One of the major themes of To Kill a Mockingbird is the divisions in human society and how those cause inquality among people. Even though most people know that they shouldn't judge others, it's human nature, and because of this, it causes different sections of society. Most of the characters experience this throughout the novel. In To Kill a Mockingbird, certain divisions in society cause inequality in the town of Maycomb, and the characters and the reader both learn important lessons. When unequal divides in society form, the person or group of people that are looked down upon don't get the respect that they should. In Maycomb, anyone different from the traditional southern ways gets the short end of the stick. Race is an obvious division in the society of Maycomb. White people are automatically thought of as good people, while African Americans do not get accepted. The people of Maycomb seem to think that there's something not right about black people, just because that's not traditional in the south. Tradition states that white people are better than black people without a question, and we can see through name-calling and the unfair trail that many people in Maycomb still hold on to this tradition. They don't even think that African Americans deserve to associate with whites hardly at all. Examples of characters experiencing this divide are Atticus and Tom. Atticus gets looked down upon by a lot of people in the town simply because he wanted to defend Tom, who was
In To Kill A Mockingbird, the ignorance seen throughout the novel conveys how expectations set by society affects the important events of life. The trial of Tom Robinson exemplifies how the recurring beliefs on race affected the outcome of the trial. The ideas of social class in Maycomb determined the way the Cunningham's were treated. Aunt Alexandra´s visits to Atticus's house and her gender view towards Scout. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee reveals how society sets expectations of how people should treat others based on race, social class, and gender.
Racism, Segregation and ill-treatment of coloured is major theme explored in the text by Harper Lee. This problem in the little town of Maycomb is just a tiny reflection in the corner of the mirror, of America at the time. And even the world, with references to Nazi Russia in the novel also bringing to light segregation in other parts of the world. She comes right out to say that the world is a racist world, with this novel and she writes to show others what is happening and that it is actually not right. And she does so in a great way by highlighting one great injustice rather than the many and bringing to a realization how irrational and unfair the entire American Justice system was. But we also see a development in the white characters which a representative of the entire America in a sense (and the world) as thoughts and ideas change and people’s views about coloured people change, not abruptly but slow of course. The black characters in To Kill A Mockingbird contribute to the development of the white characters rather than appearing as individuals in their own right. Racism is learnt, and with this we can see that Racism can
Social inequality is an uncivilized ranking scale which was created by simple minded people who held the fear being surpassed. The argument made by Harper Lee in her work To Kill a Mockingbird is that social inequality is a hierarchy that is complex and affects everyone. More specifically, the author argues that the racial boundaries put between the black and white during the 1930’s caused great stress. This is proven in the novel multiple times. The people of Maycomb judge one another based on the background and wealth of their families. Not only do they judge each other within the community, they discriminate against anyone different than them. Social inequality does not only exist in the form of racism, there are many forms; some of the major ones appear in this book. Social inequality based purely on family background, social inequality based on the wealth of the individual and family, and racism. These are three of the major forms of social inequality that appear numerous times in the book.
In 'To Kill a Mockingbird' many morals about the themes in the novel are portrayed through different issues and events. The major themes are appearance vs. reality courage, maturity and prejudice. Each of these themes has an event in the novel that help the reader understand its message.
Maycomb, Alabama was a town of racism and discrimination against everyone. They discriminated everyone from being black, white, poor, and even just for being a bit strange. But what they didn’t realize is “…there's just one kind of folks. Folks."(Lee 259) The courtroom in Maycomb was still separated by the color of skin, the economic structure and even by gender. This was considered a normal thing in Alabama; everyone knew that the only people with power were the white men. They were the only ones who could do anything and led to much hatred all around just because of the supremacy of certain
Maycomb was in a phase of diversity. In the beginning the story, readers learn about the state of Maycomb. One of the main things that are apparent is the economic classes of Maycomb. In the story, Jem tells the reader about social class when he explains it to his sister Scout, “‘There’s four kinds of folks in the world. There’s the ordinary kind like us and the neighbors, there’s the kind like the Cunninghams in the woods, the kind like the Ewells down at the dump, and the Negroes’” (page 226). Maycomb may have been divided because of the trial, but economic class also had to do with it. To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel by Harper Lee, the story taking place in the 1930s. The economy in the story wasn’t the greatest. This was at the time of the Great Depression. That takes a huge toll on how the story is laid
To Kill a Mockingbird is the perfect representation of how life was in the 1930’s. During that time, there was racism, classism, and sexism. In Maycomb County, they call these inequalities, a disease. This disease can not be cured. Since it can not be cured, racism, classism, and sexism are still present today. Even though To Kill a Mockingbird is set in the 1930’s, the extreme inequalities from that time are still deeply rooted in today’s society.
