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Analysis of scout in kill a mockingbird
Literature poverty essay
Great depression
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The Boy Who Does Not Take
The economy crisis known as the Great Depression hit the farming industry the hardest. Teaching farm grown kids to think before they take. Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird shows that the young boy Walter Cunningham Jr. refuses to take anything he cannot pay back, presented when he refuses to take a quarter and eat dinner for free with no strings attached. This character demonstrates the economic class of poverty in the novel.
As Walter Cunningham Jr. is nervous to take anything especially money he of coarse would be hesitant to take a quarter from his teacher. The main character Jean Louise “Scout” Finch is in the same class as Walter. Their teacher was also new to the small town of Maycomb, Alabama where everyone
Scout tried to explain this to her teacher, Miss Caroline, but got in trouble. Scout was so angry she rubbed Walter’s nose in dirt. Jem invited Walter over for dinner and Scout made a remark that made Calpurnia furious. She told Scout, “That boy’s yo’ comp’ny and if he wants to eat the table cloth you let him, you hear?” (32). Scout went on to say how just because he is a Cunningham he was not company. Calpurnia became even more furious and raised her voice and said, “Yo’ folks might be better’n the Cunninghams but it don’t count for nothin’ the way you’re disgracin’ ‘em” (33). This lesson was important because Scout learned just because you might be better than someone or have more does not mean you should act like it. Calpurnia gives the talks and is there for both children just like a real mother would be. Miss Maudie is another Maycomb citizen who is an important role model for Jem and
Poverty can be a terrible thing. It can shape who you are for better or for worse. Although it may seem awful while you experience it, poverty is never permanent. In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird, which takes place in Alabama in the middle of the Great Depression, Walter Cunningham and Burris Ewell are both in a similar economic state. Both of their families have very little money; however, they way they manage handle themselves is very different. In this essay, I will compare Walter Cunningham and Burris Ewell’s physical appearance and hygiene, their views on education, and their manners and personalities.
During the 1930s, the country was in a state of economic depression. Some Americans lost their jobs, while others received a pay cut. There was a low amount of cash circulating the system, and most items were bought on credit. Because families were low on money, they could only buy the bare necessities. They had to spend their money wisely. Since only a minimum amount of food was bought, the supply of crops exceeded the demand. This caused the prices for farmers selling crops to decline. Therefore, the cost of production was more than the profit of selling the crops, making it extremely difficult for farmers to survive.
During the Great Depression receiving an education was becoming more and more difficult for southerners. From not being able to afford the required supplies needed, to not being able to pay the tutions, many people found it nearly impossible to attend school. The novel, To Kill A Mockingbird written by Harper Lee shows how the lack of education in society during the Great Depression affected Southerners lives, not allowing them to change their futures for the better.
Jean Louise Finch responds to her own acts of courage by finding her righteous moral ground. The young Finch girl stepped between a potentially violent conflict, between Atticus and a group of male residents of Maycomb. Scout approached the conflict frightened, and still decided to intervene, mistaking her courage for foolishness. Jean Louise later comes to believe acting courageously is not acting without fear, but rather facing it knowing the possible consequences. Jean resolved the conflict through renewing their sense of integrity. By reminding the resident (Mr. Cunningham) of his own son, the kindness Atticus and his family showed him despite the way he was usually acknowledged, and the devotion Atticus had to helping him, Scout helped Mr. Cunningham and his accomplices see the irrationality in their behavior. Her own words helped her to sort out her own beliefs; of equality, and fairness by reminding him (or rather them) of the morally sound way her, and her family act. Jean Louise acted with courage, and that helped in the building of her integrity.
Hard Times’ ‘The Dirty 30s’ ‘The Great Depression’ (Ganzel n. pag.)This quote describes so much about 1930’s especially farming. Farming was hard because there was a really bad drought. Was out they rain no crops could grow. And the crops can't hold the soil together and not blow away. Which was really bad for the soil to blow away. Also the farmers didn't know that the equipment they were using would tear up the soil too much and it would blow away. The farming in the 1930s was bad because of the dust bowl and the price of everything was low.
Cunningham was a poor farmer and part of the mob that seeks to lynch Tom Robinson at the jail. They have their kids go to school, but they don’t have a bunch. His son, Walter Cunningham was a classmate of Scout’s but he has not passed first grade yet because he skips school every spring to help his father on the farm chop wood. Mr. Cunningham was really poor, but he worked firmly to keep his farm which was right outside of Maycomb. Like most farmers during the Great Depression, he owed oodles of money and paid it off by bringing any crops or plants he could spare from his farm and giving it to Atticus. One night the Finches invited Walter to dinner and he devoured it all and he drenched his food in syrup that was on the table. This shows how the Cunningham family is not always able to access their food. The kids will always be wondering where their next meal will be and when they will have it. The kids don’t always have their lunch with them, too. Instead of paying people back by the money they do it by giving materials they
Harper Lee’s timeless novel To Kill a Mockingbird is told by Jean Louise ‘Scout’ Finch, a fiery young girl from the quiet town of Maycomb, Alabama. In defiance of the traditionally passive role of Southern women, Scout grew up as a tomboy and, like her older brother Jem, was unafraid to engage other children in physical confrontations. At the onset of the novel, Scout displayed these aggressive tendencies, fighting classmates whom she believed had wronged her or her family. However, Scout developed as a character in the first half of To Kill a Mockingbird to the extent that she was willing to walk away from fights that weren’t worth fighting. Scout’s willingness to engage in combat with other children early on in the novel was evident in the description of her treatment of Walter Cunningham after being punished for explaining his financial situation to her teacher.
