In Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird, she is very good at capturing the facts of the “southern depression”. The actions taken reflect the southern experience perfectly. From the innocence to the experience of Scout, to the bravery of Atticus. Social Differences were very present in the 30’s when this novel was based and the prejudice shown to these people was depicted beautifully by Harper Lee.
Harper Lee brings light to specific examples of the transition from Innocence to Experience, Scout is the one that is impacted most by this, when she is playing in the tire with Dill and Jem and she runs into the Radley front porch, she was paralyzed in fear, “Through all the head-shaking, quelling of nausea and Jem yelling, I had heard another sound,
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so low I could not have heard it from the sidewalk. Someone inside the house was laughing.” (Lee, 48) Most of the time the transition it includes Boo Radley or Mr Dolphus Raymond. “Come on around here, son, I got something that’ll settle your stomach.” (Lee, 212) This is when Dill is sick to his stomach and Scout takes him out of the courthouse, Mr. Dolphus Raymond offers Dill a sip of his “Whiskey” which turns out to just be Coca-Cola, at one time Scout was innocent to the fact Mr. Raymond was only drinking coke out of his brown paper bag, she experienced the real Mr. Raymond. Every child is innocent to the kindness of Arthur “Boo” Radley, when he saves Scout from being stabbed by Bob Ewell, when they realize it’s in fact Boo who saves them, Scout realises Boo will never hurt them, “I put my foot on the top step and stopped. I would lead him through our house, but I would never lead him home.” (Lee, 292) Scout is confident enough to lead Boo out of her home, she experienced the “real” Boo Radley. The children grow in this book by transitioning from innocence to experience. The Social Differences in this book are very evident. Maycomb County is divided into many social classes. The ones who are surviving the depression and the ones who have been living the depression all their lives. The Finches vs The Cunninghams/Ewells. “Walter Cunningham’s face told everybody in the first grade that he had hookworms. His absence of shoes told us how he got them.” (Lee, 25) The Cunningham;s are a “lower class” family, who pay in compensation. They don’t pay people they did jobs for with money, they pay them with wood or grain or any other item that is an everyday thing. “Atticus said the Ewells had been the disgrace of Maycomb for three generations. None of them had done an honest day’s work in his recollection… They were people but they lived like animals.” (Lee, 37) This Ewell’s were another “low class” family, with the intention to have Tom Robinson arrested for the rape of Mayella Ewell. Them along with the Cunninghams are looked down upon, but rise up against the prejudice, by claiming that a “coloured man” was doing offensive things with the folks of the “lower class”. “Whole school’s full of ‘em. They come first day every year and then leave. The truant lady gets ’em here ‘cause she threatens ’em with the sheriff, but she’s give up tryin‘ to hold ’em. She reckons she’s carried out the law just gettin‘ their names on the roll and runnin’ ‘em here the first day. You’re supposed to mark ’em absent the rest of the year” (Lee, 00) The school of Maycomb county is a little one room school house, and the “low class” Ewell’s again are causing trouble because of their place on the social “spectrum” with lack of respect for any authority. Lee captures the Social Differences quite vividly in this novel. The Bravery shown by each of the main characters in this book gives significance to the fact that the time they are living in and the people they individually interact with in their daily lives makes them more brave.
“Don’t you remember me Mr. Cunningham? I’m Jean Louise Finch. You brought us some hickory nuts one time, remember?” (Lee, 164) Here, Scout is talking to the lynch mob lead by Mr. Cunningham. Scout is confident enough to talk to her friend, Walter’s father. She isn’t nervous at all. “Mr. Arthur, bend your arm down here, like that. That’s right sir; I slipped my hand into the crook of his arm.” (Lee, 292) Scout had lived all of her life being scared of Arthur “Boo” Radley, and now she is walking him through her house, I would say Scout is the bravest person in this book because she isn’t scared to take action where necessary. “It was times like these when I thought my father, who hated guns and had never been to any wars, was the bravest man in the world.” (Lee, 109) Scout is proud of her father's bravery. Atticus was brave enough to take Tom Robinson’s case and defend the “coloured man”. He was also confident to converse with Mrs. Dubose the morphine addict. Despite his loathing of guns and violence, her father has the moral resilience to stand up for what is right and put a smile on the face a bitter suffering old lady. They sometimes step out of their comfort zones or into danger but to risk it and be brave is a big thing during this time …show more content…
period. Prejudice is the action of a person making a judgement based on what they do not know.
