Aidan Duke
Writer
The phrase “Don’t judge
a book by its cover” was first
coined by Mary Ann Evans,
also known as George Eliot.
The idiom was used in one
of her best selling novels,
“The Mill on the Floss.”
Evan’s narrative was about

a young woman, Maggie Tul-
liber, who struggled to have

independence against the
restraints and prejudices of
country life.
Like her novel, Evans had

struggled against the assump-
tion and perception other peo-
ple had of women in her time

period.
According to CNN, Evan’s
used a pen name in order to
escape the stereotype that
all women’s writings were
lighthearted romance and to
ensure her work was being
taken seriously.
Even though the odds were
against Evans, she fought for

her beliefs, earning around
4,000 pounds, the equivalent
of 760,000 dollars in today’s
currency, within one year for
her book according to the
New York Times.
Today, the majority of
perceptions have changed

against the hurtful and belit-
tling of women.

However, there are still
many offensive perceptions
that remain today.
One viewpoint that has
become increasingly popular
over the years is that young

men and women are incapa-
ble of acceptable communica-
tion, as defined by Boomers

and Millennials.
The age group that is most
affected by this harmful trend
recently is 11 through 26, or
Generation Z, according to
the Harvard Gazette.

The negative connota-
tions that are usually associ-
ated with Gen Z are they have

short attention spans, are ad-
dicted to technology, cannot

handle face-to-face interac-
tions, want to be rewarded

quickly and are not very help-
ful according to the New York

Post.
One student at Marlow
High School who feels that
having a jaded perception of
others is completely wrong is
senior Maggie Wheeler.

“I feel that the presump-
tions about Gen Z are unfair

because once someone has as-
sumed something, they make

that belief the outcome,” ex-
claimed Wheeler. “I feel that

the statement don’t judge a

book by its cover is very cru-
cial on how we should treat

each other.”
Each of our perceptions
are very different and have
formed the world we live in
today.
So, don’t judge a book by
its cover, but instead put your
fist in the air against judgment

like Bender from the Break-
fast Club.