The Great Depression and John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath Though most Americans are aware of the Great Depression of 1929, which may well be "the most serious problem facing our free enterprise economic system", few know of the many Americans who lost their homes, life savings and jobs. This paper briefly states the causes of the depression and summarizes the vast problems Americans faced during the eleven years of its span. This paper primarily focuses on what life was like for farmers during the time of the Depression, as portrayed in John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath, and tells what the government did to end the Depression. In the 1920's, after World War 1, danger signals were apparent that a great Depression was coming.
Farmers were greatly affected by The Great Depression. In the early 1930’s prices dropped so low that many farmers went bankrupt and lost their farms (“The Great Depression hits farms and cities in the 1930’s”). The stock market crash prevented the farmers from being able to sell their produce (McCabe). Through the depression farmers were still producing more food than consumers were buy, and now the consumers could buy even less. Farm produce prices fell even lower (“The Depression for Farmers”). Some farm families started burning corn rather than coal in their stoves because the corn was cheaper (“The Great Depression hits farms and cities in the 1930s”). Non-farmers had also been hit hard by the depression. With the banks failing and businesses closing, over fifteen million people became unemployed (“The Great Depression”). The unemployment rate skyrocketed from three percent to nearly twenty five percent (McCabe). The Great Depression brought a rapid rise in the crime rate as many unemployed workers restored to petty theft to put food on the table. Suicide rates rose greatly as did recorded cases of malnutrition (“Social and Cultural Effects of the Depression”). More and more people were found standing in bread lines, hungry and homeless (McCabe). The depression affected people and businesses but many programs later America pulled out of their
Scout Finch got into a misunderstanding, argument during class with her teacher, Miss Caroline, about why Walter Cunningham Jr. refuses to take a quarter from Miss Caroline. Atticus Finch once told his daughter about the Cunningham family, the family was poor but refused to take anything given to them for free, but when needed Walter Cunningham Sr. would pay off people with items such as firewood. Scout tries to tell Miss Caroline this, but instead blurted out that Walter Cunningham Jr. “ain't got a quarter at home to pay you back with, plus you couldn't use any firewood”, Miss Caroline was new therefore she was blind to the family's reputation. Atticus finds himself in a situation where the consequence in his sacrifice won't affect his own identity, but will sacrifice the identity of his family that could pass on for generations, Consequently, Atticus does not only sacrifices identity but drags the safety of his children, owing to Maycomb's love for racism shown by Maycomb's pet. Pets are loved and cherished by their owners, which shows that Tim, who represents racism, is loved and cherished by Maycomb which consistently drives the town do anything to save racism if anyone would dare to harm it. Racism
In the great depression many people suffered from hunger and poverty can you imagine not being able to eat for days and days and not only that but imagine having to suffer from sands blowing away all your crops and destroying your home. That’s how it was back then, people suffered from hunger and sandstorms destroyed everything in their paths. John Steinbeck a very well know writer and the creator of “The Grapes of Wrath” is very well known for writing books during the great depression in which he liked to write about the poor, homeless and misfit people. Humility is very well described in the book “The Grapes of Wrath” because it tells about a man trying to take care of his children with the little money he has while also trying to get to California. In the story the man’s humility changes the waitress’s behavior because she feels sympathy towards the man even though she was being a stereotype at the beginning.
In her first school year, Scout has no respect for anyone different from her. An example of this is her treatment of Walter Cunningham, which is heedless at best and merciless at worst: after an explanation of Walter’s habits lands her in trouble with Miss Caroline, she finds him in the schoolyard later and attacks him. After Jem invites Walter to dinner, Scout shows scorn for Walter’s revived dignity, commenting, “By the time we reached our front steps Walter had forgotten he was a Cunningham.” (Lee, 23) She shows marked disapproval for the way he eats, and she decides to eat in the kitchen rather than join Walter and the others at the dinner table. However, as Scout gains experience and maturity, she begins to put aside her differences from others. She becomes friends with Walter, and she asks Aunt Alexandra if she can play with him. Aunt Alexandra appalls Scout with the same prejudice towards the Cunninghams that Scout held two years before: “Jean Louise will not invite Walter Cunningham to this house…Because--he--is--trash, that’s why you can’t play with him. I’ll not have you around him, picking up his habits an...
The film particularly focuses on a white family living in the South of the United States in the 1930s. The two siblings, Jem and Scout Finch, undergo major changes while experiencing evil and injustice in their small town of Maycomb. Jem and Scout’s father is named Atticus and he is a well-respected man in the town as well as being a lawyer. The main plot of the story is when Atticus decides to work on the case of a black man, Tom Robinson. Mayella, the woman defending against Robinson, comes from a low income and low educated family, making them a poor family.
Scout Finch, the youngest child of Atticus Finch, narrates the story. It is summer and her cousin Dill and brother Jem are her companions and playmates. They play all summer long until Dill has to go back home to Maridian and Scout and her brother start school. The Atticus’ maid, a black woman by the name of Calpurnia, is like a mother to the children. While playing, Scout and Jem discover small trinkets in a knothole in an old oak tree on the Radley property.