Topic 5: How does Harper Lee highlight the prejudices of 1930s Maycomb in To Kill a Mockingbird?
Harper Lee’s acclaimed novel To Kill a Mockingbird demonstrates, through the young narrator Scout Finch, the many prejudices of Maycomb in 1930. It is through Lee’s creative approach to interpreting these prejudices that we as readers are able to experience the animosity of this particular period in time. Social prejudice in 1930s Maycomb is highlighted through the community’s rigid class structure. We also see the prejudices and gender stereotypes employed against women in Maycomb, through the female protagonist’s narration. However, the most dominant issue explored in this novel is racism, which is brought to light through Tom Robinson’s trial. It is through Lee’s unique analysis of social, gender and racial discrimination that she manages to accentuate these prejudices of 1930s Maycomb in To Kill A Mockingbird.
Social prejudice in 1930s Maycomb is highlighted through the community’s rigid class structure. At one point in the novel, Jem describes, quite accurately, Maycomb’s social hierarchy, a custom the community meticulously adheres to. He says to Scout that “There [are] four kinds of folks in the world. There’s the ordinary kind like us and the neighbours, there’s the kind like the Cunninghams out in the woods, the kind like the Ewells down at the dump, and the Negroes", with the “ordinary kind”, being those in the upper class. One’s position in the social structure of Maycomb becomes the basis of people’s views of them and their family and it is impossible for one to move up in the inflexible class structure, therefore families such as the Ewells will always be at the bottom of the social strata. When Scout asks to spend more ...
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...ange the white community’s view on him, and in fact only reinforces their stereotypes of Negros even further, saying that “Tom’s death was typical…typical of a nigger to cut and run…to have no plan, no thought for the future… they say he [Tom] kept himself clean, went to church but when it comes down to the line…Niggar always comes out in ‘em”. This chauvinistic generalisation further emphasises how racism in the community will always be renewed, even after a grim incident such as Tom Robinson’s. Harper Lee reminds us through Tom’s trial that racial prejudice is a prominent norm in Maycomb and can only be conquered over time.
The prejudices of 1930s Maycomb in To Kill A Mockingbird are accentuated through Harper Lee’s in-depth analysis’s and descriptions of social, gender and racial discrimination, which allows the reader to experience the acrimony of this time.
The novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is set in Alabama in the 1930s, and concerns itself primarily with the interrelated themes of prejudice and empathy. These themes are explored as the story follows Scout Finch as she learns lessons in empathy, ultimately rejecting prejudice. While all characters in Lee’s novel learn from their experiences, not all are able to grow in the same manner as Scout. The idea of a positive role model, typified by the character of Atticus Finch, and the ramifications of its absence, is a concept that Lee places much emphasis on. The isolated setting is also pivotal in the development of characters. Lee uses the contrast between characters that learn lessons in empathy and compassion, and characters that cling to the ideals of a small town, to explore factors that nurture or diminish prejudice.
To Kill A Mockingbird displays an environment where one must be inhumane to another in order to become socially compatible. Maycomb has established a hierarchy where social compartmentalisation is the way of life. Men with a profession and a career are superior, while the farmers are near the bottom of the social strata and are considered inferior. No matter which remarkable qualities Negroes possess, they are always s...
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.
Harper Lee wrote a story to express the different kinds of prejudice in the 1930’s in Maycomb County, Alabama. The thesis has been explained by using actual quotes from To Kill a Mockingbird, and then gave logical explanation on how it was relevant. Prejudices affect the world even today and still they are something that is a horrible thing.
In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird three characters, Scout, Jem, and Atticus Finch, experience the many hardships and difficulties of human inequality in their community, Maycomb County. Scout, the narrator, gives insight to readers about the many different characters of Maycomb, yet two are alike in many ways. Mayella Ewell is a 19-year-old girl who is considered white trash and lacks education, love, and friends. Dolphus Raymond is a wealthy white man who is married to an African-American and has mixed children. Although these characters may seem different, they share many of the same advantages and disadvantages of human inequality.
There is no doubt that Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is a famous novel known for its themes, most of them containing wise life lessons, racial inequality being an obvious and important one. Firstly, racism illustrates the lack of justice and people’s views on prejudice in Tom Robinson’s case. Secondly, the novel touches base on diction notably the racial slurs used. Finally, with racism being a theme of the novel, it affects the characters’ personalities. Harper Lee uses life lessons, diction and characters throughout the novel because it develops the main theme of racism in To Kill a Mockingbird.
Hypocrisy is as much a part of Maycomb’s society as church and community spirit. For example, Mrs. Merriweather talks about saving the poor Mruans from Africa, but she thinks black people in her community are a disgrace (p.234). The hypocrisy of this teaching is shown as soon as she mentions the word ‘persecution’. This is due to the fact that she herself is persecuting the black people of Maycomb by not raising an eyebrow at the killing of innocent black men. Furthermore, it is obvious Bob Ewell is abusive to his daughter, Mayella, and that he is the one who violated her, not Tom Robinson (p.178). Since there is such hypocrisy in Maycomb, there are excuses made for whites. The jury probably thinks that if they pronounce Tom innocent the citizens will mock them as they do to Atticus. Harper Lee uses hypocrisy to show how the people of Maycomb are so engulfed in a variety of elements that they unknowingly complete acts of unjustified discrimination.
