Modern society has problems with equal rights, and treating everyone with the same respect. Yet, nothing compares to the 1930s. Life in the 1930s was only great for those with white skin and some wealth. Everyone else were placed in the lower classes. At the time, no one would try to learn anything from one another, they only cared about the statuses of everyone else. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee uses moral education and social inequality, to convey to her 1960’s readers that depending on how one is taught, it can affect how people see others in lower classes or even affect social class in the hierarchy. Social inequality is an engraved part of American society, even though it leaves negative effects on those in the lower classes. …show more content…
A white man can point his finger at an innocent black man, and blame him for a crime he did not commit. Much like how Bob Ewell blamed Tom Robinson for raping his daughter, when it was Bob Ewell who should have been blamed. Social inequality gives people in “higher” classes a power they can wrongly use. Not only are people treated poorly for the color of their skin, but also because of their wealth. In the book Aunt Alexandra states, ‘“Because- [Walter Cunningham]-is-trash, that’s why you can’t play with him. I’ll not have you around him, picking up his habits and learning Lord-knows-what’”(Lee 301). Walter is a part of a poor, farmer family. He's known to be dirty, and he is so poor he cannot buy lunch. Aunt Alexandra will not let Scout see him, because she does not want her family to have any other association with the Cunninghams. Her family is in one of the higher classes of Maycomb, and it would be considered a sin if they were caught around folk from the lower classes. Social inequality has terrible impacts on society, but it does have a connection with the moral education of the …show more content…
Instead of letting other people’s wrong beliefs get to them, they stuck to their own. Atticus speaks in the text, “‘...You never really understand a person until you consider things from their point of view’”(Lee 39). When Atticus shares this information, it gives the kids a more of an understanding of other people’s circumstances. Instead of assuming something, they will have to walk a mile in someone else's shoes. This is will help them not be prejudice towards others in their lives. Later in the text, Atticus shares, even more, wisdom with the members of his family. The book says, “‘Atticus, he was real nice’...'Most people are, Scout, when you finally see them’”(Lee 376). When speaking to Scout, Atticus explains that people can change for the better. Those people just have to realize their wrong behavior, like being prejudice to an innocent man. When taught correctly, moral education can have a positive impact on people. It just takes time to finally understand such content instead of making assumptions. Social inequality and moral education are obviously shown throughout To Kill a Mockingbird. As shown in the essay, Harper Lee uses these themes to convey to her readers in not only in the 1930s and 1960s, but also in present day
The lack of knowledge in Maycomb about the outside world and their opinions about black people ingrains ‘Maycomb’s usual disease’ into their minds as they have no other opinions about black people. This is shown by the crowd’s outrage as they gather to lynch Tom, not knowing that he was innocent, but blinded by their pre-conceived ideas about black people, thinking that Tom obviously did it as he was black. Their prejudice and ignorance blinded them to the fact that the Ewell’s had manipulated him to their own benefit. Also, this prejudice causes the people who are prejudiced to be as prejudiced towards people who are not. This is shown by Mrs Dubose’s statement to Jem, “Your fathers no better than the niggers and trash he works for.” This shows that Atticus and his family are put on a lower level than normal citizens.
Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird explores the concept of injustice and her readers are introduced to a society where the social hierarchy dominated acts of humanity. We are often put into situations where we witness member of society be inhumane to one another in order to fit into the community and to act selfishly to save yourself. Within the text, we are also commonly shown the racial discrimination that has become society’s norm. Because of the general acceptance of these behaviours, it is explicitly show to all that the major theme Lee is trying to portray is ‘Man’s inhumanity to man’.
Sometimes, people discriminate one thing, but strongly oppose the discrimination of another thing. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, this issue is very much expressed throughout the story. This thought-provoking story takes place in Maycomb, Alabama during a time when there’s a rape trial against a falsely accused African American named Tom Robinson. There is also a discrimination, of sorts, towards a man named Boo Radley, by three young children named Jeremy “Jem” Finch, Jean Louise “Scout” Finch, and Charles “Dill” Baker Harris. Both Boo Radley and Tom Robinson are similar in their own ways through their inherent goodness.
As a father, Atticus Finch tried to make his kids the best they can be. He tried teaching them that just because everyone acts a certain way, doesn’t mean they have to be close-minded and go along with it. Furthermore, he tries teaching them to always place themselves in someone’s position before judging them. Atticus leads them with example in the way he fought for Tom Robinson, tried helping Mayella Ewell deal with her father, and tried protecting Boo Radley from harassment. In conclusion, Harper Lee portrayed a sense of universal understanding in her novel.
Atticus is a great leader of his family, teaching his children morals and life lessons. He makes them better people by showing them how to deal with the trial and people making fun of them. Atticus teaches Scout how to respect other people. First, Scout learns to respect Atticus, then to respect "Boo" Radley, and finally to respect a whole race of people, negroes. He makes it a common practice to live his life as he would like his children to live theirs, and thus displays the attributes of an honest, respectable, and kind man. Throughout the trial process, Atticus shows Jem and Scout that true courage is standing up for what you believe in and that all human beings, despite their race, deserve respect. "You never really understand a person until you climb into his skin and walk around in it." This quote shows that Atticus wants his children to get along with people, and so other people will respect them for whom they are.
