Prejudice In Literature Essay, Research Paper
Prejudice stems from many things. It can come from any person
at any time. Sometimes it is a part of a person when they are born. A whole
town, state, or country could show prejudice towards others. Prejudice in many
cases ends in violence. Hitler showed an extreme example when he killed all of
the Jews. He though that they were all inferior and the Germans were the
superior race. Hitler did not think all of his decisions all the way through.
Prejudice is caused by the lack of knowledge of others. The book, 12 Angry Men,
showed a lot of prejudice from the jurors. During the case most of the jurors
based their first decision on a stereotype. They looked at the defendant?s
past history of crime and just assumed that he was guilty. Only one juror at the
beginning had the courage to stand up to all the others with his beliefs. As
time passed he got others to follow him as they looked over all the evidence.
The Defendant could have been put in jail or even killed for a crime that he
didn?t commit. This prejudice could have ended in a terrible mistake and could
have taken this mans life or at least a good portion of it. In To Kill a
Mockingbird the prejudice came from a whole community. The white portion of the
town thought that just because Tom Robinson was black he must be guilty. The
black community was right when they said Tom was not guilty. During the case all
of the evidence pointed away from Tom and towards Mr. Ewell. Atticus is mocked
more than anyone else in town because he didn?t have to defend Tom. He made
the decision to do it because that is what he thought was right. Even though
Atticus showed evidence that would have made it easy to convict Mr. Ewell Tom
was convicted of rape. In the end this prejudice takes the life of Tom.
Realizing that no matter what he did he would always be guilty he decided to try
and escape prison. He started climbing the fence and after a short warning they
fired several shots into him. That killed him on the spot. Even those prison
guards showed prejudice. They didn?t need that many bullets. Mr. Raymond was
mocked also. Everyone thought he was drunk 24 hours a day and that?s the only
reason he married a black person. They thought he didn?t understand what he
was doing. They just figured that was he drank was alcohol but it was just soda.
Prejudice blocks people?s abilities to think straight. Even Babe had prejudice
in it. You can tell something is a problem when it even happens with animals.
Babe was put in a bad position in the first place. He was taken away from his
mother when he was real small. From there he was brought to a farm. There the
rest of the animals told him that pigs had no use to anyone. This hurt Babe?s
feelings because he thought that he didn?t have a purpose now. Babe eventually
realized that he did have a purpose. He was the best sheep pig ever. He was
better than any dog they could put out there. Babe showed everyone else that
sometimes it isn?t appearance that shows who you are but instead it?s the
way you act. Mr. Hoggett had to put up with prejudice also. Even though the
rules said there was nothing wrong with a sheep pig the judges still contested
it. They said he would lose respect by the committee. Instead Babe showed that
Mr. Hoggett made the right decision when he entered Babe. The Cage had a serious
amount of prejudice. The story takes place during World War II. During the war
Hitler would have anyone killed that is of Jewish ancestry. This puts Riva?s
family in a lot of trouble. Everyday a few more people were hunted out and sent
to concentration camps. Time after time they have to get under their table and
hide in the basement until the soldiers leave. Just to make the situation worse
their mother is taken away. People start getting sick and they can?t pay for
medicine. The soldiers didn?t care. They would do what ever Hitler told them.
They lost their conscience to tell them whats right and wrong. Hitler had them
brainwashed. This prejudice results in family members dying. All these books or
videos show prejudice because the authors or producers want to show the readers
or viewers what they might be doing wrong. Prejudice isn?t considered a big
deal. These productions showed that in many cases prejudice results in death.
Only sometimes can it be overcome with good. Prejudice is caused by the lack of
knowledge of others.
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