Racial, Gender and Class Discrimination Issues - Coursework Example

? Prejudice: Racial, Gender and Discrimination Seen in To Kill a Mockingbird Full Introduction ‘Prejudice is the twin of illiberality’, are the words of G.D. Prentice which has been strongly and truthfully stated as it is because such attitude does portray the mind of a person who decided to close his thoughts from any enlightenment. The word could be as old as the first generation of human beings who lived on this earth, the very reason why Cain killed his brother Abel. The prejudice of the Palestinians and other races against the Jews is not a modern situation that was birthed yesterday but had been an existing adversity for the Israelites for thousands of generations. It is such a sad thing that we, human beings have such views and feeling towards our fellow human beings rather than having the less fortunate creations like the animals feeling hatred to human beings for having been blessed more than they have been. Looking at such angle, animals have all the logical reasons for hating men should they have such feelings. However, men hating their equals make no sense at all. This is a sad fact that the highest-thinking living being feels, which would be the saddest part of all because it is decreasing him to a mere animal. These are all evident in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird (Lee). Prejudices in To Kill a Mockingbird The story tells of a colored man who has been wrongly accused of rape by a white woman and her father. Being colored, Tom Robinson, the accused was despised and already convicted even before the proper process he needed to undergo. This brought his life to danger, with the white Americans wanting to kill him for the accusations made to him even before his trial. Opinions about his being a bad person were already made in the minds of his spectators which eventually had a negative effect to his lawyer, Mr. Finch. The latter was named a negro-lover, extending its effects to his children who were not yet old enough to understand the situation of their father’s client, feeling the resentment of their relatives as well as their neighbors. Racial discrimination has been portrayed in the story in the character of Tom Robinson and his family and the Finch’s helper, Calpurina who represented the prejudiced black people not only in the story but in real life. Gender discrimination on the other hand has been reflected in the speaker’s character, Scout who felt separation in activities enjoyed by his brother and their summer friend, Dill. This also has been strongly seen in the character of the abused Mayella Ewell, the accuser of Tom Robinson. During the trial, it has been revealed that the woman was being abused by his father who was a widower for a long time. Being a drunkard, he has left all his responsibilities to be attended by his first daughter abusing her from household chores to sexually possessing her. The hardships the family experienced placed them among the least privileged and were given the stigma of being in the low class so that the Ewell children were never expected to have decent meals nor finish a year’s education. The family also pictures the life of those who are discriminated because of their social status. Prejudice is such a serious matter that abounds almost everywhere so that it has become the interest of many studies internationally. Suggestions have been made on how to fight against such atrocity especially to those which extend its effect to the killing of other people, not to mention mass murdering a family or race. One of the most common suggestions is education which may help enlighten the minds of people regarding gender, race and status. However, in Social Psychology of Prejudice (Crandall & Schaller 1996), it has been mentioned that racism, a form of prejudice thrives even in the intellectual circle. What then is the real score of what we could do about this matter? Race Race is traced in A History: The Construction of Race and Racism (Rogers & Bowman 2008), to religion and science. It is said that the early Christian churches had the idea that Black and red people did not have souls, the idea centered on these race because of their association with the English people in the early years of civilization. This perspective started the discriminatory attitude of the whites to colored people which grew on to a wider scope through the years. Although the aforementioned assessment of the colored people’s spiritual condition have been proven to be false and that the Roman Catholic acknowledged that they are also like any other white person with souls, the damage has already been done, the idea having been instilled in the fertile minds of people who refused to get rid of it instead, passed on to the following generations. JC Prichard and W. Winwood Reade are among the people who used science to justify racist perceptions who gave their predictions of the extinction of the colored people saying ‘the strong will devour the weak’ in the years 1838 and 1864 respectively (Rogers & Bowman 2008). In their statements, both referred to the whites as the superior people and the colored people, specifically the blacks, the inferior or weak type. The idea of ‘survival of the fittest’ was birthed during this period and the ideas of science empowered their perceptions. There was a spread of the experimentation on choosing the best genes to create the perfect people and the ‘bad genes’ to be disregarded which will eventually lead to their death or extinction (Rogers & Bowman 2008). The good genes, of course were the white-skinned people while the ‘bad genes’ were their darker kin. Words were used to group the community where ‘savage’ was used to describe the Africans and other colored people with the exception of the Chinese who were called semi-civilized. Without question, the whites and Indo-Europeans were called the civilized (Crandall & Schaller 1996). Name calling is one of the ways discrimination is shown. Referring back to the story, we are reminded of Ewell stalking Mrs. Robinson and muttering words against her, making her afraid of his presence. So, what makes a person do these things? Schaefer (2004) listed five reasons which could be applicable to all kinds of prejudices. First, he says that prejudices reason out that men who have such feelings are just trying to make a better world for everyone by protecting them when the ‘dangerous’ species is prejudiced. Secondly, superiority thwarts a man in defending himself by questioning the other, which when analyzed expresses the fear of the ‘superior’ person to be questioned