The characters in, To Kill a Mockingbird, a novel by Harper Lee, often use prejudice against people of controversial issues. Many of the townspeople of Maycomb use prejudice on the families who are on the less wealthy end of the spectrum. Issues are still displayed because of the racial prejudice used against African Americans and those of other races. Lastly, gender is a clear issue in Maycomb because of women’s and girl’s rights and lack of respect towards them because they are female. All of the types of prejudice show that Maycomb has many problems all throughout the town between other families and townspeople.
The novel To Kill A Mockingbird is able to relate to the real world. About how unfair the world is and about the inequality people still face. In the novel, Jean Louise Finch (AKA Scout) is narrating and telling a story about how her older brother Jeremy Finch (AKA jem) broke his arm from the elbow down. It all starts in a little town called maycomb during the great depression. Scout first starts the story by telling her family history. How atticus left their family land to become a lawyer and how his sister Alexandra Finch stayed to take care of the land. Scout and Jem meet a kid named Dill during the summer and when Jem tells Dill about Boo Radley, Dill becomes more curious the more jem tell him. When summer ends it’s time for school, scout gets in a fight not even a week into school and she gets in an argument with the new teacher Miss.Caroline. Later on in the story Atticus is defending and negro man named Tom Robinson and that causes trouble in the whole county against that. In this paper i will be talking about how good and evil go against each other and how social inequality was and still is a problem.
In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, one of the major themes that author Harper Lee highlights are the divisions and inequality in society. The story is set in the 1930’s in Maycomb, Alabama when class, gender, and racial discrimination were highly prevalent. In this time Jim Crow laws were in effect. Jim Crow laws mandated the segregation between black and whites. Consequences of questioning Jim Crow laws were violent and people were rejected from society and their family. The 1930’s is also the time during which the great depression was taking place. Many families were hit hard by the great depression. Maycomb was not a poorer, small, Southern, town. Also in this time, women were not given equal rights and they were expected to fulfill
Racism was a big issue in the town of maycomb. One big way racism represents itself is with Tom Robinson, a maycomb black man. He was convicted of raping a young female. She had proclaimed that Tom had went into her house, raped her, and beat her. Her dad states he heard screaming, ran to the house and tom was running away while his daughter was on the floor. Everyone believes her because well, he's black. No one cared about his side of the story, except for Atticus. He
Maycomb represents a typical old southern town. Not many people move into Maycomb and not many people who live there journey beyond its boundaries. As a result, the opinions held by many of the citizens of Maycomb are left to grow and foster in the same families for many generations. The circumstances in Maycomb are less than ideal for generating change and more prone to sustaining traditionally accepted codes. Two codes embedded within southern social beliefs are class and race.
In my opinion members of the Maycomb community are trying to fool themselves into believing that they are model citizens and good Christians, even though a small number amongst them know that they are wrong to persecute and hate due to colour .
In the book ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ by Harper Lee, racism and social inequality are two central themes. Many different forms of social inequality coexist in the society depicted in the book, as the people of Maycomb are very rigid in their ways. This is because the book takes place in a time at which there was much racism and social inequality. In Maycomb, firstly there is discrimination between rich and poor white people, who do not often interact with each other. There is also racism against blacks by all white people in society, both rich and poor. Black people are denied basic rights and discriminated against in this town. Lastly, there is racism between the lowest classes of the community: poor white people and
Gender inequality and race inequality are similar and different in that they are both unjust, however race inequality plays a more prominent unjust theme in the time and setting of To Kill a Mockingbird. Both black people and women dealt with stereotypes, like being a woman associated with being useless, a gossip, and delusional and being a black person meant you are uneducated. These stereotypes led to the word “female” or “n*gger” or black an offensive term. These connotations made being a woman or a black person less worthy. These connotations and stereotypes invalidated a woman’s or black person's word, these stereotypes and connotations led to their word being less true or important than a white mans, even in court. Gender inequality