The “lower class” people in this book make prejudice comments against the “higher class” people or the “coloured people”. “‘There goes the meanest man ever God blew breath into,’ murmured Calpurnia, and she spat meditatively into the yard.” (Lee, 18) Lee likes to use the word meditative: meaning deeply thoughtful or deeply felt, or to be in a state of deep mindfulness. The second instance occurs in Chapter 7 when Mr. Radley is filling in the whole in the tree, that Boo used to interact with Jem and Scout. “She was white, and she tempted a Negro. She did something… Unspeakable: She kissed a black man.” (Lee, 216) The prejudice against the black people of Maycomb is outrageous. In this time period in the south especially, people assumed that black people would be harmful to people. As a result of Mayella’s choices she now had a black man accused of rape when she toyed with him and made him kiss her. “... I seen that black n****r yonder ruttin’ on my Mayella!” (Lee, 00) The way Bob Ewell phrases his accusation achieves an impressive feat of multitasking: it dehumanizes Tom (he doesn't use Tom's name, or even the pronoun "he"), it emphasizes Tom's race over everything else (the redundancy of "black n****r"), it also compares Tom to a beast ("rutting" is usually applied to animals), also it portrays Mayella as a passive victim (she's the indirect object of the sentence), and then it asserts
power over his daughter ("my Mayella," as if Tom's trying to steal Ewell's property).
Through the development of Scout’s relationship with Arthur Radley, Scout develops and becomes more empathetic. Atticus Finch, Scout’s father, is her most consistent role model and used by Lee as the moral compass. Atticus is a firm believer in teaching by example, and his respect of his children is such that he treats them almost as adults, emphasised in the line ‘he played with us, read with us, and treated us with courteous detachment’ pg. 6. This refusal to shelter Scout from the harsh realities of life in Maycomb allows her to learn from experience. The strong moral guidance offered by Atticus allows Scout not only to learn from experience, but also to develop her personal integrity. Atticus exemplifies his strong beliefs, as illustrated when he says ‘Shoot
The first thing Jem and Scout learn from the qualities of benevolence and courage is fairness. Fairness changes how they see their world because they realize that life isn’t fair. In the novel Atticus shows benevolence when he goes to the jailhouse to protect Tom Robinson even though he wasn’t legally bound to. When Jem and Scout arrive at the jailhouse they come face to face with an lynch mob. There Jem and Scout are first exposed to the harsh realities of the treatment towards African Americans. However it wasn’t until the next morning when Scout understood “full meaning of last night’s events” (208). As the book progresses Atticus shows courage by trying to give Tom Robinson a fair trial in the middle of a racist community. However Atticus lost his case and Jem and Scout realize that their justice system isn’t fair. They realize that in the town of Maycomb justice is a privilege not a right. Jem states that “It’s like being’ a caterpillar in a cocoon... I always thought Maycomb folks were the best folks ...
There 's a point in everyone 's life when people are forced to wear a mask to hide their true selves. People want to fit into what they think is normal. Most of the time, the individual behind the mask is very different from what they are being perceived as. They can be evil and wicked, or they can be smart, loving, and caring. Characters in the novel, To Kill A Mockingbird written by Harper Lee live through the Great Depression and Segregation. They all have qualities that make them unique in their own ways. In the town of Maycomb, Alabama, citizens are put under stereotypes all throughout the novel. Characters get assigned labels that aren 't entirely correct. Dolphus Raymond, Mayella Ewell, and Boo Radley are all products of what it looks
Everyone essentially lives in their own little fishbowl, surrounded by friends, family, co-workers, etc. All these people influence the way we are judged and perceived. One action and your reputation can go from shining gold to rusty brown. The two novels, To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie put this idea into context. Both novels have characters that break the social norms by using courage to overcome racial obstacles.
