Prejudice is a preconceived opinion of a person or thing; it extends past race to include discrimination, fear and ignorance. This harms not only an individual but also an entire society resulting in a disturbed community unable to grow up and accept others. To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel, written by Harper Lee. It explores prejudice in a small fictional town of Maycomb, Alabama. It is set during the great depression and civil rights movement. In my essay I will be looking at race, discrimination and fear of the unknown represented in the novel. Racial prejudice is often born from the misunderstanding of another’s cultural background. This can come about from differences. Superiority can arise from differences in cultural background even though we have no choice or preference in our country of origin or our parent’s heritage. Racial Prejudice can form as a result of differing religious beliefs. The ongoing disputes unfolding in Israel illustrate this. Prejudice can be formed based on appearance, not only skin colour but also face shape, eyes, hair type and body shape can be negatively pitched against a person. "I seen that black nigger yonder ruttin' on my Mayella!" (Lee 188). Here, Tom Robinson is being dehumanized and referred to as a beast due to the colour of his skin. As evidenced in the previous quote racial prejudice can be based purely on a person having a different cultural background. Age, sex and appearance can contribute to discrimination. Discrimination is a term that refers to the action taken toward or against a person of a certain group in consideration based only on class and category. Age discrimination can occur when two people in a similar situation are treated differently, because of their age. Sex discrimination or sexism is when male and female are treated less favorably then the other would be treated in the same or similar circumstances. “ I was not so sure, but Jem told me I was being a girl, that g