Prejudice in To Kill A Mockingbird

            In chapter 9 Jem and Scout receive air rifles for Christmas. In chapter 10 Atticus tells them that they can shoot at any blue jay they see, but not mockingbirds, killing a mockingbird is a sin.  Later, Miss Maudie says this is because mocking birds don’t harm anyone and provide beautiful music. I predict that throughout the book black people will constantly be ostracized by others, specifically the black man that Atticus is defending in court, Tom Robinson.  If we get to hear about his case, I think that it will come to a result that was made up because of others prejudices.  For example, I think that the evidence will not be enough to completely convict Tom of whatever crime he is being accused of, but the jury will still vote guilty because they are from the south and it isn’t too long after the civil war, so there must still be a lot of racism toward blacks in this book.  However, I don’t think that prejudices’ will be completely directed at blacks in this book. Another person that I think that will be affected by people’s prejudices is Boo Radley.  He hasn’t been seen for a while and there are many rumors going around about him.  I think that when and if he comes out he will be treated like a monster for some time, despite the possibility that he is probably very harmless.  If he does eventually become seen as a harmless man, I think that it will be a while because of what everyone thinks of him already.  All in all, I think that there will be a variety of people affected by prejudice throughout this book. Whether it be Tom Robinson, Boo Radley, or someone else, we may even meet another character that if affected by prejudice later on.

Boo Radley Character Devolpment

                Boo Radley has so far been portrayed as a creepy, animal-like man.  As the book progresses, I think that this portrayal will change.  I predict that when the children first meet Boo, he will seem like an animal, because he has always spent his time inside.  However, as they spend time with him, he will start to seem less and sell like the stereotypes that they have heard for their entire lives.  He could very well only go out at night, but I don’t think that he peeks inside homes and eats animals raw. I think that as the story progresses Boo will come out at times and have subtle influences on what is going on, up until the point where they actually get him to come out. All of the rumors are most likely just that, rumors. How crazy he actually is still remains to be seen. While he may not seem like a completely sane human being at first when they meet him, by the end of the book he might seem more sane than he does now.