Sum up, the social relationship between these people here, this old town Maycomb is complicated and pretty tense. This novel has taught us so much, thanks to Harper Lee – one of the greatest writers of all time. It has opened our eyes wider about racism at that time and compared it to nowadays it has become so much better. People are equally, no matter what skin color you are, what religion you have, or where you’re from, what you’re appearance looks like, we are all equal, and we are all the same – human. So instead of treating badly to one another we should all united and make the world a better place.
Throughout the story, Aunt Alexandra’s behaviors indirectly teach Scout that prejudice is a disease with deep and far reaching roots. As Scout is exposed to Aunt Alexandra’s ideas regarding the hierarchy of society, she also begins to understand why Aunt Alexandra holds such opinions. When Aunt Alexandra comes to stay with the children, she also brings along her unending gossip about other families in Maycomb. Scout explains that “Aunt Alexandra was of the opinion, obliquely expressed, that the longer a family had been squatting on one patch of land, the finer it was” (173).
Harper Lee’s only book, To Kill a Mockingbird, is the stereotypical tale of childhood and innocence, yet it successfully incorporates mature themes, like the racism in the South at the time, to create a masterpiece of a work that has enraptured people’s minds and hearts for generations. According to esteemed novelist Wally Lamb, “It was the first time in my life that a book had sort of captured me. That was exciting; I didn’t realize that literature could do that” (111). Scout’s witty narration and brash actions make her the kind of heroine you can’t help but root for, and the events that take place in Maycomb County are small-scale versions of the dilemmas that face our world today. Mockingbird is a fantastically written novel that belongs on the shelves of classic literature that everyone should take the time to read and appreciate for its execution of style and the importance of its content.
Maycomb, a small town in Southern Alabama suffers considerably during the Great Depression. Poverty outstretches from prosperous families, like the Finches, to the Negroes and “white trash” the Ewells, who live adjacent to the town dump. Harper Lee, the author portrays a graphic image of everyday life in this southern town where tempers and discrimination erupt into quarrel. Racism, domestic violence, and poverty are all themes that are associated within To Kill a Mockingbird and are symbolized by many of the main characters to send a message. First of all racism is the main focus portrayed in To Kill a Mockingbird, it is symbolized by Tom Robinson and Atticus Finch.
Harper Lee's novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, focuses on the maturation of a brother and sister in the "tired old town(Lee 3)" of Maycomb, Alabama, in the 1930ís. Maycomb, a classic southern town full of gossip, tradition and burdened with a legacy of racism, seems a strange place to stage a drama which encourages equal treatment and non prejudice. However, the narratorís fresh outlook on the sleepy town furnishes the reader with a multitude of viewpoints on civil rights. The traditional Southern racism of Maycomb is looked at through the eyes of our young narrator, Scout Finch. Scoutís innocent perspective compels her to ask questions about why whites treat blacks the way they do. These questions are crucial in Scoutís search for her own identity. Scout must come to terms with the racism of her town and how it affects the people in her life. She must find her own position and what role she will play in the whole racial game. A number of people greatly influence Scout. The two major role models in her life, her Aunt Alexandria and her father Atticus, pull Scout in two opposing directions. Through their dealings with Calpurnia, the Finch's black housekeeper, both the reader and Scout are able to distinguish what path each individual wants Scout to follow.
To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee's only novel, is a fictional story of racial oppression, set in Maycomb, A.L. in 1925 to 1935, loosely based on the events of the Scottsboro trials. Unlike the story however, the racial discrimination and oppression in the novel very accurately portrays what it was like in the 1920's and 1930's in the south. Tom Robinson, the black man accused of raping a poor low class white girl of 19, never stood a chance of getting a fair trial. This can be supported by giving examples of racially discriminatory and oppressive events that actually took place in the south during the time period in which the novel is based. In addition to actual historical events, events and examples from the book that clearly illustrate the overpoweringly high levels of prejudice that were intertwined in the everyday thinking of the majority of the characters in the book supports the fact that Tom Robinson never stood a chance of getting a fair trial.
"Prejudices, it is well known, are most difficult to eradicate from the heart whose soil has never been loosened or fertilized by education; they grow there, firm as weeds among stones"- Charlotte Brontë. Nearly every problem and unfortunate mishap in Harper Lee's, To Kill A Mockingbird, has been somehow revolved around prejudice or discrimination. Many different forms of prejudice are found throughout the novel, with racism, sexism, and classicism the most common. The residents of Maycomb have discrimination running through their veins and were raised to be racist and sexist, without realizing. They see nothing wrong with judging other people and treating people that they find inferior harshly. Prejudice is a destructive force because it separates the people of Maycomb, both physically and mentally.
The theme of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mocking Bird is the existence of racism and prejudice in the 1930 – 40's. Harper Lee succeeds in presenting the topic in a manner that is not overly simplistic and thus achieves the task of allowing the reader to fully appreciate the complex nature of unjust discrimination. Harper Lee's inclusion of characters such as Tom Robinson, Boo Radley, Dolphus Raymond and many others, aid the reader to grasp the concept of racism and its central role in the town of Maycomb.