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Examples Of Discrimination In To Kill A Mockingbird

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Discrimination is so unknowingly dangerous, it causes a plethora of people to die. In the literary works of To Kill a Mocking Bird, and 12 Angry Men, people were killed or almost killed because of their ethnic or social economic background. These situations happen all over the world, and these stories bring them to life. Maycomb, a quiet old town in the South, has one problem-discrimination towards those who are different. For this reason alone, Tom Robinson, a black slave, was sent to death for a crime he didn't commit. Jem stated, "once you have a drop of negro blood, you are all black," (Lee 56) when talking about a half black citizen. The mere association with black people makes yourself "black". The people of Maycomb avoid black people …show more content…
Juror 10 passionately exclaims, "You're not going to tell us you believe him (the defendant) knowing what he is. I lived among them my whole life, you can't believe a word they say"(Rose 31). The reader can assume that the validity of the boy's story is determined by his ethnic and social background. Juror 10 judges a whole group based on past personal experiences of his. You can infer that he does not accept "them" because instead of referring to himself as "them", he states that he merely "lived among them". Because of who this boy happens to be, he was on the brink of death. The reader is now questioning whether if the boy were of a more "trusted" social class, would the trial have been easier to decide. Juror 8 breaks the ice by claiming, "It's difficult to keep personal prejudice out of a thing like this."(Rose 85). The reader can assume that Juror 8 suffers from personal biases, but tries his best to leave them out. Juror 8 is explicitly showing that "person prejudices" greatly affect court cases, and would've have likely caused the defendant to be sent to death if his unpopular opinion wasn't

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