What have you learnt about life in Southern States of America in 1930's from your reading of To Kill A Mocking Bird ? 'Maycomb was an old town, but it was a tired old town' however when we look closely into the book we learn much more about the life of the town in 1930's America. Looking into the society of Maycomb, prejudice was something that was common yet not recognised by many of the towns people. One example of prejudice is of equal opportunities for both sexes. Women don't have equal rights with men; They have to dress according to the society's acceptance otherwise they would be commented about. An example would be of Scout as Aunt Alexandra says to her: 'Well, you won't get far until you start wearing dresses more often' (Chapt. 24) This represents that the concept of the dressing has been going on in her times too and not just later. We also notice that women don't work, the only time we see they do something is participating and gossiping in the missionary tea circle, gardening, an example of this would be Miss Maudie and her flowers. In this chapter we learn that the women are groomed for the occasion; we learn from Scout that 'women wear hats to cross the streets', another dress code for women. 'Our kind of folks don't like the Cunningham's, the Cunningham's don't like the Ewell's and the Ewell's hate and despise the coloured folks'. From this quote from Jem, we learn that the society is split into groups, by class structure and economic wealth. These categories have their own way of living and approach to life and no matter what happens their attitudes will stay the same against each other, this is due to the misunderstanding caused by prejudice. From the novel, we see the class structure with the people living in the Finches neighbourhood at the top as they are well off and richer than the Cunningham's, who were badly hit by the Wall St crash, however they are decent people than the Ewell's who live amongst the dumps by the river; we also learn that the Ewell children only attend the first day of school and don't wash themselves. However we learn that both black and white people despise them as, the Mayella Ewell claimed that Tom Robinson raped her. The whites despise the Ewell's due to their way of life. At the bottom of the hierarchy, is the negroes as they are coloured folk. Another form of prejudice is myths and fears, especially about one character, Arthur (Boo) Radley. The community fears that if they act eccentrically and fail to follow
In “Antebellum Southern Exceptionalism: A New Look at an Old Question” James McPherson argues that the North and the South are two very different parts of the country in which have different ideologies, interests, and values. Mcpherson writes this to show the differences between the north and the south. He gives perspectives from other historians to show how the differently the differences were viewed. These differences included the north being more industrialized while the south was more agricultural. He gives evidence to how the differences between the north and south came together as the south produced tobacoo, rice, sugar and cotton, which was then sent to the north to be made into clothing or other fabrics. Mcpherson analyzes the differences
‘“Maycomb’s Ewells lived behind the town garbage dump in what was once a Negro cabin. Its windows were merely open spaces in the walls. What passed for a fence was bits of tree-limbs, broomsticks and tool shafts. Enclosed by this barricade was a dirty yard.”’ Mayella only has one thing that keeps her sane from all the horrible things that has been happening.
Everything around Maycomb is old as well, like the road in Maycomb changes color when it rains (sparknotes.com). The description of Maycomb, when she recalls it as an adult, makes people feel like it's a slow and boring town. The town has hoover carts and dirt roads, this sets the readers an idea that the town must have been a poor one because of the Great Depression, where almost no one has a job and there is no money to buy things. Scout also describes how the town felt like it was more than 24 hours a day and nobody is hurrying anywhere because there’s not really a specific place that one would go at that time (goodreads.com). Both trials in Scottsboro and Maycomb happened during the Great Depression.
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.
In Kimmel’s essay “’Bros Before Hos’: The Guy Code” he argues that the influence of society on masculinity is equal to or greater than biological influences on masculinity. In the essay, Kimmel uses various surveys and interviews to validate his argument. He points to peers, coaches, and family members as the people most likely to influence the development of a man’s masculinity. When a man has his manliness questioned, he immediately makes the decision never to say or do whatever caused him to be called a wimp, or unmanly. Kimmel’s argument is somewhat effective because the readers get firsthand accounts from the interviewees but the author does not provide any statistics to support his argument.
the pre-Civil War era, only about 5 percent of white Southern women actually lived on plantations and about half the Southern households owned no slaves at all. Still, slavery defined everything about life in the South, including the status of white women. Southern culture orbited around the strong father figure, simultaneously ruling and caring for his dependents - Mary Hamilton Campbell was struck when her servant Eliza refererred to Campbell's husband as "our master". Black and white women never seemed to develop any sense of common cause, but every Southern female from the plantation wife to the field slave was assinged a role that involved powerlessness and the need of a white man's constant guidance. A Southern slave owner named George Balcombe advised a friend to "Let women and Negroes alone. Leave them in their humility, their grateful affection, ther self-renouncing loyalty, their subordination of the heart, and let it be your study to become worthy to be the object of their sentiments."
