‘How was the town of Maycomb used to reinforce how prejudices are formed in the novel To Kill A Mockingbird?’

“I think there’s just one kind of folks. Folks”. Are children born with pre formed prejudices? Are they born racist or sexist or believing that they are superior because of their class? I personally don’t believe so. Prejudices are formed by reinforced stereotypes, generalisations, education or often lack of and most of all by our upbringing. The town of Maycomb is sparse with people who have not formed prejudices. For most of the townspeople having these prejudices are second nature as by living in a Southern state in 1930’s America it was the normal way of thinking, so it was passed down through the generations. Through Lee’s uncensored writing we as readers are able to be transported back into the town of Maycomb to observe and reflect on how prejudices were formed.

The school is an important setting in the novel as it gives us a window into the future of Maycomb. The clear class separation that exists in the town is especially noticeable in the classroom. There are the likes of the Ewells who’s father don’t care enough about his children’s education that he lets them not go to school, “whole schools full of em’, they come first day every year and then leave”. Children like Scout who are far ahead of her class and children like Walter Cunningham who are too poor to bring lunch to school. These children are only seven or eight years old but they are already aware of the class separation that exists between them. The school setting is used by Lee because it is one of the only places where people from all different classes are put together to interact. When Ms Caroline tries to give Walter money to buy lunch and he shyly refuses, Scout explains simply by saying, “Miss Caroline he’s a Cunningham”. To Miss Caroline this may not mean anything but what Scout is actually saying is that Walters family is in a low class, that he is extremely poor and can’t pay her back. Walter’s whole identity is based around being part of a poor family. He will always be known by the town as the boy from the poor family, nothing more and nothing less. Society holds preconceived negative ideas of people based solely on their class. They may believe that someone of a lower class is poor because they don’t work hard but in reality the odds are stacked against people of a lower class to ever succeed.

School is an influential place for most children because what they are exposed to and learn about will shape their views in later life. However in Scout’s classroom the prejudices in the town are not once acknowledged by their teacher. Ms Caroline even neglects the the clear fact that they have formed prejudices while talking about Hitler, “Over here we don’t believe in persecuting anybody. Persecution comes from people who are prejudiced”. The majority of children sitting in Scout’s classroom will grow up not even realising the brutal prejudices that they have formed because their attention had never been brought to the matter and their preconceived ideas had never been challenged. Lee uses the school setting to highlight the point that if people are not made aware of the injustices that are present when they are young and still susceptible to changing how they think, that by the time they have grown up with societies harsh views being constantly forced upon them it may be too late for change.

“Jem told me that I was being a girl, that girls always imagined things, that’s why other people hated them”. At first glance the Finch household may seem like a place free of prejudices. Atticus teaches the children to treat every person equally and to not judge people as you don’t know their situation. However when Aunt Alexandra comes to live with the Finches the whole dynamic of the house changes. She pushes her views of what a ‘proper lady’ should act like, dress like, and do onto Scout. “Aunt Alexandra was fanatical on the subject of my attire. I could not possibly be a lady if I wore breeches, when I said that I could do nothing in a dress , she said that I wasn’t supposed to be doing things that required pants”. It’s interesting because even though Aunt Alexandra is a women herself she still holds the viewpoint that a women’s place in society is to “be a ray of sunshine” and to host tea parties where you gossip with the other ‘proper ladies’ of the neighbourhood. Aunt Alexandra’s presence in the Finch household was used by Lee to reflect how a white middle class women in 1930’s America was ‘supposed’ to behave. In Scouts mind being a girl is something negative due to the negative connotation that Jem has placed on it, “I declare to the Lord you’re gettin’ more like a girl every day!” and from the constant pressure that her Aunt puts on her to act like a ‘proper’ women. In a way Scout has formed a self prejudice. Lee has used the Finch household to show how prejudice can poison even the most innocent of places. For a girl to be so young and already have these messages of ‘you must act this was to be accepted’ is extremely damaging, it’s saying that you must act, dress, behave, even exist in a certain way to please others not to please yourself. More than ever in society today is an emphasis put on the way in which a women should be like. Often we form judgments and opinions about someone just based on their appearance. If Scout did not have the presence of her father in her life, it’s likely that she would get worn down by her Aunt and the judgment from the town (that would most definitely appear in the next few years if she continued to dress and behave as she is doing now) that she would end up conforming.

The courtroom that held Tom Robinsons trial was another key setting in the novel as it showed the blatant prejudice that existed in the town. Before the court case even began, the majority of people sitting in that courtroom saw Tom Robinson as a guilty man. For no other reason than the colour of his skin. “Tom was a dead man the minute Mayella Ewell opened her mouth and screamed”. It is more than obvious from Atticus’s statements than Tom Robinson is innocent but the the townspeople and jury are too consumed by their prejudice to give him the benefit of the doubt. The people in the courtroom who were against Tom did not know the content of his character, however him being black was enough for them to despise him. Prejudice lurks in every every corner of Maycomb but “the one place where a man ought to get a square deal is in the courtroom, he be any colour of the rainbow, but people have a way of carrying their resentments right into the jury box”. Even in a place of law, where a mans life was on the line, the jury could not see past their preconceived ideas of Tom Robinson to give him a fair trial. Lee used the courtroom setting to show prejudice in its purest form, after reading the courtroom scene we really see that in that time period (1930’s) the prejudice against black people was so much more than flippant remarks and unfair treatment but true hatred. Hatred that had been passed down through the generations as a way of life. We still see blatant prejudice happening today in many different forms. It is no coincidence that the rates in which black motorists are pulled over are enormously higher than white motorists. When a cop sees a black person driving they think ‘danger’ and all the other unfavourable stereotypes that surround the black community. At the end of the day, no matter how strongly Atticus defended Tom he would have never won because, “when it’s a white mans word over a black man’s, the white man always wins”. Atticus’s defence in court stood no chance against the lifetime of built up prejudice formed by the jury.

In Maycomb prejudice exists in many different forms and in various different ‘degrees’, but there is one thing in common with every subset of prejudice. The preconceived opinions (that were based on no actual experience or reason) of the townspeople were all learnt. Wether it had been learnt subconsciously at school, at home or from watching people treat other people unfairly and it being deemed as acceptable. People are not born prejudiced against one another so it must be something that is learnt in attempt to fit in with society. Lee uses the town of Macomb to reinforce how prejudices are formed because even the sleepiest of little towns are not as innocent as they may seem at first glance. The prejudice that exists in Maycomb is a reflection of the prejudice that existed and still continues to exist in America as a whole.