Caste System In To Kill A Mockingbird

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The caste system in Maycomb shapes the lives of the people that live in that town by showing . how it was made to discriminate everyone in that town, even the highest class. Scout claimed her idea of the caste system to Jem towards the end of the book. In her claim, she explains that the system has three parts, the “ordinary” folks such as the Finches, Miss Maudie, and the basic upper class white people. Second, the “white trash,” meaning the Ewells, who live in the dump. Lastly, the poor African American people or as Scout says, the “Negroes.” People who didn’t fit in that list of the caste system were considered an outcast, such as Boo Radley and the Raymonds. Atticus had said to Scout, “You, Miss Scout Finch, are of the common folk. You must obey the law.” This explains how she needs to follow the rules of society of being privileged. The Raymonds did not fit in the caste system because they were an interracial family, with a white man and a black woman with mixed children. They were shunned by society because of their choices. Boo Radley did not fit in the caste system because he was locked up in his house and was not allowed to interact with the outside world, …show more content…

In court, the jury is only white men, no women or African Americans, men or women, were allowed to serve in the jury. "She was white, and she tempted a Negro. She did something that in our society is unspeakable: she kissed a…it came crashing down on her afterwards." (20.44-45). Atticus had said this statement when trying to defend Tom Robinson. He had said Mayella Ewell had kiss Tom which is unforgivable to society. Tom was then sent to jail for sexual assault, when it was mostly Bob Ewell who abused Mayella. Tom was telling the truth in court, along with Atticus trying to defend him, but since Tom is a black man and Mayella was a white woman, she got the

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