Economic Classes in To Kill a Mockingbird
“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 out in the woods, the kind like the Ewells down at the dump, and there’s the negroes.” (Lee 258).When Jem proclaimed this social idea to Scout in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, it showed how much of an influence the different economic classes have on the people of Maycomb County. In the novel, Scout and Jem Finch are raised by their father Atticus, a lawyer who is very respectful and understanding. Atticus’ outlook on life is shown when he accepts the Cunningham’s payment in things grown from their farm instead of money, when Atticus helped them with an entailment. The Finch children are also raised with the help of Calpurnia, the family’s African American cook, and spend the summer with their best friend Dill Harris. Dill comes to
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In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird she reflected Maycomb County as “a small town community, [where the] inhabitants of Maycomb know each other and label one another” (Champion 3). Harper Lee “strived to present a ‘realistic’ portrayal of small town southern life” and does so by allowing a cross-section of Maycomb, Alabama to speak their lives in the language characterized by their social class. (Hovet 190). The events and situations in the novel occurred around 1933, yet in 2016 there are still major issues relating to social barriers and unfair treatment between economic classes. Many Americans believe that there is still a superiority of whites in the United States, and that there is an unbalanced distribution of wealth among the social classes. Even though Maycomb County is a fictional town, its economic classes resemble those of today's, and its affects of predisposition and lack of communication still
Jem and Scouts’ father, Atticus, is very misjudged by their children. They believe that Atticus is a very semantic man that goes to work, comes back, and has no skill whatsoever in sports. Scout criticizes Atticus by saying “Atticus did not… or do anything that could possibly arouse the admiration of anyone”(118). This demonstrates that Jem and Scout are not satisfied with Atticus’s physical and amusing skills. They thought of him as an old man in his fifties that had no energy left, and had a routine of going to bed and reading in the living room instead of running around. Later, they visit there across the street neighbor, Mrs. Maudie to talk about how boring their Dad is, when Mrs. Maudie says” ‘Well, he can make everybody’s will so airtight can’t anybody meddle with him’… ‘Well, did you know he is the best checker-player in this town? Why down at the Landing when we were coming up, Atticus Finch could beat everybody on both sides of the river”(120). This establishes that they find out that their Dad isn’t so useless anymore. Even though the children find out all these activities he is excellent at, sometimes even the best, they are still not overly impressed. After Calpurnia calls the cops on the dog, Tim Johnson, The sheriff and Atticus arrive at the scene “ ‘Take him, Mr. Finch’. Mr. Tate handed the rifle to Attics; Jem and I nearly fainted…’’d you see him, Scout? ’d you see him just standing there?...’n’ all of a sudden he just relaxed all over, an’ it looked like that gun was a part of him’”(126-129).
It is acknowledged by many readers that there are many different social classes in ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ written by Harper Lee and published in 1960. One of the most obvious social class distinctions is between skin colors, which can be seen through this novel. Since most readers’ focal point of this novel is on the distinctions between skin colors, they are unlikely to pay attention to the difference in social class within the white community. Lee wants to illustrate a contrast in white society and how characters behave differently through the uses of character foil, characterization, and the theme of society inequality in order to emphasize the differences in social classes.
Childhood is a continuous time of learning, and of seeing mistakes and using them to change your perspectives. In the book To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee illustrates how two children learn from people and their actions to respect everyone no matter what they might look like on the outside. To Kill A Mockingbird tells a story about two young kids named Scout and her older brother Jem Finch growing up in their small, racist town of Maycomb, Alabama. As the years go by they learn how their town and a lot of the people in it aren’t as perfect as they may have seemed before. When Jem and Scout’s father Atticus defends a black man in court, the town’s imperfections begin to show. A sour, little man named Bob Ewell even tries to kill Jem and Scout all because of the help Atticus gave to the black man named Tom Robinson. Throughout the novel, Harper Lee illustrates the central theme that it is wrong to judge someone by their appearance on the outside, or belittle someone because they are different.
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.
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.
In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee tells the story of the struggle of a white family facing discrimination for defending a black man. Scout and Jem are two young children living in Maycomb, believing that everyone is like their father, Atticus, who embodies justice and equality. Atticus takes on the case of defending Tom Robinson, a man who is being charged with raping a white woman. Before the trial, the Finches are forced to withstand torment from the townspeople. Their beliefs are shaken when a black man is given a rigged trial and he is innocent.
