Talk:To Kill a Mockingbird

I believe Harper Lee originally wrote and intended to publish To Kill a Mockingbird as two separate volumes. Her agent or publisher persuaded her to combine the volumes into one.

Atticus

VfD

• an essay. M123 06:28, 25 Aug 2003 (UTC)
  • This page has been listed on Wikipedia:Votes for deletion. Please see that page for justifications and discussion. Is "an essay" a justification? I'll transfer the text to the To Kill a Mockingbird page, where someone will hopefully work on it. Then you can go ahead and kill Prejudices in mockingbird. --KF 11:05, 25 Aug 2003 (UTC)
  • see Wikipedia:What Wikipedia is not, with particular attention to point 9. —Paul A 11:59, 25 Aug 2003 (UTC)
  • see To Kill a Mockingbird and take the trouble to read the essay. Then tell me why I should pay particular attention to point 9. -KF 12:06, 25 Aug 2003 (UTC)
  • #9: Wikipedia entries are not personal essays. Prejudices in mockingbird is a personal essay. Bits of it are even in first person: "I am going to be discussing this theme...", "Based on this essay and the research I have done, I can say..." I wouldn't have thought it was that difficult to grasp. —Paul A 12:31, 25 Aug 2003 (UTC)
  • Ah, you seem to be on the right track. See, if you take out the bits you are referring to, it all of a sudden stops being a "personal" essay. Well then, taking out those half-sentences and creating some links is usually called wikifying, and that's exactly what I hope someone will be doing. But, as I stated above, I agree that this text should not have its own page. --KF 12:42, 25 Aug 2003 (UTC)
  • Yes, remove this--it's someone's class paper, not an encyclopedia article.Vicki Rosenzweig 14:11, 27 Aug 2003 (UTC)
  • Seconded. The topic would be ok, but the article is not. --Zippy 04:40, 28 Aug 2003 (UTC)
  • In the meantime, someone has worked on the text a bit. I'll transfer it to Talk:To Kill a Mockingbird so this here can be deleted. --KF 18:53, 28 Aug 2003 (UTC)
  • Some of the ideas in the text could be saved, but it reads like a school essay. It's not encyclopedia material -- Tarquin 12:34, 1 Sep 2003 (UTC)

Note: The "essay" below was posted by G Prime in August 2003 on a separate page inadequately entitled Prejudices in mockingbird. To save it from deletion, I moved it to the end of the To Kill a Mockingbird article, hoping that someone would find pleasure in editing it. However, in a ridiculous move, it was deleted by an anonymous contributor (User:12.240.227.239). I'm posting it again, this time on the talk page and in a slightly edited version. --KF 19:10, 28 Aug 2003 (UTC)

Prejudices in mockingbird

One of the most prominent themes in To Kill a Mockingbird is prejudice. There is a great deal of prejudice towards Tom. There are also other prejudices against other characters but it is most prominent against Tom due to the hatred of Negroes.

The dictionary (http://dictionary.com) defines prejudice as "Irrational suspicion or hatred of a particular group, race, or religion". It can be said that in To Kill a Mockingbird that prejudice is based upon the hatred of a low and subordinate group. White people felt that Negroes were the worst things that could happen to earth. Prejudice is the manifestation of the negative thoughts of a group or race. A specific example of this is on page 73 when Jem and Scout are making a snowman. Scout says to Jem, “Whoever heard of a nigger snowman,” If this manifestation gets to out of control then it could result in a holocaust. This manifestation could be the cause of The Holocaust. Some people but not everyone believed that they needed to segregate Negroes until they would simply disappear. White people thought that if they could eradicate Negroes they could create a perfect world. This could be reflected on the KKK. The KKK believes that for the earth to be purified they need to.

The dictionary (http://dictionary.com) also defines racism as the belief that race accounts for differences in human character or ability athnd at a particular race is superior to others. Based on this I can say that white people thought that Negroes were animals. Racism can be thought of as something similar to prejudice but racism is the hatred of a particular race. Similar to racism is xenophobia. Xenophobia is the fear of anyone who is not from the same country as you are.

To Kill a Mockingbird is a story full of racial prejudices. Some of these prejudices could be when Tom was on trial they did not take his word and all the other opposing evidence; the jury simply believed Mayella. They did not believe Tom, not because Mayella had all the opposing evidence that could have convicted Tom, but because it was it went against the mores of Southern Americans to believe a black man over a white woman or anyone who was white during that last century and prior.

To Kill a Mockingbird is a story with prejudices towards Tom Robinson. Another example of these prejudices is that when Tom is at the jailhouse the ‘Mob’ demands that Atticus let Tom out so that the ‘Mob’ could do as they would to him. In a perfect society as the white people wanted, Tom, along with every single other Negro, would have been lynched. Personally, I think that those white people who were being prejudiced towards Negroes were a reflection of themselves. They simply could not understand that all races are equal. That there is no perfect race, they didn’t understand that nothing is perfect despite the fact that the white people of the 20th century (and previous) thought that white people are the perfect race. White people believed that white supremacy is the only way to get a race to be perfect.

