Jessica :: English Literature

Jessica Jessica Our Greatest Evil TKAMB Prejudice is just one of the many forms of evil found in the novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Prejudice is found everywhere, in the workplace, on the street, at school, everywhere. The novel takes place in a small town called Maycomb. The town is full of citizens who love to gossip and people who discriminate against others. The discrimination is not only against those of colour, but those of lower lass as well. They are most commonly found during the trial of Tom Robinson. Harper Lee presents prejudice as an extensive problem, most commonly in the form of social class, race, and behavior prejudice. A type of prejudice found in the novel To Kill A Mocking Bird would be social class. For example, the Ewell family is considered ‘white trash’. Mr. Ewell is someone â€Å"who will never change his ways,† (31) and will always be considered this way because of several reasons. Mr. Bob Ewell is a part of this WPA organization, a type of welfare program. Because he is the very first person to be kicked out of this program because of his laziness, it shows how much of a lower class he really is, and he is constantly bothered because of this. His several uneducated children never went to a full year of school, and worked long and hard on the farm. Another example would be the Cunningham family. â€Å"The Cunningham family never took anything they can’t pay back†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (20) And when they couldn’t pay back in money, they paid their debt back in anyway possible, whether it is labor, or nuts. The younger Cunningham, Walter, came for lunch at the Finchs’, and Scout bugged him about his unnatural usage of syrup when both Atticus and Calpurnia stopped her. Calpurnia made the comment â€Å"There’s some folk who don’t eat like up†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (24) The lack of availability of syrup caused him to pour syrup on food such as potatoes and meat. The Cunningham family is well known throughout the though of Maycomb, though they aren’t highly though of. Along with the Ewells’ and the Cunningham’s, Aunt Alexandra can also be used to explain social class prejudice in To Kill A Mockingbird. She feels that not only is she above everyone, because â€Å"†¦everyone in Maycomb, it seemed, had a streak: a Drinking Streak, a Gambling Streak, a Mean Streak†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ,(129) but Alexandra also feels that that is a better mother influence than Calpurnia, simply because she is white. This is proved throughout the novel beginning at chapter 13. She continually imposes Scout with rules and etiquette for behaving like a proper lady, because when she grows up, she’s not