The novel of To Kill a Mockingbird is set in the timeline and era of the 1930s which was synonymous for the renowned Great Depression. A tragedy in which social and economic change was urgently required yet old traditional beliefs and racial hierarchies including the Jim Crow laws were kept firm in position. These beliefs along with other aspects including behavior are clearly represented in the novel which leads the reader to infer that the time and setting of To Kill a Mockingbird is the 1930s. There are various methods and pieces of evidence that we draw upon that leads to the conclusion that the setting of the novel takes place in the
"It was times like these when I thought my father, who hated guns and had never been to any wars was the bravest man who ever lived” (Lee 134.) Atticus raised his children in a time period where society treated you by the color of your skin and not for who you are. Atticus and his children are full of confidence and bravery during a time of inequality, depression, and racism. Atticus stood up to what he believed in and he was most importantly brave. His daughter Scout had to stand up to all the hatred she was getting for her father's trial. Atticus took many risks knowing that the outcome may not be favorable towards him. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird , Harper Lee displays that Bravery and Courage are important life traits, and can help
A distinct conscience is formed by the values and desires of one’s unique identity. However, common beliefs of societal standards can influence conscientious desires. In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee introduces a young girl named Scout, who learns about the difference between social conformity and human conscience. Through this, she notices the conflict it brings: choosing to conform or stand with your desire. Through Maycomb’s discriminatory principles, Atticus’ actions against common beliefs, and Scout’s comprehension of Boo, Lee reveals how society’s standards and conformity hinders personal desires for righteousness.
The world is and has always been categorized by many different aspects including the amount of income someone receives, or the color of someone’s skin. These categories are broken up into several different Socio-Economic classes, determined by the economic conditions of someone. People tend to judge and disrespect others of different class rank or race. Whichever class someone belongs to determines the lifestyle and standard of living of the individual. Not only are social class differences a big part in classifying today’s world, but social class differences were of greater impact on the people of the in the south during the 1930s. There are many different ways to categorize the people of the 1930s south and apply those categories to movies
Throughout life, people are constantly learning to adapt culturally and politically, to the world around them. Overtime, we find it easier to cope with more changes more often, because we have learned to adapt quickly. We don’t all cope identically, some better than others. By using different strategies to cope, we make a difference in our life and the lives around us. In the three books, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, a novel about a child in a small Southern town that is involved in a crisis of conscience. Siddhartha by Herman Hesse a story about a man searching for enlightenment, and Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, about an African tribe member’s struggle with his own tribe and external forces. The three main characters all find
In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, many different themes come into view. One major theme that played a big role in the character’s lives is racial prejudice. Racism is an unending problem throughout the book. The song “Message from a Black Man” by The Temptations has many similarities to the theme of racial discrimination. Therefore, both the novel and the song prove that racism was a great obstacle for some people at a point.
It is acknowledged by many readers that there are many different social classes in ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ written by Harper Lee and published in 1960. One of the most obvious social class distinctions is between skin colors, which can be seen through this novel. Since most readers’ focal point of this novel is on the distinctions between skin colors, they are unlikely to pay attention to the difference in social class within the white community. Lee wants to illustrate a contrast in white society and how characters behave differently through the uses of character foil, characterization, and the theme of society inequality in order to emphasize the differences in social classes.
In the story of To Kill a Mockingbird, there is many forms of showing social hierarchy in the town and county of Maycomb, Alabama. Tom Robinson, the Ewells, and the Cunninghams are three examples in this novel that explain the social types in the country at the time. People will criticize others even though they don’t know how their lives really are or how they are treated at home when no one is around. People in the 1930s believed that all men are created equal. The ancestors of these people were taught that only whites were created equal and blacks were considered inferior to whites who were considered higher in rank than blacks.
Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird expresses the ideology that the social standard of a particular individual, classifies their status in the world. Individuals placed in social classes are labeled to create a sense of social identity. The socio-economic class an individual is born into should not be the determining factor of how the individual is regarded and treated, however, their character and personality should be a primary factor in determining how they are thought of in society.
Ever wondered how life could have been in the time of To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, in the 1930s? Though much has changed, there is still an underlying sameness for most things in this world. The world of the 1930s was filled with racial discord and segregation. The world of To Kill a Mockingbird is filled with the racism apparent in the past. This novel sheds light on a particularly uncomfortable time in America’s history.
Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird is well known for the serious social issues it tackles, however it is fundamentally a narrative of childhood growth set in the deep south of America in the 1930s. During the three years in which To Kill a Mockingbird is set Scout and Jem mature physically and emotionally. Through their extraordinary experiences and significant relationships they learn about prejudice, injustice and the truth behind Maycomb. As our young narrator experiences growing up the complexity of her character evolves.