Strict Social Scrapes in the Segregated South In Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, a small town in Alabama exemplifies one of the many towns that has clearly defined social classes. Some of these stereotypes are determined by one’s class, nationality, and gender, and the authority that people believe they possess, which leads to conflict. During the 1930’s in the south, Mayella Ewell’s gender and class did not provide her with a voice. However, her skin color outshone her disadvantages, and allowed her to be highly respected, and this also gave her power over all black people.
Scout learns that by yielding to prejudice, we often hurt and cause strife unto others. For example, Scout is harassed and becomes the target of insults when her father decides to defend Tom Robinson, a black man accused of raping a white woman. This is a plajurized essay. The hate felt towards black people by the majority of the Maycomb citizens causes them to bother and harass those who attempt to befriend the black people. Forgive me for stealing this essay. Scout realizes that the only reason she must undergo this torment is that her father is defending a black man, which has become taboo because of the corruption that racism has caused in many people. In addition, Scout watches Tom Robinson undergo unfair treatment and false accusations. Please dont tell my parents I stole this essay. Although Atticus provides the jury and the people of Maycomb with overwhelming evidence benefiting Tom, and ultimately proving him innocent, this is not enough to overcome the powers of hate and racism. Scout watches as the jury deliberates and convicts Tom Robinson of murder because he is a black man. This is a stolen essay. Although Scout witnesses a myriad of injustices occurring against black people, she also sees an exiguity of kind and compassionate movements towards black people.
Throughout the novel, Atticus’ assistance to Jem and Scout’s development becomes evident. Atticus takes every opportunity to attempt to teach his children the importance of having an open-mind. For instance, when Scout queries Atticus about Maycomb’s prejudice perspective, he tells her, “You never really understand a person until…you climb in their skin and walk around in it.” (Lee 30) Even during the early stages of the novel, it is apparent that Atticus endeavors to instill the values of empathy and tolerance within Jem and Scout by teaching them how to have multiple perspectives on a situation. In addition, Atticus also attempts to enlighten his children about peaceful resolution in society. For example, when Atticus is chosen to defend Tom Robinson, Atticus tells Scout, you might hear some ugly talk about it at school but…you just hold your head high and keep those fists down.”...
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.
During our lives, we develop morals and values through life experiences. They can be influenced by our society and the people we surround ourselves with. In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee demonstrates courage, social inequality and prejudice through the characters and events in the book. We experience life lessons through the protagonist Scout Finch as she develops her own values. This is displayed through a variety of life lessons and values throughout the novel.
Many students believe that Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird displays social issues in early America. In this time standing against common customs was unacceptable, a violation of society. People believe that today courage has overcome adversity that was displayed in early America. Courage is the common subject of To Kill a Mockingbird, which allows Lee’s novel to defy the changing times of humanity. These morals are bound to the “impartiality” and “fairness” taught to people as children, but become unavoidably invisible though selfish actions. The characters in To Kill a Mockingbird express audacity along with resilience in the face of cowardice.
Racism is a belief that inherent differences among the various human racial group determine culture or individual using one’s race is superior and has the right to dominate others or a racial group for example Tom Robinson. Racism influences the actions of this character because he is being charged for doing something he didn’t do. Tom Robinson is an African American (Negro) he lives on the outskirts of Maycomb Country. Over all Francis, Scout’s cousin and Mrs. Dubose doesn't like the fact that Atticus is defending a “nigger”, both Francis and Mrs. Dubose tell Scout in the rudest way that Atticus defending a negro will bring them all down. “I guess it ain’t your fault if Uncle Atticus is a nigger-lover besides, but I’m here to tell you it certainly does mortify the rest of the family….Mrs. Dubose would hound Jem about everything especially the fact the our father’s a nigger-lover” (Lee 110 & 144). In this case the Ewells blame Tom Robinson for raping their daughter however, we still don't know what really happened. The Ewells and more of Maycomb's citizens argue that Tom Robinson raped Mayella, Bob's’ daughter they think that since he’s “black” that he would be able to do that with only one healthy
Atticus taught Jem and Scout to respect people, even if they didn’t respect them back, he taught them to understand that you never know what a person is going through to make them how they are so you shouldn’t judge them or hold it against them. Because Atticus taught his children these lessons they were able to recognize the injustices found throughout the town of Maycomb and sometimes when they spoke out, they would make a little change in someone’s ideals (for example, scout talking to Mr. Cunningham at the jail house, or Jem spending time and reading to Mrs. Dubose.) Whereas, the children of Bob Ewell wouldn’t recognize injustices because Bob Ewell didn’t teach them about morality, he only taught them how to be like him—which is a liar, a slacker, and a rude hurtful person. The same goes for the rest of the children; Cecil Jacobs referred to Black people as “niggers” (Lee 99) because that’s how his father and the town taught him to refer to black people as, whereas Atticus tells Scout to never say that word because its “common” (Lee 99) meaning uneducated. Even though Atticus wasn’t confronting everyone with racist views, what he was doing was way more effective than going for to door educating people, he was educating his children, educating the next generation on how to act in the face of racism and he showed them what was right from wrong. By teaching his kids these important lessons he is making sure that they pass their knowledge on to everyone else and that by doing that the next generation won’t be as ignorant as the previous one. Atticus didn’t have an insufficient response to racism; he just understood that he couldn’t change the town, but the children
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is a novel that covers many different well known issues with prejudice. Not only is racism a big problem in this book, but judgement based on social class is also evident. Economic class in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird is shown in many ways from how people are treated and talked about, to how people assume that they live their lives.