prejudice in Maycomb. Harper Lee uses Tom Robinson's 'crime' to bring tensions in the town to a head and the author uses the trial as a way of making the ideas behind such tensions explicit for the reader. The two people involved in the so-called crime, Tom Robinson and Mayella Ewell, are at the very bottom of Maycomb society. Tom is black and Mayella one of the poorest of the poor whites. However, neither of them fits into the stereotypes held by the people of Maycomb. Tom is honest
opening chapters of “To Kill A Mockingbird,” Harper Lee introduces several subtle instances of racism. However, when Jem and Scout are welcomed into Cal’s Church in chapter 12, the reader really gets to travel behind the false disguise of Maycomb County’s white society to see the harsh realities of the injustices suffered by the blacks. The black community is completely separate from the whites -- in fact, Cal lives in a totally different part of town! Another example of total racial segregation is the
characters who 'brought out' other characters' personality. Harper Lee displays that there is a lot of prejudice going on in Maycomb by putting the Cunninghams in the book. "The Cunninghams [were] country folks, farmers"(21) who are very honest people in Maycomb, they "never took anything they [could not] pay back"(23), but they are unfairly mistreated by part of the society in Maycomb. The Cunninghams are very poor people, but very honest as well. The Cunninghams have no money at all, as Scout was describing
people of Maycomb County are "infected" with racism (Jones 54). When Tom Robinson is brought to trial, convicted, and ultimately murdered for a crime he did not commit, no one in the town seems to show any compassion or regret for him other than Atticus. Atticus describes the people of Maycomb as "mad dogs that he must confront" by defending Tom (Lee 103). To prove the symbol further, Atticus is the person called upon to shoot and kill Tim Johnson. This action by the people of Maycomb, show their
been reasons for insurmountable conflict. Maycomb County serves as an important backdrop to central issues which plagued early 20th century southern America: sexism, racism, and social class conflict. Prior to the feminist movement of the 1960s, women had to follow strict gender roles. Scout is a prime example of a female child struggling to fit these roles placed upon her by not only males in society, but women too. The moment Aunt Alexandra enters Maycomb, she places it upon herself to mould young
their guilty or innocent, you can ceaselessly and effortlessly convict the animals for their color vice. You can even turn a blind eye to the obvious truth. And so did the "people", the white, narrow-minded, bigoted and hypocritical people of Maycomb. The justification for why Atticus broke from the norm, and acted unlike most others in his community, can be compared to the motive of the central character in the novel, A Time To Kill, written by John Grisham. The comparative character, a lawyer
Miss Maudie & Aunt Alex The Maycomb ladies provide an excellent example of racial prejudice, and a failure to see what it is like in someone else’s skin. They believe they are doing well by making money for missions, failing to see the hardship on their own doorsteps. Aunt Alexandra is very important to the novel, ‘To Kill a Mockingbird,’ as she is a representative of these viewpoints, disapproving of Calpurnia and disassociating herself from the black community entirely. Miss Maudie however is
air rifles, Atticus tells them that to kill a mockingbird is a sin. Miss Maudie explains that mockingbirds only do one thing, and that is to sing their hearts out for us. Who are the mockingbirds in the story, and how have they been ‘killed’ by the society around them? Ideas : The two main mockingbirds are Boo Radley and Tom Robinson, but there are others within the storyline. Boo Radley has been shut away from the world by his father and then later his brother through an incident which occurred fifteen
Racism in the town of Maycomb is nothing but disguised by the polite smiles and ladies missionary meetings; although it is the strongest belief that each person of the town holds apart from some such as Atticus. Racism is an issue of great importance, yet to the eye of a visitor waltzing through, it's just a slight whisk of air. Atticus is a good man, a just man. He upholds his morals, and judges by his conscience. He is shaken but not moved by the town of Maycomb in their gossip and hypocritical
full of courage shown by Harper Lee. During her lifetime, there was a huge concept of racism going on in America. However, Harper Lee wrote To Kill a Mockingbird, which is about racism in the society, to go against racism that is overwhelmingly real. To present her message her through her book to the society was a very dangerous action. However, this book touched people's deepest heart, and people's conscience and awakened them to the painful reality. Therefore, this novel is one of the finest
intense time in history. Harper Lee’s novel was intended to bring a harsh sense of reality to the real world, and demonstrate how it really was during this time in history. This novel is set in Maycomb, Alabama, somewhere during the time period of 1925-1935. Times were hard for the citizens of Maycomb during this period, because of the depression. There are many fictional events in this novel related to non-fictional racial events in history. Leading the list of racial crimes would be hate
Malevolent Phantom (To Kill a Mockingbird) “Vision is the act of seeing things invisible” (Jonathan Swift). In every society there is an underlying darkness that is alienation. Those who fall victim to alienation become the invisible and voiceless members of society. In Society there are few that see alienation. There are even fewer that know it is morally wrong and try to illuminate it. Alienation often goes unseen, but it is always there. The struggle to eliminate it will forever continue.