In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird Atticus Finch is a person who represents Southern Liberalism in his society because he hopes the system will change gradually but doesn’t do anything to push it further.Scholars have debated over this assertion for years. One scholar Monroe Freedman has strong opinions about how hardworking Atticus is in fact he argues, “There may not be many such principles of right and wrong, but the terrorizing of the Levy family, the attempted lynching of Tom Robinson, and the apartheid that Atticus Finch practiced every day of his life-those things are wrong today, and they were wrong in Maycomb, Alabama, in the 1930s,”(477).Atticus’s terrorization of the Levys is universally wrong no matter the time period.Freedman’s
Jean Louise “Scout” and Jem Finch experienced life in the 1930’s living in the small town of Maycomb, Alabama. Their childhood was a nonstop adventure that brought jocund days and testing trials that teenager’s today experience even with the world around us changing every day. The moral upbringings, educational importance, and the crime rate of small towns all contributed to the childhood memories that were built every day in Maycomb County. These attributes to childhood experiences have changed a lot over the vast time period between the 1930’s and 2000’s. The moral upbringings are different in the way that children living now are experiencing a different surrounding in their everyday life and have lost morals that were taught in the 1930’s. Education is more important now than in the 1930’s because of the many laws that have been established to keep children well educated to help them succeed. Living in a small town had many advantages like the low crime rate; crime rate has risen and caused an effect on small town life. There are many similarities as well as differences between the childhood in the 1930’s and the 2000’s. The changes that have occurred affect my life as a young Alabamian every day in many ways.
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.
Jensen provides evidence throughout the text for three assumptions on why masculinity must be terminated from pertaining to just males. It is proposed that masculinity is harmful for both men and women, that men are surrendering their humanity by conforming with masculinity, and
Symbolism. Why is it important in a novel? Why do authors incorporate symbols into their writing? Symbolism aids the reader in understanding what the author wants to portray. In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill A Mockingbird, she writes about the racism in a small town in Alabama named Maycomb set in the 1930’s and about two children growing up and learning that their town is not as perfect as they thought. The theme topic appearance versus reality helps to get a better understanding of the symbols used in the novel and that you should not judge something by their appearance, you should judge by the reality of what it is. “As Atticus once advised me to do, I tried to climb into Jem’s skin and walk around in it.” (Scout page 77) In her novel, there are many symbols throughout the narrative that relate to the theme topic appearance versus reality. Harper Lee writes symbols into her novel, such as the snowman, Mrs. Dubose’s Camellia flower and Dolphus Raymond’s Coca-Cola bottle to help reinforce the theme topic of appearance versus reality throughout the novel.
Imagine a historian, author of an award-winning dissertation and several books. He is an experienced lecturer and respected scholar; he is at the forefront of his field. His research methodology sets the bar for other academicians. He is so highly esteemed, in fact, that an article he has prepared is to be presented to and discussed by the United States’ oldest and largest society of professional historians. These are precisely the circumstances in which Ulrich B. Phillips wrote his 1928 essay, “The Central Theme of Southern History.” In this treatise he set forth a thesis which on its face is not revolutionary: that the cause behind which the South stood unified was not slavery, as such, but white supremacy. Over the course of fourteen elegantly written pages, Phillips advances his thesis with evidence from a variety of primary sources gleaned from his years of research. All of his reasoning and experience add weight to his distillation of Southern history into this one fairly simple idea, an idea so deceptively simple that it invites further study.
Throughout history, time has created and shaped the ideal type of men, while society chooses what it means to be a real man..The ideal real men needed to be strong, provider of his family, decision maker, economically, educationally, physically, and politically dominant (Myers). The difference between the masculinity of the 20th century and the 21st has changed significantly. The ideal men status in 1900’s was rich, educated, powerful, and successful. In today’s perspectives, men needs to be strong, tall, handsome, capable, and unemotional. The contrast of these two centuries are mostly about men’s social status and appearances. Before, it was all about what a man is capable of doing and how powerful he could be compared to today’s ideal,
MASCULINITY. In this article Watzlawik (2009) examines what elements go into gender constructs and what factors cause masculinity and femininity within ourselves. Thought the article three definitions are explored and examined for pros and cons. The first definition implies “A feminine woman is one who is, and strives to be, attractive to men, and a masculine man is one who is attractive
.... Maycomb started off to be a small town where nothing exciting happened, until all the kids matured and learned over time from the adults setting examples. Its just like when you are doing something that might not be appropriate in front of little kids and you hear teachers or parents tell you to set a good example for the little ones. This is because all the little kids like to fallow in the foot steps of the big kids and will do any thing some one else does. So I have a question, for all of you that have little brothers and sisters or younger neighbours around. Do you set a good example around them? Are you a role model to them and do you help them overcome and mature? If not give it a try, don’t get embarrassed by hanging out with little ones because in the end your setting a good example for others and your self.