Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird is set in Maycomb county, Alabama during the 1930s. The main theme is in the form of prejudice; age, gender, race, and the classification of people according to their social class. Prejudice is very well explored in this novel, especially racism. During the 1930s blacks were highly discriminated and life was also hard in those days, due to high levels of poverty. Lee uses each character to expose each type of prejudice and how they correspond with the story line of the novel.

A less significant prejudice in the novel is age. Scout thinks that Atticus is too old and feeble to play around with her and Jem anymore. Jem thinks that he is too old and tired to play football. Scout compares his age to her friends' parents who are usually much younger. Jem and Scout also think that he is very boring and does not do what other fathers would do, "He did not do things our schoolmates' fathers did; he never went hunting, he did not play poker or fish or drink or smoke." Page 95. This age prejudice does not occur only between Jem, Scout, and Atticus but it also occurs between Jem and Scout. Jem wishes that sometimes Scout would g

There are other whites who are outcast from the white community, such as Dolphus Raymond and Arthur "Boo" Radley. Dolphus Raymond is rumoured to drink whiskey every morning when he goes around on horses, he is acting to be drunk as well, "How c'n you stand to get drunk 'fore eight in the morning?" page 164. As a matter of fact, he is only drinking Coca Cola from a bag and he does so to fool everyone else. Raymond mingles with the blacks, as they are his people because he does not fit into the white community. Another white outcast is "Boo" Radley, his nickname is given by the people who believe the he is a dangerous man. Radley is frightened by everyone who has heard rumours about him; he is rumoured to be very scary-looking with scars across his face. He has been imprisoned in his own house for many years. Scout realizes after he saved her life from Mr. Eddie Ewell, that he isn't as bad as the town people describe him.

Jem and Scout are some of the characters in the novel that are less prejudice toward racism. Even though Jem and Scout are prejudice toward Atticus because of their age differences, they are not prejudice toward Miss Maudie. Miss Maudie, one of Aunt Alexandra's friends who comes over for tea, is actually good company of Jem and Scout's. "....we could play on her lawn, eat her scuppernogs if we didn't jump on the arbor and explore her vast back lot...."

Jem is not only prejudiced towards Scout regarding age differences; he is also prejudiced towards Scout about her gender. Sometimes Jem wishes that Scout would act more like a girl so that she could play with her own friends or toys instead of following Jem around, "It's time you started bein' a girl and acting right!" page 121. As Jem is her older brother, he has influenced Scout very much in many ways and she acts so boyish that sometimes Aunt Alexandra criticizes Atticus for how he has brought up the children. Aunt Alexandra does not like the fact that Scout wears overalls, she believes that is not very lady-like. "...it would be best for you to have some feminine influence. It won't be many years, Jean L

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1409
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)