To Kill A Mockingbird - Notes

GCSE: English Literature

This is only a preview of the full essay

Preview:

...
There are many other examples besides this one. Maycomb County was almost cut in half. The black people lived in another part of town, they went to a different church and they even had to sit in a different section of the courthouse. The white people of Maycomb believed that the colored people were all poor and uneducated. At this time, it was shameful for a black man to be attracted to a white woman, and vice versa. This led to the issue between Mayella Ewell and Tom Robinson. Mayella lied and had an innocent man sent to jail simply because she did not want to face the shame of having seduced a black man.
The second form of prejudice is social prejudice. As I said in Aunt Alexandra's character sketch, she was a big enforcer of social prejudice. She believed that people like the Finches were higher than everyone else on the social pyramid. Poor people like the Cunninghams and the Ewells were thought bad of simply because they could not afford as much as everyone else. Aunt Alexandra overlooked the fact that the Cunninghams were good people, and she refused for Scout to play with Walter, because he was "trash".
Another example of social prejudice is how the people of Maycomb reacted when they found out that Atticus would be defending Tom Robinson. They said things such as "your father is no better that the n****rs and trash that he works for". The whole town seemed frightened that Atticus was being civil to a black man.
...

*Very simple registration required first