To Kill a Mockingbird is based upon the fact that white people did not like Negroes. White people thought Negroes to be of an extremely lower class. Negroes in a way also had there own class system. However, the Negro class as a whole was as far down on the white person’s class system as anyone could possibly be.

The social and historical contexts of To Kill a Mockingbird is during the 1930s in the United States of America. Being set in the 1930s you could expect to have seen some prejudice. White Americans of the 1930s did not like anyone who was not white. This could be a reflection on the white peoples inhibitions and fears of Negroes. White people must have felt that Negroes should not have been involved in anything that white people were involved in.

To Kill a Mockingbird’s prejudice is based upon the basis of white supremacy. White supremacy in To Kill a Mockingbird is very prominent. Everyone thought that Negroes were trash and that the best that they could have done is to have gone and lived in a rubbish tip. Mr. Ewell was the one exception to the white supremacy theory. Apart from being white he had, at the time, been considered a lower class white man, but even this was not as low as a Negro had been considered. He lived at the tip, had many children, was a single parent and lastly he could afford nothing.

Prejudice against age is probably the most uncommon form of prejudice but it is still there. People of the 1930s considered the perfect age to be twenty-one – twenty-nine. Anyone who was older or younger than this would have been considered to be non pure. If you were considered non pure, in the view of people of the 1930s, you were a Negro, but we all know that this is wrong. Age prejudice is not as common as gender prejudice but it is still common.

The second most common form of prejudice would have to be a person’s gender. Men were always considered superior to women. Moreover, to some extent they still are. Men thought that women could not do anything except for domestic duties, such as cooking, cleaning and looking after children. Today’s society still generally views women as week feeble creatures because there are still numerous jobs that women can't do. For example, in the army there are numerous jobs that they will not let women do. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout is not thought of as a lady. Alexandra tries to make her into a lady. This can be seen on page 142 when Alexandra was talking to Atticus about the way that Scout talks. Jem says, “Aunty better watch how she (Scout) talks, scratch most folks in Maycomb and their kin to us.” Gender prejudice will probably be around for a long time.

White people always saw someone with a disability to be of lesser humanity or importance. Anyone who had a disability would be considered non-human, almost like they were a mutant. Just because of something, that was probably not their fault. In today’s modern western society prejudice against disabled people is still present. You can see this when you walk past an ACTIV shop and people are teasing the workers. ACTIV is a place where disabled people can go to work, when employers will not employ them.

Based on this essay and the research I have done, I can say what is considered the lowest class possible. As before on the basis of my essay and my research I can say that if you were an elderly Negro woman who had a very poor background, with a disability of some sort or another, you would be considered the lowest form or life, but no one should be thinking this.

Despite the fact that prejudice means that you do not like another group or race, there is in fact some sort of relationship there. If there were no relationship whatsoever then the two groups would not know that the other one even existed. In To Kill a Mockingbird Jem and Scout, begin not liking the Radley’s because Jem and Scout think that there is a freak living inside. During the novel Jem and Scout, begin to like Boo as they begin taking his gifts out of the tree.

Until the Civil War, Negroes had almost no rights. They could be treated however anyone wanted to treat them. When the civil war ended, segregation laws were implemented. This meant that Negroes had to be treated with respect and they had to be treated as if they were white, but this in itself is a prejudiced remark. There was no more having to get up off a seat on the bus to let a white person sit down (Rosa Parks). Negroes were beginning to get the rights they deserve. It was still a long and arduous road but it was a step in the right direction.

The prejudices in To Kill a Mockingbird and prejudice in any form, be it in a book, or even in real life, can be described as totally inhumane and pusillanimous. People have changed since the time that prejudice of Negroes was a common practice. We have discovered that everyone is equal. Just because your skin is black, olive, or purple, everyone is equal. The content of To Kill a Mockingbird can be described as one huge prejudice. There was prejudice against Tom and there was even some prejudice against the three main characters, Atticus, Jem and Scout. It shows that no matter who you are there will always be some prejudice against one or more people, or even you!

Scout, not a major character?

Scout isn't included in the major character analysis, she is the protagonist and many of the themes in the book Scout is included in; Prejudice, Coming of Age, Courage etc. Personally i think she should be included? Anyone against the idea? Blaaarg

Incorrect information

The first line of the summary of the book states that Atticus Finch is a freed slave; nothing could be further from the truth. Atticus Finch is a prominent white lawyer. Someone should correct this immediately as it undermines the entire premise of the novel.

- Agreed. She should definitely be included in the major characters section.- Orion