1930’s Alabama was not an easy time for people of color to live. Constant racism and prejudice had been instilled into the hearts and minds of, what seemed like, everyone. Throughout history examples of this have been seen, like the instance of the Scottsboro, where 9 innocent boys spent a major part of their life rotting in jail for what they did not do. Alongside that, they felt the immense hatred of a society of racist, close minded people pounding down on them. This prejudice did not only serve Blacks, those in the society often held ill feelings towards other members of their own community. Their reasoning for this dislike, was that anyone who did not seem “like them”, be it race, opinions, wealth and status, became seen as “different” rather than human. Along with this, many members of these communities simply had lack of empathy. The rare individuals …show more content…
In To Kill A Mockingbird, by the late Harper Lee, examples of some of these individuals become evident through characters like Ms.Maudie, whose empathy transpires through her behaviors/actions, expression of opinions, and her relationships with …show more content…
Ms. Maudie, whose empathy is evident throughout the novel is summarized through the following. Her physical actions and behaviors in terms of understanding Boo and the African American citizens of Maycomb, her expression of ideas and opinions in terms of her house fire reaction and her views on Boo and religion. Lastly, it is expressed through her relationships with others, in terms of Jem and Scout, and Atticus. Reflecting back to the time era of the 1930’s of the South, and the stubborn mindsets of the time in close knit towns like Maycom, it is understood how rare of a person Ms. Maudie is. In all Ms.Maudie illustrates the rare trait of blind empathy for all in the 1930’s
In the book “Killers of the Dream” by Lillian smith there are several ideas that are brought forward that really demonstrate that the author exaggerates the true situation and the state of affairs in the south. In the context of the book, the south was experiencing serious crisis when the whited propagated segregation against the blacks and other low class whites. The paper contains the author’s thesis and a summary of the author’s primary points. Additionally, the paper examines whether the authors account is incomplete, questionable or cases where the account does not make sense. The social profiling that resulted was regrettable and brought serious repercussions to the society in general.
Throughout the novel, Scout gets advice from one of her neighbors, Miss Maudie. Miss Maudie has known Scout’s family for years, and the young girl really looks up to her. Miss Maudie is a role model for Scout that is necessary in To Kill a Mockingbird. Miss Maudie teaches Scout to respect others. Scout and Jem, and their friend Dill, often go to the older woman’s house to
Scottsboro Racism Paragraph The Scottsboro trials were a long horrific eighteen-year-long trial about eight black boys in Scottsboro, Alabama. According to Anderson in the video lecture “Scottsboro Boys” a large group of people had gotten on a train to find work when a large fight broke out on the train. The fight was between eight black men and a few white men, the train stopped in Scottsboro when two white women got off the train and accused the eight black men of rape. The eight boys were brought into court and trialed. There were multiple cases of racism in the Scottsboro trials, one included that all the boys were trialed together and in only one day.
An important theme in Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, is the relationships between all the characters and how they interact with and impact each other. For example, Miss Maudie Atkinson, one of the minor characters, always wants everyone to be treated fairly and equally. She is always caring and respects the people around her. Miss Maudie is a caregiver of the children, and is the one who helps Jem and Scout understand their father, Atticus. To begin with, Miss Maudie is a person who takes care of the children just like a mother does.
To Kill a Mockingbird Essay Plan Thesis: The three main protagonists of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird (Scout, Jem, and Dill) both learn and demonstrate empathy through the story. Directional Statement: The characters demonstrate empathy to Boo Radley both after the trial and after Scout walks him back home, and they learn about empathy during Tom Robinson's testimony. Body Paragraph 1: Point: Jem demonstrates empathy towards Boo Radley after Tom Robinson is convicted of raping a white woman. Proof: Right after the trial, and Tom Robinson has been convicted of raping Mayella Ewell, Jem starts to understand why Boo Radley doesn't come out of his house: "I think I'm beginning to understand why Boo Radley's stayed shut up in the house all the time...
She teaches her to live life to the fullest and the ways of Maycomb. There are many interactions between Scout and Miss Maudie and all of them are positive. Scout is guided by Miss Maudie’s manner and looks up to her. When she is first introduced, Miss Maudie is described as, “a widow, a chameleon lady who worked in her flower beds in an old straw hat and men’s coveralls, but after her five o 'clock bath she would appear on the porch and reign over the street in magisterial beauty,”(Lee 56). Scout loves that Maudie is able to get her hands dirty during the day and become ladylike at night, and nobody judges her for it.
In Maycomb, Alabama, deeply rooted prejudice thrived and influenced citizens to be
Lee reveals that religion is an important aspect of life in Maycomb during this time period. Evidently, when Scout asks if Miss Maudie is a foot washing-Baptist, Miss Maudie replies “my shell’s not that hard, child. I’m just a Baptist” (Lee 5). Notably, Scout gets angered when people remind her of her femininity. For example, Jem replies to her “you don’t have to come along, Angel May” (Lee 7).
Miss. Maudie is referring to the fact that Scout is too young to understand what is occurring or that she is not old enough to understand the ordeal with Mr. Arthur. Scout is still a young girl, who is still trying to comprehend the world. Nevertheless, Scout is misjudged by Miss. Maudie based on her age.
In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, some people do not recognize that someone wants to help them. The people mentioned had been given or received kindness from someone but they do not know that they are trying to help. The types of kindness that will be shown is kindness within the Finch family, kindness shown through neighbours, and kindness of acquaintances. It is shown that kindness is taken for granted.
but she still stands out when compared to other individuals in Maycomb because of her loving and compassionate character. For instance, the day after the trial, Jem and Scout are provided with Miss Maudie’s famous cake, “There was a big cake and two little ones on Miss Maudie’s kitchen table. There should have been three little ones. It was not like Miss Maudie to forget Dill, and we must have shown it. We understood when she cut from the big cake and gave the slice to Jem” (Lee 214).
The fire that occurred at Miss Maudie’s home was pivotal scene in the book because it helped tie in how the community was facing some difficulties around the Tom Robinson case, but they were able to set aside their differences to help a member of the community who was going through a struggle. One can also learn from this scene, that the people of Maycomb are able to reflect off of the negative things that
When Scout visits her after the fire, she’s surprised Miss Maudie wasn’t sulking, as if she “‘hated that old cow barn’” (97). In Miss Maudie’s eyes, she doesn’t see losing her house as a big deal. Instead of being weighed down by her loss, Miss Maudie makes light of the incident. She continues to tell Scout about her ‘upcoming’ garden, and it was going to be the best through “‘ways [she] doesn’t know about’” (97).
How is the racial problem of the southern states of USA in the 1930s portrayed in To Kill a Mockingbird? INTRO In the 1930s the Southern states of America suffered from a strong discrimination and racial hatred towards colored people. They had no rights, no respect and were not allowed to go places white people went. In other words they were segregated from the rest of the society.
Humans live in a world where moral values are very clearly set determining what is good and what is bad. We know what scares us and how racism should be treated. Nevertheless, this was not the case back in Alabama during the 1950s. In the famous novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee narrates the lives of the people of Maycomb, Alabama, focusing on the story of Scout and Jem Finch, and the case of a said to be rape. In this emotion filled narrative, readers learn how life was back then not only in general, but for the separate social statuses that there was.