Hypocrisy Of An Adult World: The “Fine Folks” Of Maycomb When people think of the southern states of America, the first things to come to mind are often rolling corn farms, blistering heat, thick accents, and racism. Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird recounts her time as a child growing up in a sleepy Alabama town, where racism runs rampant and everyone is blind to their own hypocrisy. These attitudes can be found in many characters, including the farmer Mr Cunningham, classroom teacher Miss Gates, and churchgoer Mrs Merriweather. Mr Cunningham, as can be observed in the early chapters of the book, is a very poor man. He is indebted to Atticus as a client, and pays him with hickory nuts and other raw goods, as that’s all he can afford. …show more content…
Mrs Merriweather is known as the “most devout woman in Maycomb” (236), a supposed paragon of good grace and empathy, yet she is perhaps one of the most brutal characters in the book. While attending Aunt Alexandra’s Missionary Tea, Mrs Merriweather preaches to her fellow ladies the state of poverty the Mruna people are forced to live in. She begins to tear up when she is reminded of how horrible it is that white people won’t go near them, without even realizing the hypocrisy present in her words. What Mrs Merriweather fails to acknowledge is that she does the exact same thing with the black people living in her own town. She berates her maid, Sophy, for mourning the death of Tom Robinson, claiming that there’s "nothing more distracting than a sulky darky.” (233) Just like the white people with the Mruna, Mrs Merriweather is disillusioned from the plights of oppressed men and women in her own town, and even admits to wanting to live apart from them, saying, “you live your way and we’ll live ours.” (232) While it is easy for Mrs Merriweather to feel compassion in the abstract sense, her own actions directly contradict her claims of being righteous and
To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee is a remarkable novel following the childhood of Jem and Scout, the son and daughter of Atticus Finch. Living in a small and drama filled town of Maycomb County they encounter a great deal of people who do not stand by their word. Hypocrisy occurs throughout this novel first by a man named Dolphus Raymond, then by two women Mrs. Merriweather and Miss Gates.
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...
What does it mean to be a good parent? The most common definition of a good parent is one who makes their children feel valued and loved, by teaching them the difference between right and wrong. At the end of the day, the most essential thing is to create a nurturing environment where your children feel like they can mature into confident, independent, and caring adults. Harper Lee’s novel To Kill A Mockingbird defines what a true parent really is thought hardships and struggles throughout the book. The story is set in the Depression era of a little town in southern Alabama that is struggling with thick prejudice on a colored rape case. The story is told through a character
The book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is about a black man named Tom Robinson who is being charged with the rape of a white girl named Mayella Ewell. While the lawyers are giving their closing statements, Atticus Finch, the lawyer for Tom Robinson, makes his closing statement using ethos and logos persuasive methods to show that Bob Ewell and Mayella Ewell were lying. The logo is the principle of reason and judgment. Ethos is appealing to somebody's emotions. These persuasion methods were effective because Atticus uses this technique a lot one example of this is when he uses logos and asks Bob Ewell to put his signature on a piece so that he could see what Bob Ewell's dominant hand was because according to heck Tate her right side
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.
“Beneath the armor of skin and bone and mind, most of our colors are amazingly the same.” This quote by Aberjhani is very relatable to “To Kill A Mockingbird”. The novel by Harper Lee was published in 1960. The book involves racism, rape, and inequality. A major theme in the book is unfairness. Maycomb County is a small, prejudice town in Alabama. The town is divided between racist Whites, and innocent Blacks. African Americans had no rights and no power in the 1930s. Whites had a lot more rights, and had power over the Black community. From innocent Blacks being killed, court siding with Whites, Maycomb is a very unfair town.
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.
In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee shows the reality of the world in the 1930s through the point of view of a little girl named Scout. She starts as a carefree tomboy, but learns to be more ladylike as the story continues. Her life really starts to change during a trial where her father is defending a black man. Also, she learns that killing a mockingbird is a sin.Overall, she grows up throughout the book, and starts to realize all the issues of Maycomb.
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.
In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee, the attitude towards black people can be seen as quite sympathetic from those who defend Tom Robinson and yet at the same time it was condescending. Throughout the entirety of the text, many examples display this theory. Although it is not actually stated how the attitude towards black people in the text is meant to be intended. Many people debate that although the characters in the novel were sympathetic; they were also still condescending on many occasions. The attitude was condescending in the way that there was an expectation that the “white people” needed to help them. A sympathetic approach is then also shown in that some characters of the text were willing to assist against racism. It is unclear whether Lee intended the novel to be sympathetic or condescending and this can be seen through many themes and
The South has always been known for its farming economy, confederate tendencies, family pride, and delicate females in ruffled dresses. In the book To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, the South's familiar traditions become ostensible as a theme throughout the plot. This novel takes place in Alabama in the 1930s and tells a story about a lawyer who defends a wrongly accused black man while trying to raise his two children, Scout and Jem, as they go through life's most active learning stage. Southern ways enhance the plot of the story and give a realistic and historic perspective to the book. This portrayal of Southern culture appears in various forms of racism, hatred, meek women, and family.
To Kill a Mockingbird novel is a warm and humorous piece of writing though it deals with critical issues such as racial inequality and rape. The novel was published in 1960 by Harper Lee and it gained immediate popularity and success becoming a modern literature in American. The plot of the novel and characters are based on Harper’s perception of her neighbors and her immediate family. Also, it is based on her observation of events that took place near her home area in 1936 at the age of ten years. To Kill a Mockingbird symbolizes killing harmless and innocent people. Tom Robinson is an example of an innocent man falsely accused of raping a White girl known as Mayella Ewell (Lee 169). Another example is Boo who is misunderstood by the society
The theme that I see in To Kill A Mockingbird is that there is hypocrisy in Prejudice. As Scout goes about her life, the reader notices Prejudice everywhere including the school. When Cecil speaks in class after the current event Presentation on World War 2, He says “There are no better people in the world than the Jews, and why Hitler doesn’t think so is a mystery to me...well, I don’t know for certain, they’re supposed to change money or somethin’, but that ain’t no cause to persecute ‘em, they’re white ain’t they?” (Lee 248). Cecil says he doesn't understand why Hitler would hate Jews, because all the Jews did was help, yet he makes it clear that anyone that if they were not white then it was alright to persecute them, though like the Jews
Thomas Gray wrote “Ignorance is bliss,” in his poem, “Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College”. As children grow up, they learn about many unpleasant things, and Scout is no different. She is introduced to many harsh concepts like prejudice. In her novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee uses deception and racism to show Scout’s coming of age.
Antagonization clearly presents itself in Maycomb county. The alienation of the poor and embarrassing, hatred towards people who encourage righteousness, and distressing its population shows this to be true. By making the county as a whole the protagonist, Lee conveys that racism and prejudice cause conflict in society. Interestingly, instead of having one antagonist to represent all that is evil, she says that all of the people who make up a county or community each work together to cause trouble, and potential death of an innocent “mockingbird.”