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  • Essay / How discrimination (prejudice and social injustice) affects relationships

    Discrimination happens everywhere. In TKAM, people can see the world of discrimination through many different aspects and characters. To begin with, gender discrimination affected Scout and Alexandra's relationship through the way Alexandra constantly harassed Scout for not being "lady" enough in her opinion. Secondly, racial discrimination affected the relationship between Tom Robinson and most of the residents of Maycomb by the way people harassed him because he was of another race, and finally, social class discrimination affected the relationship between the Cunninghams and society by how society treated the Cunninghams differently. since they belong to a social class lower than the others. Discrimination based on gender, race, and class greatly affected relationships throughout Maycomb. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay To begin with, gender discrimination affected Scout and Alexandra's relationship through the way Alexandra constantly harassed Scout because she didn't was not a “lady”. enough, in his view. Additionally, in Chapter 9, Scout explained how Aunt Alexandra thought about her clothing style. “Aunt Alexandra was fanatical about my dress. I couldn't hope to be a lady if I wore panties. (Lee 92) » Scout said that Alexandra was radical about Scout not wearing "feminine" clothes and that she couldn't be a "lady" if she wore her "unfeminine" panties (overalls) . This demonstrates gender discrimination by Alexandra harassing/insulting Scout due to her choice of clothing and the fact that she doesn't look like most girls. This affected Scout and Alexandra's relationship because Alexandra was trying to push Scout to become more of a typical "Southern Belle" through her unwanted criticism and opinions, which puts a damper on their relationship since Scout doesn't like Alexandra because of his narrow-mindedness. opinion of her. Another example would be gender discrimination affecting Scout and Alexandra's relationship when Aunt Alexandra revealed how she viewed Scout's character. In the text, Lee said: “Auntie said that I was born good, but my condition gradually got worse every year. (Lee 92-93) » From Aunt Alexandra's point of view, Scout was born "good", meaning she was unaffected by all the stereotypically masculine habits. to which she had adapted as she grew up. Some examples might include the way she played with boys rather than girls at school and at home, the way she usually wore clothes that young boys would wear, the way she sometimes swore (considered to be poorly brought up for a girl at that time), etc. This demonstrates gender discrimination on Alexandra's part being extremely rude towards Scout simply because she is a girl who prefers to do predominantly "male" activities. This affected Alexandra and Scout's relationship because Alexandra insulted Scout, which automatically stalls the relationship, especially since it hurt Scout's feelings (also stated in the text). Another example could be when Scout talked about the toys Aunt Alexandra suggested she play with based on her gender. "Aunt Alexandra's vision of my behavior involved playing with little stoves, tea sets, and wearing the Add-A-Pearl necklace she gave me when I was born; (Lee 92)" Scout said that since she is a girl, Aunt Alexandra hassuggested for playing with toys that are depicted as feminine, as women in this era had strict gender roles, such as they would be the ones to cook, prepare snacks, etc. This demonstrated gender discrimination on Alexandra's part encouraging Scout to "be a lady". " and understand the differences between what women should do and what men should do in their society. This affects their relationship through conflict. Scout would just follow her instincts, she is not afraid of Aunt Alexandra and does not care nor what she thinks of her, so she just wouldn't follow his strict gender role behavior. This could lead to conflict since Alexandra would want things to be her way and only her way. This would also reduce a stage of their relationship because of this Gender discrimination greatly affects the relationship between Alexandra and Scout because Alexandra discriminates against him because of his gender. by people who harass him because he is a different color Also, in chapter 15, a small mob tried to murder Tom Robinson. “ “You know what we want,” another man said. “Walk away from the door Mr. Finch. " (Lee 173) "The mob wanted to kill Tom, so they asked Atticus to step aside so they could carry out their deed. This demonstrated racial discrimination on the part of the men who wanted to kill him, as they believed that since he was black, he had obviously raped Mayella. This affected Tom's relationship with people by putting a damper on their relationship. The crowd wanted to assassinate Tom Robinson, which would have scared him. Another example would be when Judge Taylor refused to close the courtroom in Chapter 17 and said, "People generally see what they look for and hear what they listen to." (Lee 199).” This meant that the people in the courtroom (mostly the people of Maycomb) simply jumped to conclusions and assumed that one side of the story was correct (Bob Ewell's) without even considering the other side. of history (Tom Robinson). They didn't want to believe that Ewell and Mayella's testimony was false because they are white. This demonstrates racial discrimination in that the residents of Maycomb did not believe Tom Robinson's testimony simply because he was black and jumped to conclusions with Ewell's testimony. Even the jury chose not to believe Toms' realistic testimony simply because he was black. The people of Maycomb put their own racist prejudices ahead of what is correct and realistic. This affected their relationship as people betrayed Tom and disbelieved his testimony because he is of another race; hence, their relationship took a step down. Another example would be when Jem says after the trial ""In our courts, when it's a white man's word against a black man's word, the white man always wins. " (Lee 224) "Jem said that when a white man has a testimony, and a black man has a testimony, no matter how much more realistic and credible the black man's testimony is, the white man will win always. This demonstrates racial discrimination, because the white man only wins because he is white, and the colored man loses because he is colored. It was an accurate representation of Tom and Ewell's case. Tom lost because he was colored and Ewell won because he was white, all because of a societal decision. This affected Tom's relationship with the company, with the company jumping to conclusions and believing that the lying, racist, prejudiced man was right about his poorly organized testimony, simply because he.