To what extent does Harper Lee's 'To kill a mockingbird' illustrate the prejudice of the deep south in the 1930's'.

believing that God only put white people on the planet and the negroes are not part of the white

people's beliefs and they must live separate from them.

The black community live on the edge of Maycomb. The white men feel very strongly about the

white people socialising with only white folks. The men of Maycomb look upon the black community as

a race not worth living and they must work hard and for very little if they are to survive in the

environment within Maycomb.

Atticus is not like all the other white men and takes a lot of insults for not believing the same as

them. Harper Lee uses Atticus to teach people in Maycomb that racial issues should not even exist. He

does not judge a person by their race or their living environment. Atticus is a lawyer is Maycomb and

accepts and form of payment the client can provide. The white people living in the deep south and

highly humid Maycomb county insult Atticus by casually calling him a 'nigger lover.' He defends his

clients whether they are white or black.

The Ewell family are very traditional in their views and they believe a white woman will always

be believed over a black man. It is an insult for a black man to call a white woman a liar or for him to pity

her. Tom Robinson loses all hope of wining over the white jury when he says he felt sorry for Mayela so

did jobs around her house.

Jem and Scout hear about the urban myths surrounding the Radley family. the start to become

prejudice by the way they play games, they see who is daring enough to touch the Radley door. Due to

people's views of Boo Radley when he was younger, people have never forgot about the way he

behaved. Boo use to socialise in large groups and the people of Maycomb always thought they were up

to no good. Unfortunately for Boo he became very intoxicated with alcohol and went hoy riding one

day. Since Boo's father told the court he would keep him at home and he would never cause any trouble

again people have centred their prejudice around him and what goes on in the Radley house. Great

prejudice surrounded the Raleys for many years. Boo made a mistake but the people of Maycomb have

made up stories about the Radleys. Such stories, like the pecan nuts that fall in front of the Radley

house are poisonous because they are 'Radley nuts'. The humid county of Maycomb is home to many

stories which are not true but have been made up from the mass of prejudice in people's minds.

The white community cannot understand why Atticus is trying to help a black man when

everyone knows to help a black man over a white woman is poorly thought of amongst the whites. The

white view is that Black's are workers and are servants for the white people. 'Don't say nigger scout,

that's common', Atticus tries to bring Scout away from the prejudice against the black people. He tries

to teach her that it is better to stay away from the prejudice at school, may it be racial or otherwise.

Aunt Alexandria comes to stay with Attticus and wants to get rid of the black influence in their

lives; Calpurnia. She is a traditional character and Harper Lee manages to capture prejudice through the

eyes of a white woman very well. She does not think highly of black people and wants scout to dress

more like a lady and wonders why Calpurnia has let her get away with looking untidy for so long.

Calpurnia takes Scout and Jem to the black church with her one time; this was not what Aunt Alexandria

wanted. White children belong with white adults was the view of Aunt Alexandria. Mr Dolphus

Raymond was not like every other white person, he wanted to mix with the black people. Dill, being

brought up through a traditional family did not see it wrong to be prejudice. In conversation with Jem

Dill says 'He doesn't look like trash', this is the expectation of traditional views at that time. If a white

person mixes with black people then they are looked upon as 'trash'.

Maycomb is a town on the edge of change, Atticus knew he was going to lose the court case

that time but he made a lot of people in the town question their traditional views.