovered that I was literate and looked at me with more than faint distaste. Miss Caroline told me to tell my father not to teach me anymore, it would interfere with my reading.' "�. Here Miss Caroline feels that Scout is very smart, probably smarter than her at her age and doesn't want Scout to be better than her. She also feels that it is her job to teach the students how to read. Just because of this, Miss Caroline isn't very nice to Scout for the rest of the year. (17) Prejudice comes in all different forms, whether it is just because a person is ignorant and doesn't know the right facts, or just because that person is full of hatred. Whatever the case, everyone is entitled to his or her own opinions. However, that still doesn't make it OK to be mean to other people. Prejudice has become less common since the nineteen-thirties, but it still exists today.