traditional beliefs. To Kill A Mockingbird allows its readers to question and consider those beliefs. 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
grew up in Maycomb County; a fictional town in Alabama inspired by the Monroe County, Harper Lee’s hometown. Scout’s father, Atticus Finch, was a defense attorney during the Great Depression. Just like everyone in Maycomb County, his economic conditions were very poor. Judge Taylor assigns him the task of defending Tom Robinson, a married black man accused of raping the eldest daughter of Bob Ewell, the head of a family that “…had been the disgrace of Maycomb for three generations
closing statements, Atticus remained vigilant in his defense of Tom. Another consequence of defending Tom Robinson in court, aside from being known as a "nigger lover" and opening himself to several other forms of racial hatred from the good people of Maycomb, Atticus was also arguing against a man who was known to be a violent drunk. Bob Ewell was a frightening man and it was noble of Atticus to put himself in a position of opposing such an unstable individual. Atticus remained a gentleman when Ewell
This is a description of the Ewell's home as well as an insight into the Ewells themselves. We learn what kind of a father Robert is and the kind of life into which he has forced his eldest daughter, Mayella. We also see how the county of Maycomb cruelly discriminates against the black community even though they are more respectable than people like the Ewells. Lee uses such detail in the account of the Ewell cabin because the best way to understand the Ewells is to understand how they
It means understanding more about the society. Harper Lee's, To Kill A Mocking Bird, shows the different ways of growing up. There are three characters who go through the process of growing up, Scout mentally grows up, Jem goes through a mental growing up that every adolescent will go through and aunt Alexandra also goes through a mental growing up. Scout is the narrator of the whole book. She is the young daughter of a lawyer, Atticus. They live in Maycomb County with Scout's brother and Aunt
in the 1930's. To them it was not right for a Negro to feel pity for any member of the white community. Another example of racial prejudice in the novel is at Aunt Alexandra's `lady's meeting'. It also shows the hypocrisy that took place in Maycomb. Miss Merriweather goes on to explain the "sin and squalor" that is suffered by "those poor Mrunas" and makes herself seem most ethnically aware, but the she refers to Helen Robinson as; "That darky's wife" The way that Miss Merriweather uses this
In society, many people tend to reject those who are different. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee presents a number of situations that reveal the effects of intolerance on other people’s lives. The characters in the novel who were treated with a lack of intolerance were Boo Radley, Atticus Finch and Tom Robinson. By observing the effects of intolerance on people’s lives, the children gain sympathy, respect and understanding for its victims. The children gain sympathy for Boo Radley
Prejudice is arguably the most prominent theme of the novel. It is directed towards groups and individuals in the Maycomb community. Prejudice is linked with ideas of fear superstition and injustice. Racial prejudice consumed the mob (pg 166), which wished to prevent Tom even gaining a court hearing, the most basic form of justice. This is probably the fiercest form of prejudice in the novel. The abolition of slavery after the civil war gave blacks the same legal position as many whites in America