In the 1930s, it was typical for whites and blacks to not interact. Many people in Maycomb consider those who intermingle with blacks and whites as outcasts. Calpurnia lives something similar to a “double life.” Even though society expects the two races to be separate, Calpurnia spends time with the Finch family, who are white, and her own family, which is black. When Calpurnia spends time with both groups of people, Scout referrers to her as “having command of two languages” (167).
In the beginning chapters Scout and Calpurnia’s relationship isn’t that great, they mostly just talk when need be. Scout refers to her as a “... tyrannical presence... Our battles were epic and one-sided. Calpurnia always won, mainly because Atticus always took her side.” This quote shows that they didn’t have much of a relationship, but the little that they actually had they spent it arguing.
The message Calpurnia was trying to get across was that although Walter might be poor, you should not treat him like he is something less. Since Scout is young, she fails to understand this lesson in the moment, but realizes this later on in the novel when she is an adult reflecting back at how everything has impacted her. Atticus also teaches Scout about courtesy. This is a big part of the novel because she understands this lesson as she
In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, a man named Tom Robinson was accused of raping Mayella Ewell. Until Tom was placed in front of a judge, he had been forced to be held in the Maycomb jail. While he remained there, an angry and ignorant mob went to jail to kill Tom. Ignorance is the absence of knowledge on a subject, which is like how the mob lacked knowledge on how being black does not cause Tom to be guilty. The mob is not the only instance in which ignorance is used; it occurs regularly in Maycomb.
Calpurnia is an ideal influence for Scout’s coming of age moments. She teaches Scout the importance of manners, and treating people with respect. When Walter Cunningham comes to eat lunch with Scout and Jem one day, Scout
Scout's race in To Kill a Mockingbird affects the tone, voice, and content of the narration because it is in the tone of a white woman looking back from the perspective of herself as a young white child in Jim Crow South. A young white child's tone is different because she has no idea of how bad it is for African Americans in her town. Since things have just always been that way and the racism never directly affects her she is mostly unaware of it. She wonders why Calpurnia uses the front door when the rabid dog comes down the road because she has just always used the back entrance and doesnt recognize why or that it is disrespectful.
Even in a society that, overall, is diverse, people with similar ideas and experiences tend to congregate in small groups, where they are comfortable. It is much easier to remain in homogenous groups, among those who understand each other. When different groups combine, many different life experiences and points of view will be present and will potentially clash. Misunderstanding is bound to occur in some form when individuals of different backgrounds interact. When misunderstandings occur, people tend to respond with violence, fear, or stereotyping.
Scout Finch Harpers Lee’s novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, was told from the first-person perspective of Scout, Jean Louise, and Finch and was a unique blend of Scout’s younger and older self. 1933 in the small town of Maycomb, Alabama. The Great Depression had affected the city badly and was still affecting them. Maycomb was a tired old place with grass growing on the sidewalks, rainy days making the ground turn red and it was always scorching hot.
Scout herself learns from Atticus, her father, that “[y]ou never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view…until you climb in his skin and walk around in it.” (Lee 39) Throughout the novel, Scouts truly learns about racism, how it affects everyone, and how unfair it was toward the African community. We still have much to learn because there is very much still racism in today’s society. By using books like To
Calpurnia is Jem and Scouts mother figure, because their mother died due to a sudden heart attack. Calpurnia takes Jem and Scout to her church, First Purchase, and introduces them to the fact that not all black people are bad people. She shows courage because it’s nerve racking to bring 2 white children to an all black church. Calpurnia says, “I don’t want anybody sayin’ I don’t look after my children” (Lee pg. 118). Calpurnia takes pride in Jem and Scout and shows a massive amount of courage taking these children to her type of life, and to her church.
The root of any discrimination is dehumanization, no large group of people can sincerely hate or cause pain to a group of people based off of race, color, sexuality, gender, religion or any other separating factor without dehumanizing them. Every single time in history where people in power have taken advantage of a specific group of people, they have had to dehumanize them. There is no debate about that. Harper Lee not only uses To Kill a Mockingbird as a direct protest against the Jim Crow Laws, but she also protests the reason people allowed themselves to sleep at night.
Children go to school to gain knowledge, but life can give children the most important education. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Jem, and Scout are two growing children navigating life in the 1930’s in racist Alabama. They see racism throughout their town and have to navigate how they want to live their lives or follow their town. In their own school, they see racist people, and they often question what they hear, see, and learn.
Scout also discriminates against people before she gets to know them. Throughout the beginning of the text Scout is naive, this makes her oblivious to the cruelty's of the world. Scouts naivety is preliminary because of her young age, we can see this when she says “No, everybody's gotta learn, nobody's born knowin'. That Walter's as smart as he can be, he just gets held back sometimes because he has to stay out and help his daddy. Nothing's wrong with him.
Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel that show the life of a southern state od Alabama during the “black racism” time period, where majority of the people had the mentality that (quote) with the exception of a few. To chosen to portray it from the eyes of Scout Finch, from a child’s point of view. Living in Maycomb, in the midst of a conservative society of the 1930’s and 20’s Southern America Scout Finch is an extra ordinary child.
Calprina is another mother figure in scout life, she cook’s for the family, and try to show Scout the right from wrong: “It was then that Calpurnia requested my presence in the kitchen. She was furious, and when she was furious Calpurnia’s grammar became erratic. When in tranquility, her grammar was as good as anybody’s in Maycomb. Atticus said Calpurnia had more education than most colored folks. When she squinted down at me the tiny lines around her eyes deepened.
