Historical Lens Essay

The new historical lens is essential to a story because it allows the reader to understand the events before and during the setting of the story. The historical lens focuses on how the characters interpret their decisions based on their time period. Historical criticism is where in order to understand a literary piece, the reader needs to understand the social background,and the cultural surroundings. The historical lens is about the background knowledge of story mostly. He focuses on why people do things based on the time period. And approach often used is to imagine what people felt when they read the the story when it first came out. Through this approach a historical critic would be able to examine how the piece is reflected. A main point

for a historic critic to focus on would be, “how humans in a particular place lived, thought, and felt when the work was written”(Gillespie 1). This knowledge is important to a historical critic because it allows them to Get a better understanding of why things were a certain way compared to today's standards.

This lens is unique because it feels like the readers back in the time experiencing a different time period. The historical lens allows the reader to learn a lot about how far history has come. Another benefit would be that if the reader knows what history events are going on, it makes the story easier to understand and more “meaningful” (Gillespie 3). Although the reader will often have to do research of their own to understand specific historical events they've never heard of. When a reader applies the historical lens to the story it gives them a better visual of what it was like with the story was read when it was first published to now. The reader is able to understand the different reactions the story produces. The historical lens gives the reader the ability to “live” through a different time period and have opinions of why people would do something different compared to now. Like in the novel To Kill A Mockingbird, the reader would not understand the type of language used or the outcomes of specific situations unless they were looking through the historical

lens.
To Kill A Mockingbird is a Southern Gothic novel by Harper Lee. It was published in 1960, but it takes place in the depression era of the 1930s. The novel is about the events leading to Jem Finch getting his arm broken. The book is told within a three year span of events involving the Finch’s and an aggressive trial. The reader follows the novel through Scout Finch’s point of view, and the reader is able to watch her grow. Scout is based on Lee’s childhood, and Dill is based on her childhood friend Truman Capote.

The theme of the novel is that the world contains evil and good. Scout and Jem represent innocence, and how they have never really witnessed evil until the trial starts.Since the novel was placed in the 30s the reader can clearly see the gender inequality that is interpreted throughout the novel. Gender inequality is where a gender gets treated differently based on what gender they are, and how they are “suppose” to act. During the depression era women were not as high profile as men, and they were meant to stay at home and handle the household duties. If they were to get a job they were not paid as much, and not treated as high priority or a-list positions. In the novel Jem often offends Scout because she complains or whines. “I was not so sure, but Jem told me I was being a girl, that girls always imagined things, that's why other people hated them so, and if I started behaving like one I could just go off and find some to play with”(Lee 41). Scout did not want to play the game where they reenact Arthur Radley’s life, and Jem says she is acting like a girl. It's almost as if she is only like a girl when she acts a certain way, but not the fact that she was born a girl. Scout does whatever she can to keep from being called a girl. Mrs. Dubose also comments about Scout being a girl, and how

she should be wearing a dress not overalls. Jem in response says, “Don't pay any attention to her, just hold your head high and be a gentleman”(Lee 101). When he says this it is signifying that being a man is honor, and not saying anything to start a “war”. Scout was suppose to act like a perfect “Southern lady”, but she does not understand why she has to be a certain way. When a reader looks through the historical lens it helps them understand this situation more clearly because the 30s was a time where women did not have as many rights. When reading the novel the reader is able to see how women and men react towards each other based on the time period. Since it was the depression era that is very crucial to the historical lens because it helps the reader interpret the way act based on their social class. “There's four kinds of folks in the world. There's the ordinary kind, like us and the neighbours, there's the kind like the Cunningham's out in the woods, the kind like the Ewell's down at the dump, and the Negroes”(Lee 226). People were labeled by what they had, and what they could give. Even though they all had experienced some time of hardship they still treated each other different based on their class. Not only did the color of a person determine their class, but also their job. The Finch’s were considered higher class because Atticus is a lawyer, and is greatly respected. The historical lens allows the reader to get a better understanding of the different social classes throughout the novel. Even though their is the higher and lower class there is also the black and white community. The black class accepts their status and come together in a time of crisis. The white class although do not treat each other equally, and it shows the separation of classes more clearly. Another historical moment is when a group of white people go to the jail to beat up Tom Robinson. Scout, Jem, and Dill follow Atticus and they find him in front of the jail. Atticus was at the jail house because he heard that a group of people were going to get rid of Tom Robinson, because they thought if he was gone everything would resolve itself. This scene was showing the mob mentality that was common in the time period such as the KKK. This scene was seen differently through the historical lens because mobs were not something to be messed with and a girl knocks some sense into the group of adult men. Scout is able to get the group of men to remember their humanity. The scene between the mob and scout is so intense, but also really funny that a young girl is right in the middle of a mob trying to attack a guy in a jail cell. When reading through the historical lens the reader realizes that the characters are forced to look at the world in which they live by observing the society in which they live in, and by interacting with people. The reader is able to learn about true bravery, cowardice, and humanity. Historical lens is not the only lens a reader can use when reading a literary piece. My next lens I will read through will be the Mythological/Archetypal.