The black and white segregation in Maycomb is another example of the racial prejudice at the time, with the blacks having to live on the outskirts of the town. The class structure is emphasized in chapter 23 by Jem when he says to Scout, “there are four kinds o folk in the world”, they The White Middle Class (the Finches), The farming community (The Cunninghams), the lowest class of Whites (The Ewells), and the Blacks who are automatically seen at the bottom. The blacks live in their own part of town and have their own church to worship at. When Scout and Jem go to worship there Aunt Alexander frowns it upon. This implies that Aunt Alexandra is prejudiced too. The segregation is shown here when scout and Jem arrive at the church as the crowds´ part to let them through first. The blacks are also segregated in the courtroom as they sit in the balcony further away from the court scene. It portrays to the reader how the prejudice is clearly shown in society. This is how it would have been in southern America in the 1930´s.
Other lady folk in Maycomb also show prejudice towards individuals. Mayella for example the woman who Tom Robinson has supposedly raped only carries on with the court case because Tom is black and knows that he will go down for it although he has sufficient evidence that it is innocent because of his crippled left hand. These are false allegations and her actions are completely prejudiced and unfair. When Tom said in the trial that he felt sorry for Mayella (a crime worse than rape in the jury’s eyes) – the lowest class showing superiority for a class above themselves. The white community was frightened for their own position in society; the only reason Tom was found guilty was to maintain the traditional hierarchies.
Mrs. Merriweather also shows prejudice. She insults Atticus as a misguided person. When she says ‘I tell you there are some good but misguided people in this town. She later goes on to say, “Folks in this town who think they are doing right, I mean. Now to far be it for me to say who” This shows Mrs. Merriweather’s character and how two faced she is. When Mrs. Merriweather insults Atticus in front of Scout, it shows how self-content she is.
Prejudice is very much directed towards individuals in the novel who do not fit into the expected behavioral patterns of society and about whom little is known. Boo Radley could see the segregation of the people of Maycomb and the prejudice. He therefore shut himself away trying to escape it. I know this because of when Jem says “I think I know why Boo Radley’s stayed shut up in the house all this time…its because he wants to stay inside.” Children became frightened of Boo Radley, an outsider to society whom they have never seen. Dolphus Raymond is also seen in the same sort of light. He didn’t hate blacks but as his views didn’t agree with those of the rest of the community he didn’t have the courage to stick up for them and therefore pretended to be drunk as to fit in more with the community.
When the children mature and realize that Boo is a real person, capable of suffering like everyone else, the prejudice dies. Other people who are targeted are:
- Miss Maudie by the foot-washers for her love of nature.
- Atticus by the community for defending a Black man.
- Tom Robinson himself.
Harper Lee’s main answer to the problem of racial prejudice is that humans need a scapegoat, something to blame their actions on. The black communities are here the scapegoats, the so-called “lower race” and are weak to every accusation thrown at them. Tom Robinson is being accused of rape because when Mayella regretted kissing Tom, she needed to blame some one for her actions. She was not the brave enough to face up to the consequences of her actions. Atticus’s speech in the courtroom sums up this thought. “She did something every child has done, she tried to put the evidence of her offence away from her”. He says this implying that Mayella wouldn’t except what she did and turned her guilt around on to Tom. Making out that it was Tom’s fault not hers.
Another reason for prejudice is fear and wanting to fit in. it much easier to be a follower than to stand up for something you don’t believe in. It is easy to follow the crowd like with the lynch mob to stand up for what you believe in takes more courage.
Throughout this novel the Blacks have been stereotyped. The black people were viewed as either evil or stupid but lovable childlike people. Tom & Calpurnia (the servant in Atticus’s household) are seen as normal humans, the same as the Whites and are often more law-abiding and hardworking than some Whites. However, the separation between the two types of people is clear and would be clear in the 1930´s.
The book tries to deal with how to combat prejudice: Atticus’ Maxim: if you attempt to stand in another’s shoes (skin) you will be able to see their point of view and thus there will be an understanding and tolerance thus no prejudice. Atticus does this with Mrs. Dubose and Mr. Ewell and as the children mature, they learn to do this with various characters, such as Dolphus Raymond and Boo Radley. The book in helping us to understand prejudice and Scout and Jem start with not recognizing prejudice at the start of the book and then seem to learn about the prejudice in the community that they live in and the kind of people these are. This is almost the same as us, as the novel progresses as well as Scout and Jem’s knowledge and understanding of the prejudice so does ours.
Overall this book is very good at making us more aware of the prejudice and discrimination that was around in the southern states of America after the Civil War and is also a great read helping us to understand what the black people of this time really went through or at least gives a better understanding. The novel has so many different opinions and that is important so that you can understand other peoples points of view and to the extent of prejudice.
