The novel To Kill a Mockingbird written by Harper Lee demonstrates the idea of prejudice. Throughout the novel prejudice is portrayed in various aspects that affect not only the individuals of the Macomb community but the groups as well. Prejudice connects with the ideas of superstition as well as injustice. You could say that prejudice is ‘Macomb’s disease’ and the people are blinded by the racial prejudice in the society: therefore lading to the death of Tom Robinson, for he was found guilty without justice.

The book illustrates different aspects of prejudice. One aspect would be the hatred towards the blacks as well as the underground violence that could surface at any given time. An example of this would be the lynch mob. The lynch mob was full of men that decided to take the law into their own hands and they would all take care of the ‘problem’.They all came together before the Tom Robinson trial and tried to kill him before the trial began. This shows hoe the people that were involved in the lynch mob are people that fall under the pressures of the society. The influence of society set in the time of the novel was based mainly on racism.

Another aspect of prejudice within the novel is superstition. One person in the novel the exemplifies the e dead would be Boo Radly (Arthur Radly). Boo brought wonder, fear, and eventually relief to Scout and the children. At first the children viewed Boo as scary, a phantom. He rumour that Ms. Stephanie states that one day Boo was cutting out newspaper articles for his scrapbook when he “drove the scissors into his parents leg” (page 111). Though it was just a rumour it still made the children terrified of the Radley’s, specifically Boo. He was often described as a monster that was “six-and-a-half feet tall” with “bloodstained” hands, and he ate “raw squirrels and any catch could catch” (page12). In the novel the children try to get Boo to come out of the house to overcome their irrational fear of him. At the ending of the book Boo proves he is a good man by saving thelives of Jem and Scout. At this point Scout learns the prejudging someone is wrong and she should never judge a book by its cover.

Injustice is represented in the novel through the characters. The one that faces the most is Tom Robinson. Tom was a victim of racial injustice, a raw, upfront injustice. “I seen that black nigger yonder ruttin on my Mayella” (page 173). Tom has been charged for rape: a crime which he did not commit. Tom Robinson’s side of the story was not believed because he was a Negro and he had been sentenced to an all white Jury which made the trail very biased. Tom did not retaliate or get ad during the trial when he was wrongly accused which shows a great deal of respect he has for people and shows a big aspect of who he is as a person.

Prejudice showed its face many tines in To Kill a Mockingbird, and in some but very few instances of prejudice being overcome. From the prejudice of Boo to the injustice of Tom Robinson, this novel portrays the example of how one person can look out a window and have a completely different view then the person standing directly next to them. Its books like these that make you wonder how messed up our world was that caused people to write a book about it. If we can wipe or widows clean, the people that know what’s right won’t have to hold all of the guilt of the people that do wrong.