A behavior, of which, presents itself heavily while either talking, and or mentioning, the topics of religions, racism and classism. Given the time period is during the 1930’s, and that Maycomb County is located in the deep south, it is no wonder of why prejudice appears as a cultural norm. The Great Depression was going on at the time, and so, everyone is taking the chance in trying to look better off, in the terms of finance and living standards. In looking at the main family of the book, the Finches, they are part of the high standing class. And, as according to Aunt Alexandra, they, as a family, are above everyone.
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. As the book goes on and the characters change, ethical dilemmas about fear, and racism are seen. Additionally, what the book has to say about moral values and how things are done is mentioned in this essay. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee depicts the crude reality of Ethical Dilemmas in Maycomb, Alabama during the 1950s.
In the classical 1960 novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee depicts the social and racial inequality in southern American society during the 1930’s. Residing in Maycomb County, Atticus Finch and his two children, Scout and Jem, gain appreciation for tolerance as they encounter diverse characters such as Tom Robinson and Boo Radley. Told from Scout’s perspective of their adventures, Jem and Scout explore the prejudicial flaws of their community. The portrayal of a catalyst and prophet matches the personality of Jeremy “Jem” Atticus Finch; serving as the brother and friend of his sister Scout, Jem’s once innocent and naive world view is exposed to the less savory aspects of southern culture when his father takes on a case defending an African American man accused of rape. As the dehumanizing factors of institutionalized and widespread racial discrimination and prejudice become evident, Jem learns that empathy and human understanding are crucial in realizing full human potential.
This essay aims to investigate the literary context of Harper Lee 's To Kill A Mockingbird (1960) from four different perspectives. The scope of this essay does not only include the context from historical, cultural and social points of views, but also the significance of Lee 's early life is considered. The essay explores deeply the novel 's events, characters and main themes, which can all be related to the literary context. This is why the research question of this essay is “A Study of Literary Context in Harper Lee 's To Kill A Mockingbird”.
The book "To Kill a Mockingbird" describes different classes of people as been rich and poor. People classify themselves differently because some people are in poverty, while some are wealthy. Most wealthy people help the poor, but the main people they help are the Cunningham 's family. They help the Cunningham 's family because they are willing to work and they are hard working. People never help the Ewell 's family because they are rude, lazy, and they waste their money on alcohol. The Finch 's family help the African American because racism occur during that time. The people treated the African American as low self esteem people. The poor people are in poverty because of the Great Depression and they couldn 't have enough money to provide
In To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee teaches us about the town of Maycomb County during the late 1930s, where the characters live in isolation and victimization. Through the perspective of a young Jean Louise “Scout” Finch, readers will witness the prejudice that Maycomb produces during times where people face judgement through age, gender, skin colour, and class, their whole lives. Different types of prejudice are present throughout the story and each contribute to how events play out in the small town of Maycomb. Consequently, socially disabling the people who fall victim from living their life comfortably in peace. Boo Radley and his isolation from Maycomb County, the racial aspects of Tom Robinson, and the decision Atticus Finch makes as a lawyer, to defend a black man has all made them fall in the hands of Maycomb’s prejudice ways.
In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird it shows the problems and occurrences of how human inequality and diversity is brought up in the world. Racial comments, prejudice remarks, and judgement are all mentioned in the book. Although, the book is fiction, it brings up real life events that are still happening in the present time. The story takes place in Maycomb, Alabama in the 1930’s in that time anyone and everyone were judged by their life choices, skin color, social class, appearance, etc. Human society then was diverse into large groups of stereotypes.
Part of the human nature consists of racial judgment towards others. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, presents themes of gender bias, justice, and social class. But one of the main focuses in the book is racism. Most of the people in Maycomb County show racial judgments, opinions, and comments against African American people, as well as white people. Jem and Scout learn the power of racism and what it does to people, as they experience certain situations. Through the stories of Tom Robinson's trial, Jem and Scouts journey to Calpurnia's church, and Mrs. Dubose's commentary to Jem, the theme of racism remains.
Racism, family background, and wealth are the three main forms of social inequality that appear multiple times in To Kill a Mockingbird. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Lee proves that the Negroes are not respected at all simply because of their skin color. They are so disrespected and looked down on to the point they have their own little community out of the town away from the white people. Although, the colored are racists towards the white people in Maycomb.
In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee demonstrates that social inequality breaks down a society through the use of conflict, symbolism and irony. Social inequality plays a pivotal role in the novel because the whole conflict between Bob and Tom is wrapped in it. From the first accusation to the final conviction inequality is intertwined in every paragraph, every word. To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel that stands the test of time because while our society has made improvements, inequality will never truly go away. This novel displays characters you relate to, ones you despise, and all that you fall in love with.
For instance, lots of the people in Maycomb would avoid black people throughout the story because they were considered the lowest class of people. Lots of white people in town would make comments about black people or ignore them. The majority of white people gave them a hard time. One example of this would be when Mr. Raymond talks to Scout about how white people treat black people. The text states, “‘Cry about the simple hell white people give colored folks, without even stopping to that they’re people, too’”
How does Harper Lee vividly capture the effects of racism and social inequality on the citizens of Maycomb county in ‘To kill a mockingbird’? In the novel, ‘To kill a mockingbird’, Harper Lee conveys the theme of racism and social inequality by setting up the story in Maycomb, a small community in Alabama, the U.S back in 1930s. Lee presents some of the social issues of 1930s such as segregation and poverty in the novel. These issues are observed and examined through the innocent eyes of a young girl, Scout, the narrator.
In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Lee presents a large social atmosphere that includes many different cultures and extremes. The story takes place in the southern town of Maycomb, Alabama during the Great Depression. This novel illustrates how the southerners perceived different ideas about each other and social norms. It is told through the eyes of a young girl, Scout Finch, as she is growing up and becoming influenced by societal attitudes. Throughout the course of this book Scout learns many lessons including: how a society functions, why there is conflict between different cultures, and what makes cultures different from each other. Harper Lee utilizes functionalism, conflict theory, and symbolic interactionism to convey how
Social class is a hierarchy based on wealth, living standards, education level and occupation which impact people’s lives for better or worse. In this essay, I have chosen to explore the idea of how social classes affect the way we treat people. The four texts To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Me Before You by Jojo Moyes, The Help by Kathryn Stockett, and Water For Elephants by Sara Gruen all capture the idea in which social class can affect our lives. In each text, we see how social classes divide people from another, that most characters are aware of where they stand in their society because of social status, and how relationships across different social classes can be formed.
Close to the end of the trial when Tom Robinson is saying his final statement he says “Well I felt right sorry for her, she seemed to try harder then the rest of em”(Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird) which showed that black people had feelings too, but what he said was turned against him in a flash [Because he was on trial for rape]. The jury of Maycomb looked past the good and went straight to him being a monster Scout did not understand how bad Tom Robinson’s statement was. The trial showed that Scout was still too young to fully understand everything that was going on in the trial showing why it was so