Intro: Prejudice is formed for two reasons. The first being, people feel the need to dominate, to make other human beings inferior in order to feel superior. The other reason is the fact that we fear what we don’t understand.

Paragraph one (Racism): Maycomb, a small country town in the southern states of America, was a prime candidate for extreme racism in the 1930s. Constitutionally blacks may have been freed from their shackles in 1865, when slavery was abolished nationally by the third amendment, they were never free from their fellow citizen’s prejudice. African Americans continued to be inadvertently enslaved by society in different ways such as the Jim Crow Laws, that enforce racial segregation throughout the southern states of America. Maycomb was an example of a small red necked town in which racial prejudice was alive and well. True justice can never prevail where deep-rooted racism dominates, as in a town like Maycomb. “The one place where the man ought to get a square deal is in a courtroom, be he any colour of the rainbow, but people have a way of carrying their resentments right into the jury box.”- Atticus. Tom Robinson, a strong young African American, was accused of raping a white woman, Mayella Ewell. When Tom is put to trial all evidence shows that he is not guilty but despite this, he is convicted. I do not believe that it was just the institutionalised racism that lead to Tom Robinson’s conviction but the deep-rooted discrimination against people of colour that lead to his demise. Maycomb was situated in the deep south. This was an area where resistance to the acquisition of civil rights lead to the establishment of other forms of suppression. African Americans were disenfranchised through legislation imposing literacy tests, poll taxes, Jim Crow Laws and the condolence of white supremacy such as the Klu Klux Klan. these methods of discrimination supported an underlying culture of normalising racism. An example of this is when Atticus had to place himself between Tom Robinson and a mob who considered it ‘their right’ to lynch a negro. Whether he be guilty or not. In a town like Maycomb where racism is so prominent when people act out against the prevailing culture, this threatens the status quo. When Atticus chooses to represent Tom, in court, he condemns himself and his family to the wrath of the white privileged Maycomb society “Atticus are you are niggerlover? (Scout) “I certainly am. I do my best to love everybody… it’s never an insult to be called what somebody thinks is  a bad name. It just shows how poor that person is, it doesn’t hurt you”- Atticus. Scouts question stemmed from her having to defend Atticus at school when her classmate Cecil Jacobs called Atticus a ‘nigger lover’. The normalisation of racism in Maycomb means others are unable to recognise their own bigotry. An example of this is seen within the classroom when Miss Gates, Scouts teacher, is explaining the discrimination against Jews by the Nazis, in Germany. And the differences in the systems of government between Germany and America. “Democracy, does anyone have a definition?… what do you think Jean Louise?” (Miss Gates) “Equal rights for all, special privileges for none” (Scout Finch) “Very good Jean Louise, very good… we are a democracy and Germany is a dictatorship…. Over here we do not believe in persecuting anybody. Persecution comes from people who are prejudice.” (Miss Gates). This is hypocritical considering what was going on in their own town. This blinkered racism is poisonous. Refusing to look around and accept the reality of your white supremacy and the effect it has on others only encourages a culture of normalising prejudice. The problem, racism, cannot change is people are unwilling to believe that they are in the wrong. I believe this holds true still to this day. Today, in America African Americans and in New Zealand Maori and Pacific Islanders are statistically over-represented in areas of deprivation. These include incarceration, welfare dependent, low socioeconomic, more likely to leave school without qualifications and health-related illnesses. In America African American are victums if pocile brutality and shootngs. This begs the question as to wether racism has diminised in the last centery. We have have moved on in years but we have not moved on in our attictudes.

