Prejudice is the worst thing a person can do to another person. It is truly dispicable how
someone can pre-judge another person because of how they look. This behavior shows up numerous times in many types of literature. But it shows up alot in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, and the book of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. In these books there are characters that get prejudice more than others for example in To Kill a Mockingbird, there is Boo Radley, and Tom Robinson. In of Mice and Men there is Crooks and Curley's wife. All of these characters are judged before they have a chance to prove themselves. Prejudice affects the characters of the books negatively causing them to be lonely and be isolated. Boo Radley was prejudiced from the beginning.
Boo Radley is from To Kill a Mockingbird. He is locked in house because of a prank he played and none of the kids no what he looks like. This is when kids imagination come in calling him a monster and a horrible person. The first time this comes up is when “Boo bit it off one night when he couldn't find any cats and squirrels to eat” (Lee 44). Just before this quote the kids were talking about Mrs.Radley losing her finger, and the quote is showing how he ate it when there wasn't anything else to eat hence the cats and squirrels. This quote is showing how the people but mostly the kids find Boo a monster and pre judging him. Boo is very alone in his house with no company which also makes him isolated from everything else making him the target for the kids. The next quote is when the kids are about to meet Mrs. Dubois who they also think is scary the narrator says”Jem, having survived Boo Radley, a mad dog, and other terrors”(Lee 115). They include Boo Radley in the list of terrors to show how he is misperceived and people think he is a monster when really he is just in permanent house arrest. Boo got pre judged and is isolated from the town in this quote because they compare him to a dog with rabies and they have never met him before. The town also despises Boo and he is very lonely and isolated giving him no sense of companionship. Tom Robinson is another character from this novel that has gotten the same effect as Boo Radley, and many other characters in the novel.
Tom Robinson is a negro in the town of maycomb county he gets no respect from some of the people in the town and is probably one of the most pre judged people in the whole town. His race has a lot to do with what comments get thrown his way. He got charged with a crime of rape that he didn't commit. But he got the verdict of guilty mostly because of his appearance. Quote to show the isolation and loneliness is “Mr. Finch if you was a nigger like me, you’d be scared to”(Lee 261). This quote shows how Mr. Finch is a white guy and tom is black and it shows how the white guy gets more rights saying if he was black his life would be completely. And also how that because he was black there is nothing he could do but run because if he stayed at the crime site he would get in even more trouble. Another quote is
“quilty...quilty...quilty...quilty”(lee 282) This shows how no matter how unquilty tom is the jury just because of his race took the white man's word over the lack man's word. Showing prejudice and isolation and loneliness because they sent him of to jail to be alone even though he did nothing wrong. There are forms of prejudice even in other books like Of Mice And Men. And in the book To Kill a Mockingbird.
Curley's wife is a character in the book Of Mice and Men. She is married to curley and is his property because she does not get her fair rights. She gets prejudged and is very isolated and lonely. A quote to show this is “you see if she aint a tart”(Steinbeck 28). Tart means a bad reputation and a person who is not loyal. The ranchers think without even knowing that curley's wife is a tart and she is flirting with the other men but really she s trying to stop getting shunned out by curley who makes her stay in the house the whole day feeling lonely and isolated. This Explains her wandering around the ranch when Curley is not around. There is another quote that backs up the first one which is (think i am going to stay in that two-by-four house and listen how Curley gonna lead with his left) (Steinbeck 78). This shows how the wife does not like curley contrary to what the ranch handles think. Also the line about the house being small and how she does not want to be there and be isolated and lonely. She wants to experience the world like how she wanted to go to the movies and not marry Curley. But because of her gender when she married Curley she become legally bonded to him not even giving her, her name instead she got Curley's wife. She is very prejudged and isolated and lonely inside of the small home she is confined to even though she wants to leave. Crooks has almost the same situation as the wife, in the ay that they do not get to choose their own destiny, people do that for them.
Crooks is negro in the ranch and all of the ranch handlers are mean to him and prejudice him so that no one goes to hiss room and he is not aloud to go into theirs. “Cause I’m black. They play cards in there, but I can't play because I’m black.”(Steinbeck 68). This quote shows that Crooks is not allowed to go into the bunkhouse and do things they are doing because of his race, even though he may be nice and all nobody thinks that because they pre judge him and think he is bad but he just needs someone because he is lonely and isolated in his room. Another quote is that when he says “ I’ll tell ya a guy gets to lonely an’ he gets sick” . (Steinbeck 73). This quote shows how living in his little house in the barn is not all pretty and how Crooks is very lonely and needs a companionship just like Lennie has George but crooks has no one because he gets pre judged and is isolated and lonely from the other ranch handlers. Crooks needs someone in his live but his race all but stops it which is when he proposes the idea to go on the dream with them at the end of the encounter he quickly rejects knowing that it was never going to work out for him. Prejudice has played a key part in crooks as a character. Also in how he is forced to live in his barn and in his world.
Prejudice is a trumping factor in many books it is inevitable in many books because of human nature. This single word alters characters dramatically. Making them isolated and lonely, this means that the character will become more of an outcast which is like all of the characters stated above. Prejudice is unfair because it is judging a book by the cover. This shows up in many novels to show the fact on how prejudice is not good for the human body and it can drive a person to isolation and a lonely life style. Prejudice affects the characters negatively causing them to be isolated and lonely. As seen in many examples throughout the books nd in the world that we live in.