Prejudice is a preconceived and usually negative attitude or opinion of something or someone based on irrational feelings, inaccurate knowledge, or pre-existing stereotypes. It is a universal theme that is learned unconsciously (usually influenced by our surroundings) that often leads to hatred, fear, or mistrust of a certain race, ethnicity, nationality, or social status. Prejudice has always been a problem throughout history; above all it has led to unnecessary conflicts and rifts between people. Through the characters in her novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee explores the idea that although prejudice comes in all forms (it is not limited to gender, race, etc.), it often leads to the degradation of people or groups to the point where no redemption manifests. The novel To Kill a Mockingbird is set in the 1930s in the fictional town of Maycomb, located in the southern United States. In Maycomb, a divide exists between the black and white communities as this is a time of racial discrimination. Their lives are governed by rules to maintain their difficult coexistence; white people live in the city, black people out there; there are also separate facilities, workplaces and buildings. Each group is not fully understood, in the novel the blacks of Maycomb are identified as a unit, they are all assumed to act, behave and live the same. When one commits a crime then everyone in that group is a criminal, when one tells a lie then they are all dens. There is no possibility of discussing this, of differentiating and understanding each individual and this is what leads to often unjust convictions, there is also the resentment felt towards whites by black citizens. In the novel Tom Robinson is a black man accused of violence... in the middle of a sheet of paper... he finds himself on the Radleys' porch reenacting the events of the year. He finally accepts and understands Boo Radley; that not all people are alike and usually every action has a reason.Mr. Dolphus Raymond describes prejudice as “the simple hell that people give to other people” (p. 201) because they are different. It is a timeless issue that will continue and will never end until there is communication, understanding and more intolerance and stereotypes. To eliminate prejudice we must learn to “get into another [man's] skin and walk in it” (p. 30). We must learn to recognize and accept each other's differences; look under the skin, beyond wealth, religion or gender and into the hearts of people to realize that “[they are] people too” (p. 201). Only then will we fully understand it, but until that happens, the universal question of prejudice will remain.