and his personality to be shaken. Third, prejudice justifies existing practices. For instance, when black people were sold as slaves, it was a natural thing during that period because they were considered to be equal to animals, having no souls. The fourth point of Schaefer is that, racism encourages support for existing orders especially from the so-called ‘superior’ race. Lastly, prejudice relieves the ‘superior’ group from the responsibility of helping the people or race they hate from the problems they encounter. Looking at such kinds of reasoning, one can see that it is not logical at all as prejudice is not logical as well. Class Max Weber is a known contributor to the word ‘class’ which he used to refer to people with a common level of wealth and income (Schaefer 2004). Social class has affected the perceptions of people as well as their attitudes to each other. For instance, the affluent usually look at the less privileged with lesser interest than they give to their fellow rich people. This affects them as well in choosing their friends as shown in the story, To Kill a Mockingbird where aunt Alexandra verbally expressed her dislike to the idea of Scout befriending a fellow student who was of a lower social class. Such attitude truly limits associations an individual can make. This is also evident in the family of the Ewells as mentioned earlier. The story pictures the woman to have no other acquaintances other than her family and Tom who has been helping her with the household chores. Having been prejudiced, decided to come to nothing, the woman can be pictured to have limited herself to knowing only the people she was able to deal with, one who is also prejudiced, the black man Robinson. This is in concentrating to only one character, though. When one observes more closely, the whole family has been affected with their social status. The Ewell father, being poor was probably raised in a poor family and did not see any opportunity of improving his life without education like what he has deprived his own children of. It was just like history repeating itself in his family. Being uneducated, the children were also doomed with the concept that there would be no one among them who would be able to complete a grade school because they have accepted that they only enter the school premises during the first day of classes. Poverty can limit the opportunities of people therefore, limits their acquaintances as well. Without going to school, the Ewell children were forced to stay and play together while other children went to school for the nurturing of their young minds. Should they had other company to join them, it most probably would have been from their own level, those who like themselves, were not able to stay in school. In effect, this affects almost all of the aspects of their lives. Having no education, they amount to being servants if not, nothing. No work means no money and no money means no food which means bad health and unhealthy thinking as well. this has been very evident in the portrayal of the other family member, one who was a classmate of Scout who scared their teacher because of her parasites living on her head. I guess no one who is decent enough would like to play or even make friends with such a person. Gender Gender is one among the most common prejudices like class. Probably this is also affected by the religious concept of the woman being the weaker sex and the male the superior sex because they were made to be. Gender discrimination according to Schaffer (2004) is more difficult in whatever aspect of life. Crime and prison may put a stigma on men but it gives worst to women, the disadvantages of the lack of education may be felt by men but those experienced by their female counterparts experience more serious ones. Throughout the world and throughout history, I tan can not be denied that such discrimination was never absent regardless of race. Men have always looked at themselves as the superior sex over women. The advantage taken against Mayella Ewell by his own father was discussed earlier which is just one among the many ways women are disadvantaged. The world has shown discrimination among women in employment especially right after the war wherein women saw the need to work for survival. Employment was given to women only when the men were needed to fight during the war but their jobs were taken back from them when the war was over and the men returned to reclaim their posts. The financial freedom felt by the women during the times they were employed brought enlightenment and desire to the women to help provide for them selves and refused to be treated as common housewives. However, the struggle proved to be tough as the fight lasted for years until little by little, women became a common site in the workplace. In addition to this, women were also given lower salaries compared to men although they performed the same tasks. Some women even proved themselves to be more productive than other men because women were found to be able to stand pressure longer than men, but this fact did not change the payment options. These discriminatory actions are not foreign to the modern women instead, they have quite evolved. Now, women may get the same salary given to their male counterparts with the recognition of their skills and abilities as well as their industry however, it is a sad thing that their sexuality are usually compromised, taken advantage of. Sometimes, women are employed not only because they are able but because more so, they are beautiful in form and looks. Conclusion Prejudice by definition is the illogical hatred one person or race feels against another person or race. This definition helps us to determine what is truly needed in the resolution of such a problem. It is then realized that education will not eradicate the problem but will surely help in the formation of good character in men. Since hatred involves virtues, it might as well be helpful to use religious help in educating and refining men’s attitudes, that is, educating and refining first the attitudes of secular and religious teachers for them to efficiently perform their duties. References Crandall, Christian S. and Schaller, Mark, eds. 1996. Social Psychology of Prejudice: Historical and Contemporary Issues. (e-book) Lewinian Press. Available through: (Accessed 2 March, 2011). Rogers, David and Bowman, Moira. 2008. A History: The Construction of Race and Racism. (e-book) Western States Center. Available through: (Accessed 2 March, 2011). Schaefer, R.T., 2004. Racial and Ethnic Groups. 9th ed. London: Pearson Education LTD. Read More