To Kill a Mocking Bird Reflection

Reflection Statement on area of study Prejudice

Prejudice; what a strong and powerful word that is. When prejudice first comes to mind I first think of, judgment, bias, stereotyping, unfairness and intolerance. It's much more than that it's an evil discriminator act of power. A preconceived opinion of someone de to physical characteristics that can't be helped or changed. There are many different forms of prejudice but the four main ones to me are as follows. Sexism (the unfair prejudice against someone because of their sex), ageism (the pre conceived idea that they are not worthy due to someone's age), socio economic prejudice (the discrimination against someone due to their wealth/class/job place in society etc) and last but not least racism (the prejudice targeted towards someone because of their racial background, whether that be white, negro, Asian etc). Personally prejudice to me is one of the most hurtful and intolerant actions towards someone I have ever seen. It's nasty and deceitful and is the epitome of no justice. What's that saying 'freedom and justice for all' in Australia? Well that doesn't seem to be the case, I mean our own native aboriginals feel like there in a concentration camp on their own land due to the prejudice they receive when placed in a white society.

One of the texts I studied was Harper Lees 'To Kill a Mockingbird' this novel shows the different forms of prejudice in all their greatness. To kill a mockingbird has really helped me understand prejudice a lot more. You see how no one in to kill a Mockingbird is completely good or evil. Every character is human, with human flaws and weaknesses. Harper lee even changes Atticus, the shining example of morality, symbolically weak by making him an old and widowed man. It is how these flawed characters influence and are influenced by the major themes that keystone their society. These are the many different themes; the problems of growing up in societies eyes. Where you are constantly judged and targeted. Justice and injustice, courage to stand up for what you as a person truly believe in, respect for the individual. Education in 'to kill a mocking bird' is extremely important theme, that's why at a young age Atticus had taught Jem and scout to read and had been taught right from wrong. To the end of the novel you see Jem and scout realizing this by Jem wondering whether family status could be based more on education rather than the family blood line. You can see why Atticus did this because education is the key to unlocking the ignorance that causes prejudice. For example attics deeply acknowledges the ignorance blinding peoples minds and hearts for example when in the court he says "the witnesses for the state...have presented themselves to you gentlemen...in the cynical confidence that their testimony would not be doubted, confident that you gentlemen would go along with them on the...evil assumption...that all Negroes lie, that all Negroes are basically immoral beings, that all Negro men are not to be trusted around our women, an assumption one associates with minds of their caliber" (Page 217). Prejudices: Racial prejudice to African Americans. Harper Lee's characters deal with racial prejudice head on. Harper lee uses a lot of mention to black men as "niggers" and "boys" to show extreme racism. Black people occupy the lowest level of Maycomb society as Macomb's white population of every class waste no time reinforcing their stiff class rules. The fact that Atticus realizes that he has no chance to win his case defending Tom because Tom is black offers the clearest indicator of the deep-rooted racism. There is also the prejudice tom Robinson felt when he was unfairly accused of raping a white female. Because of this accusation not just he as a person was affected but his whole family and the Negro community. His wife couldn't get a job because no one would hire her. I also realized the great disrespect and predisposition of the white people towards Negro's. Their church, their holy house of prayer was used as a gambling house during the week by the white society. This just shows the racial prejudice that was preconceived in Maycomb in the 1930's Alabama and the extreme way Harper Lee chose to convey it. Through this text I also learnt a lot about sexism and class prejudice. Throughout the novel scout was always discriminated against because she didn't 'dress like a girl' she act and dressed like a boy, scout found the comment 'you act like a girl' highly offensive. Since when did this rule come into place that you had to dress like the way everyone thinks girls should dress like, you can dress the way you want to dress and express your own individuality, I think that is one of the points scout was trying to achieve. The characters in the novel do not openly deal with sexism issues there are some characters who do not conform to southern ladies assumed ways there being 'miss Maudie and miss Stephanie. The socio economic prejudice that was very occurring throughout the novel. Particularly focusing on ones background for me Aunt Alexandra plays the greatest role in reinforcing these notions within the Finch family. Aunt Alexandra believes that because of the finches past history they are of high class than black people and white people alike, that the finch family members must hold themselves according to their status and heritage. Then we have atticus who is the complete opposite to aunt Alexandra and insist on the children to sympathize with others and 'walk in their skin' before they discriminate against others even the Ewells at first then after tom Robinsons trial atticus himself was calling them trash. Harper lee has expressed her ideas on prejudice through a variety of techniques for example she uses, first person narration which is scout recalling events through her child mind and in adult dialect, figurative language so we have a descriptive writing style to understand the themes and settings with greater knowledge. She uses similes, personification, black dialect, colloquial language and the structure of the 2 parts in the novel. Another major technique is the use of symbolism with the major symbol the mocking bird, and the way if you kill a mockingbird it is a sin, a sin to kill an innocent this symbol pops up everywhere within the novel, and relates to Tom Robinson, Boo Radley and sometimes the finch family name relates to the mocking bird as the finch is another bird and could be seen as the protector of innocents. Overall she uses a variety of language techniques to convey a lot of purposes, these being, to create atmosphere, reveal character, create symbolic structure, support and enhance key themes, show authenticity, provide information, provide

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