Examine the nature of social and sexual prejudice in Hardy's "The Son's Vito" and Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird."

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Examine the nature of social and sexual prejudice in Hardy’s “The Son’s Vito” and Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird.”

        The book “To Kill a Mockingbird” is based on racial prejudice and the different views that different people have on it. “The Son’s Veto” is a short story in which a low-class maid marries the vicar of whom she is serving to.

Although the whole of Maycomb subscribes outwardly to traditional gender roles and class distinctions, Aunt Alexandra plays the greatest role in reinforcing these notions within the Finch family. Alexandra believes that because the Finch family comes from a long line of landowners who have been in the county for generations, they deserve greater respect than other people do, and they must behave according to their status. She refuses to associate with both black and white citizens alike because they do not fill the same social position. She annoys Scout with her snobbery and her insistence on lady;ike behaviour and she even annoys the patient Atticus by her barely concealed racial prejudice, as when she tries to persuade him that Cal should be dismissed as a bad influence on the children. Atticus on the other hand, urges his children to sympathise with others and to “walk in their skin” before they judge or criticise.

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        It is important to notice that later on in the novel we begin to sympathise more with Aunt Alexandra. She loves her brother and remains loyal to him in spite of her prejudice gainst his opinions. When he returns home from his defeat in the trial she greets him with the words: “I’m sorry, brother.” We notice that she does have some redeeming features, such as blaming herself for the attack on Jem and Scout, and the dignity and self-control she shows when she returns to the tea party after learning about Tom’s death. In this last instance Scout even ...

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