No matter where or who a person is, they always learn something, either about themselves or the environment around them. In Harper Lee's heartwarming novel To Kill A Mockingbird, main characters Jem and Scout grow and mature throughout the story as they learn more about themselves and the world around them. As the story progresses, they learn many life lessons, including those about prejudice, people and how they were categorized and judged, and last but not least, gender issues. A small town nestled in the state of Alabama, Maycomb has its faults. , like any other place in the world, but one of its main faults or (p. 88) "Maycomb's usual disease", as Atticus calls it in the book, is prejudice. Jem and Scout learn a lot about prejudice when a black man named Tom Robinson is accused of raping a white woman named Mayella Ewell and their father, Atticus, is called upon to be his lawyer. They realize the hatred that people have buried deep in their hearts when they see a black man accused of doing something solely because of his color. On page 241, Scout begins to understand this and thinks, "Atticus had used every tool available to free men in order to save Tom Robinson, but in the secret courts of men's hearts, Atticus had no case." Tom was a dead man the minute Mayella Ewell opened her mouth and screamed. As the case continues, until Tom Robinson's death, Jem and Scout learn more and more about prejudice and how people's hatred of others causes them to take the wrong actions. They also see how unfair it is that a white man can be treated better and have higher self-esteem than a black man simply because he was born white. This prejudice and the trial causes Jem and Scout to argue... middle of paper ...... but, being a girl, also feels the gender discrimination when Jem and Dill don't let her. something or play with them because she's a girl. So even though gender issues don't play a big role in this novel, they are very obvious and noticed and can still be seen all over the world today. As a result, this dramatic and deeply moving novel takes us into the world of Jem and Scout. , in a journey that teaches both the characters and the readers the lessons of life that we witness every day and learn from, growing and maturing, day by day. The main issues found in the book were: prejudice and hatred, judgment of others, and unequal treatment of men and women. These are problems that people face in some places, every day, even today, and together we must work to overcome these problems and come together, with every person equal to every other..