Paragraph two (Sexism): Despite white American women gaining the vote in the 1920s, sexism was alive and well in the township of Maycomb in the 1930s. Most women in the south were raised to accept the role of wives and caregivers. It was important for them to accept that men were superior. The main goal in life, for women, was to get married young and be a devoted wife and mother. Women growing up in the south were socialised to accept the discrimination based on their gender. The mark of a good woman was a loyal abiding pet who never voiced her own opinion and was always at the becking call of her husband. A woman’s job was to keep the husband happy, cook, clean and care for the kids. An educated woman was something that was feared and frowned upon. Men feared the power of a woman so much so, that they had to suppress them into being second class citizens so they could remain superior. In the 1930s women had not un-simular rights to an African American. Suppression of women continued through lack of equal opportunity to education and financial deficit. As a consequence women were unable to get high paying jobs and therefore were unable to financially support themselves. Therefore women in the 1930s’ were reliant on men. The Great Depression was instrumental in keeping women ‘in their place’. Jobs were scarce and women wanting work needed to accept much lower wages. In addition, women were often accused of stealing jobs from men. All of this force women back into their domestic realms and beholden to the men in their lives. Societal attitudes and expectations of women restricted them to the subservient roles they played. Male attitude towards women being of lesser value and lesser worth could be summed up in Jems comment “Scout,  I’m telling you for the last time, shut your trap and go home- I declare you’re getting more like a girl every day” – Jem Finch. Even as a young man Jems views of women had already been shaped by the dominant male culture in his society. Scouts attempt to defy her sexuality where constantly rebutted by those around her. From an early age Scout got the message, through daily life, that girl ‘things’ are bad and boy ‘things’ are good. Scout, therefore, made every attempt to not act like a girl and be a tom-boy as long as she could. But from every quarter in Scouts life, this was discouraged “Aunt Alexandra told me…I could not possibly hope to be a lady if I wore breeches: when I said I could do nothing in a dress, she said I wasn’t supposed to be doing things that required pants” -Scout Finch. This lack of freedom and choice imposed on females has a darker side which can lead to women staying in abusive relationships. Male domination can often lead to women staying in an abusive environment out of fear or lack of choice. In the case of Mayella Ewell although she was abused by her father she believed that the only option available to her was to stay where she was. Control in the 1930s was in the hands of the men and society reinforced that. For women, their reputation was one of the few commodities they had. Aunt Alexandra was trying to preserve Scout’s reputation and mould Scout into being a young respectable lady. Mayella Ewell was trying to hold onto her reputation by accusing Tom, because that s all she had. Although they are two ends of the scale these actions are a consequence of society’s imposition of women. Nearly 100 years on gender equality does not exist. Millions of women and girls are suffering and being discriminated against because they were born female. In some countries, girls are still denied simple rights like the right to education, control over their own bodies and pay equity. Of the 123 million people between the ages of 15 and 24 who can not read and write, 61 percent of them are women. Laws still exist that support the idea that a woman is somebody else’s property. Young girls all over the globe are still being sold into prostitution and forced into arranged marriages. Around 2 million people are exploited every year in the global commercial sex trade. 96% of these victims are female. In Nepal if a woman is raped or assaulted the predators are not even punished they are even arrested. In Nigeria, it is within a husbands legal right to beat his wife “for the purpose of correcting her” if it does not cause her server bodily harm. Even in NZ there is still a 15% gender pay gap, women are paid less for doing the same type of work as men in some industries. Women continue to be perceived as the weaker sex. 81% of women have experienced sexual assault in the NZ workplace and 76% of women are the victims of domestic violence in NZ. In our society modern day girls are told we can do anything. However, the reality is far from that. Like Scout we often hear throwaway sexist comments, putting girls down “you kick like a girl” “why are you acting like such a girl”. Boys in my peer group think they have the right to comment on how we look, what we wear, our weight and our choices. Girls dumb themselves down because we are told that being smart is unattractive. We are labelled bossy and a bitch is we act assertively. if we challenge sexist attitudes toxic masculinity raises its head because men are threatened by the notion of having to question themselves. Even though society has changed and time has evolved the prejudice of sexism still fully exists.

Paragraph three (Class prejudice): Class prejudice was the backbone in the structure of American society in the 1930’s. The Great Depression amplified the status quo. Jem sums up the classes, although naively, with surprising accuracy. “There’s four kinds of folks in the world. There’s the ordinary kind like us and the neighbours, there’s the kind like the Cunninghams out in the woods, the kind like the Ewells down at the dump, and the Negroes.”- Jem Finch. Class was based on your economic status, with the exception of negros who in the south could never rise above their low status.

Paragraph four (Pre-concieved opinions):

Conclusion: