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Essay / To Kill a Mockingbird and Goin' Someplace Special: How Prejudice Can Ruin Someone's Life
Prejudice is a formed prejudice about something or someone - but it's also more than that ? This complex idea is highlighted in the novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee and the picture book Goin' Someplace Special by Patricia McKissack (illustrated by Jerry Pinkney). The picture book is set in 1950s Nashville and features a young African-American girl named Tricia Ann, who experiences a lot of prejudice and eventually arrives at a place of integration: the public library. These two texts offer deeper ideas about prejudice, which challenge our past and present society. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”?Get the original essayPrejudice is a collective perception that marginalizes the individual. In To Kill A Mockingbird, one of the main characters who experiences prejudice and is isolated from the rest of Maycomb is Arthur ("Boo") Radley. At the beginning of the novel, Jem and Scout explain to Dill who Boo is, or at least what they have been told. “People said it existed but Jem and I had never seen it. People said he went out at night…” The repetition of “people said” emphasizes that these anecdotes are purely based on rumor and not fact. Maycomb's characterization of Arthur is that he is inhuman, hence the derogatory term "Boo Radley" is used. Lee makes it clear that Arthur is marginalized from the rest of society. “The shutters and doors of the Radley house were closed on Sundays, another thing alien to Maycomb habits…” The use of the word “alien” reveals that prejudice is a matter of difference. This contrast Lee made between Maycomb and the Radleys highlights that prejudice forms within a group, dividing a person. Goin' Someplace Special conveys this same concept but in a very different way. One example is when Tricia Ann accidentally walks into a crowded hotel lobby where "people of color" are banned, an example of racial prejudice. Unlike the novel, Tricia Ann is not secretly prejudiced, like Boo Radley. McKissack writes: “What is she doing here? It was like the whole world stopped talking, stopped moving, and was looking at her. This climatic phrase involves a whistle of “st” which emphasizes that these sudden movements were occurring in groups. In a double page spread, Tricia Ann wears a contrasting bright blue and highly saturated yellow, while in all Whites the color palette is limited to white and cream. Similar to where Boo Radley was "alien-like", Tricia Ann has a different appearance and clothing. Additionally, Tricia Ann is much shorter than everyone else, making it clear that the subjects of prejudice are seen as inferior by an entire group. The vectors of the man's hands offer a reading path where we are led to look at the isolation of Tricia Ann. Bias is recognized through education and experience. Therefore, unlike children, it is adults who convey prejudices. We see the development of Scout's understanding throughout the novel. For example, during the scene where Scout was at Maycomb Prison, running towards her father who was surrounded by a crowd of prejudiced farmers, she says, "I pushed my way through dark, smelly bodies and I burst into the circle of light.” The patterns of darkness and light are visible where prejudice is symbolic of evil and Atticus, is the metaphorical circle of light, representative of goodness. Scout begins to converse with Mr. Cunningham: “Hey, Mr..