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How history influences American literature
The Influence of History on American Literature
How history influences American literature
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Discuss Harper Lee’s Presentation of Maycomb Society in to Kill a Mockingbird Maycomb is described as a “tired old town” where the inhabitants had “nowhere to go”. Maycomb is very similar to any small southern town in the 1930’s, sexism, racism and other prejudices are at a peak, and old traditions are carried out regularly. To Kill a Mockingbird revolves solely around family, community and society, the focus point of the book, the rape trial, would not have occurred if society had not looked down upon the black community. The society is more the broader, less specific sub category for Maycomb, something more specific would be community. In the 1930’s racism was at large, so ghettos were formed, separation between blacks and whites. It started with smaller, insignificant things. But as time moved on, shops, buses, schools, and even housing areas became white or black only. The whites, no matter how badly they lived, looked down upon the blacks; a good example of this would be the Ewell family. They were possibly the closest thing to white trash in Maycomb, yet could still win a trial against a black man, even though all the evidence was pointing against them. The black communities were jovial places; they valued their lives more than their possessions or money, whereas the whites relied on their income to determine how happy they were. Harper Lee’s presentation of this is well portrayed throughout the book, particularly during Mayella’s questioning during the trial, where she recalls that she often managed to get black people to do jobs for no pay, and the black people seemed more than willing to help. However, racism was not the only problem in Maycomb. The men of the household were expected... ... middle of paper ... ...nsider that they care about others, but in reality, their meetings soon turn towards the most recent story going around town. Harper Lee uses everyday occurrences such as the gossiping to allow the reader to relate to Maycomb and its inhabitants with greater ease. When looked into deeper, excluding the racism, Maycomb is not dissimilar to any small town or village today. Every family is known and stereotyped, and those views are maintained through the generations, perhaps passed down in stories and suchlike. Harper Lee uses this similarity between Maycomb and her childhood residence, after all, she is perhaps writing about her childhood experiences and feelings through Scout. This is why Harper Lee’s presentation of Maycomb society is so well portrayed, because the society is based on a real community and the residents embodied in fiction by Harper Lee.
Blacks were driven out of skilled trades and were excluded from many factories. Racist’s whites used high rents and there was enormous pressure to exclude blacks from areas inhabited by whites.... ... middle of paper ... ...
“I am only one; but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; I will not refuse to do something I can do.” This quote by Edward Everett Hale means that if somebody wants to make a change in the world, even if it is a small thing, they have the power to. The novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is set during the 1930’s. There were different perspectives back then. African Americans did not have the same rights as white people did. This story is based around a society in which African Americans were not given the same chances as whites, and were lower in status. A man named Atticus Finch changes the viewpoint towards African Americans. In To Kill a Mockingbird Harper shows that one person can change society, as shown by Atticus in the Tom Robinson trial and the decisions he makes at home.
Many blacks would rent land from their former masters, thus keeping them indebted to the white landowners. Henry Black recounts his days as a slave as well as a sharecropper in Henry Black & the Federal Writer’s Project. (Doc. F) He tells of rules still
About 95% of blacks in the 1800’s were working menial jobs. The jobs that the blacks acquired were the jobs that whites would not take. Whites just thought of blacks as dumb and incapable people, they were only capable for menial jobs.
Courage is valued in many ways. It is measured by bravery, heroism, physical strength, and morally correct behavior. The world mostly defines courage as having physical strength and being brave. Atticus, Scout, and Jem show many acts of courage through the novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. They all have different views and opinions on courage. The novel is told from the point of view of Scout. She, and her brother Jem, live with their widowed father in Maycomb, Alabama in the 1930’s. Their father, Atticus, is also a lawyer who defends his black client, Tom Robinson, who is innocent of rape. The title To Kill A Mockingbird explains that “it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird” because they “make music for us to enjoy” (Lee 119). In other words, the mockingbirds are harmless and have never done anything wrong. It would be considered a sin to kill a harmless and peaceful mockingbird. Similarly, accusing an innocent and
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.
After liberation, most of the African Americans operated roles as sharecroppers and tenant farmers. “And Black men’s feet learned roads. Some said goodbye cheerfully…others fearfully, with terrors of unknown dangers in their mouths…others in their eagerness for distance said nothing…” (Takaki 311). The migration to the north guaranteed blacks opportunities toward employment, which led them to obtain sharper wages. Unfortunately, the northern part of the United States was not how immigrants perceived it to be: lack of segregation.
poverty and the movement for blacks to gain respect as a demographic. While many of us
understand is that the systems put in place in that era still effect black Americans, and racial issues were
...ncluded the racial and ethnic groups being ignored by previous adminstatration, nevertheless the south helped the New Deal welfare state to be moulded to only helping white Americans as the majority of black workers found themselves to the most venerable and less generous wing of the new welfare state. The federal government allowed states to set their benefits for blacks at extremely low levels and to determine eligibility standards which included moral behaviour as outlined by local authorities, this lead to widespread discrimination in the payment of benefits. African-Americans were the hardest hit by the Depression as they had an unemployment rate double that of whites, thus the majority of blacks were on direct government relief especially in the northern cities such as Harlem where half of the families received public assistance throughout the 1930s.
Even though slavery was abolished, many colored people had very low-paying jobs. In fact, “Like the Youngers, 64% of black women and 34% of black men in the city worked as domestic servants” (Gordon 123). This exclaims how the white class has superior over colored people because of there disagreements with past events. Since there was a vast amount of African-Americans in this area it caused increasing acts of violence because of the huge unemployment rate, Along with the mixture of races if certain parts which many white’s did not agree
were losing their rights, and were forced to do other work that was similar to slavery. African
...onstantly denied equal civil rights and were left behind, while the other minorities progressed in urban industrial America.
Examine the Themes of Innocence and Experience in To Kill a Mockingbird. Innocence is a time when a person has never done something; it is the first step in the journey from innocence to experience. The second step in this movement is experience and this is what is achieved after. a person has done something they have never done before or learns something they have never known before. This theme of growth from innocence to experience occurs many times in To Kill a Mockingbird and is one of the central themes in the first part of the novel, because it shows how Jem and Scout change and mature over a small period of time.