The world is an unfair place, high social standing is longed for by most. America in the 1930’s was not the place you wanted to be if you were not born a white, rich, man. In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird, the author Harper Lee illustrates the inescapability of social class and the heartbreaking reality of cultural barriers. In the summer of her fifth year, Jean Louise Finch, or “Scout” for short, discovers the true colors of the world’s injustices for the first time accompanied by her ten year old brother Jeremy Atticus Finch, or “Jem,” and her neighbor’s seven year old nephew, Charles Baker Harris, or “Dill.” Together the three children come to see there are many deep layers to the residents in every town, even a small, quiet one like
When an old tired town does not have any good economic sources you might think that a parent won’t care about his or her children. In the novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” Atticus is the father of Jem and Scout. Atticus is like middle class in his society and is as one parent he is a good father unlike the Ewells father. The Finches are a loving family and sharing because the father teaches them different things about life he tells them how a gentleman and a lady would act and should say. Also theirs other people in the novel that also help Jem and Scout understand about life and what it leads to. One thing about learning conscience is that everything in life is not a joke.
The novel includes many racist characters, but the most important ones are those that show and teach understanding and compassion. Atticus Finch is the father of Scout - Jean Louise, the narrator - and Jem, and throughout the novel teaches them the important lessons of understanding and compassion. The book begins in the summer of 1935, where the two young kids meet Charles Baker Harris, nicknamed Dill. The three spend the summer together, and Dill makes it his mission to coax Arthur Radley, who the kids call Boo, out of his house, in which he has been for over twenty years.
In To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, housing inequality is readily apparent and is vividly described in the description of the “Negro settlement.” Even the fact that the white townspeople call it a settlement makes it clear they do not want it to be part of the town of Maycomb. The inequality goes beyond just the housing, affecting many aspects of how the African Americans are forced to live.
The novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, takes place in the 1930s in a small Alabama county called Maycomb. The novel is about the Finch family of three. Atticus, the father, Scout the older brother and Scout the younger sister, who acts like a tomboy. Scout may be a lady, but does not like to act like one, she likes to play and get dirty with her brother. Being young, both children learn lessons throughout the novel by many different residents, such as, Calpurnia, the maid, Miss Maudie, the neighbor, and their father, Atticus. In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird various citizens in the town of Maycomb play an important role in the lives of Jem and Scout Finch
Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird expresses the ideology that the social standard of a particular individual, classifies their status in the world. Individuals placed in social classes are labeled to create a sense of social identity. The socio-economic class an individual is born into should not be the determining factor of how the individual is regarded and treated, however, their character and personality should be a primary factor in determining how they are thought of in society.
In To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Scout, the daughter of an affluent lawyer in a small town in Alabama called Maycomb. Over the summer Scout and her brother Jem befriend a boy named Dill who lives near by for the summer. Dill becomes interested in a house on their street where Arthur (Boo) Radley has lived for many years without going outside. That fall, Jem and Scout start to find gifts in the keyhole of a tree on the Radley property. The next summer Dill, Scout, and Jem try to act out the story of Boo Radley. Atticus, Scout and Jem’s father explains to them that they should try to see life from Boo’s point of view. When Atticus takes the case of a black man named Tom Robinson accused of raping a white woman named Mayella Ewell, Maycomb’s white community gets very upset. Jem and Scout get the brunt of the towns distress from other children. As the trial date comes closer the people get restless and a lynch mob forms. Atticus talks the mob down and Jem and Scout who snuck out a...
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.
Growing up in Maycomb, Southern Alabama in the 1930s was not an easy thing. Amid a town of prejudice and racism, stood a lone house where equality and respect for all gleamed like a shining star amid an empty space. The house of Atticus Finch was that shining star. Jean Louise Finch, also known as “Scout”, is given the opportunity of being raised in this house by her father, Atticus. I stole this essay from the net. As she grows, Atticus passes down his values of equality and righteousness to Scout and her brother Jeremy Atticus Finch, also known as “Jem”. In “To Kill a Mockingbird”, by Harper Lee, we see Scout learns many lessons about dealing with prejudice by observing the behavior of other characters in the story.