Prejudice and discrimination had a major impact on societies, all around the world in the 1930's. Throughout Harper Lee's novel To Kill A Mockingbird there is evidence that Maycomb citizens are morally blinded and are callously indifferent due to the social setting of the town. Lee uses the voice of a young girl names Scout Finch, to highlight the racist and judgmental perspectives of the white community towards the black, during the Great Depression in the fictional town of Maycomb, Alabama. As the innocent girl matures she starts to learn of the reality around her through, race, gender discrimination, and social prejudice. Gender discrimination is a large issue in the plot of the book, especially when it came to people such as Scout. Scout …show more content…
you want to grow up like a lady, don't you?'" (Lee 105). The statement is ironic because instead of telling Scout that it is inappropriate to use such words, she is told that if she wants to be a "lady" she should not. Which proves that if Jem were saying such words, aunt Alexandra would not react the same way. Another bias conversation in the book, is when Atticus talks about Tom Robinson and the case. Miss Maudie is a good friend of the Finch's and when Atticus is questioned about why she is not on the jury helping the innocent man, Atticus replies with '"For one thing Miss Maudie can't serve on jury because she's a woman.'" (Lee 296). At the time women were not treated the same as men, thus men were considered more dominant and powerful than women. By assessing the way Miss Maudie thought of the case, it is clear that sometimes a woman's perspective maybe more neutral than a man's. Women were not allowed to do any jobs that were mostly male directed and this may have put a different opinion in Scout's mind and may have made her feel more vulnerable, and insecure because she was not allowed to follow in her father's footsteps or do activities that her brother would
In the classic novel To Kill A Mockingbird, author Harper Lee takes on the malignant impact of racism, a deeply rooted problem, from a different perspective and teaches readers what it truly means to be a good person as she brings to life one of the most virtuous characters in American literature-Atticus Finch. Told through the eyes of a young child, readers learn about the heavy prejudice embedded in the people of Maycomb County and the loss of innocence that is brought upon the kids as a racial conflict spurs a series of significant events in their quiet town. Taken place during the early years of the Great Depression, Maycomb must face its biggest problem-racism. Atticus Finch is the lawyer who defends this case and ultimately brings a
A young girl who realizes the truth of society. A mature father who fixes the wrongs of society. A misjudged man who doesn’t realize how society has judged him. Throughout the novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” written by Harper Lee, prejudice and discrimination occurs in the small town of Maycomb, Alabama. As social injustice continues to spread during the civil rights movement, the main character, Jean Louise Finch also known as Scout, is exposed to racism as she sees multiple unjust situations happen right before her eyes -- causing her to mature and come of age.
9- This quote is Miss Maudie talking about Atticus to Scout, and speaking honestly. She means that Atticus treats his family with the same attitude he would treat strangers, and hides nothing. This quote is important because it teaches us that the townspeople know what Atticus is like, and know he is equal to everybody. Quote #
To Kill a Mockingbird is an important text worthy of all the recognition it received in the time following its original publication. A prime piece of fine American literature based in a period of extreme racial segregation and inequality. Set in a southern town of Maycomb Alabama during the depression, Lee follows three years of the life of eight-year-old Scout (Jean Louise) Finch and her older brother Jem (Jeremy) Finch as their father is, for three years, a fundamental figure in a case that had punctured the town as a result of the arrest and eventual trial of a young black man. As the years commence/continue, Scout and Jem, alongside the audience grow increasingly aware of prejudice throughout society as they learn the importance of perspective and being courageous when faced with adversity. By illustrating the influence of prejudice on society, Harper Lee challenges the perspectives of society, criticizing the nature of humankind to stereotype and be prejudice towards one another and in doing so, she successfully convinces the author to look beyond the facade society creates and locate the humanity that is concealed within everybody.
She inspires Scout to be who she wants to be, and shows that dresses are not required to be a lady. During one of the many meetings on Miss Maudie’s porch, she tells Scout, “You are too young to understand it … but sometimes the Bible in the hand of one man is worse than a whiskey bottle in the hand of ― oh, of your father,”(Lee 60). Scout immediately jumps to Atticus’s defense, saying that he has never drunk at all except for one time when he tried it and realized he didn’t like it. Miss Maudie laughs and explains that what she meant was, “If Atticus Finch drank until he was drunk he wouldn’t be as hard as some men are at their best,”(Lee 60).
In the book, “To Kill a Mockingbird,” by Harper Lee, the author writes about what happens in the small southern town of Maycomb, in Alabama. Lee uses the influence of belief in traditions such as roles and family bonds to show that they are causes of conflict. Throughout the book, roles such as gender, age, race, and family confines characters to act, look, and even speak certain ways, causing internal, external, and family conflicts. This theme that different types of roles and family bonds are the root of conflict is developed through the use of physical setting, anti stereotype, and historical setting The author shows that Scout faces external conflicts caused by the pressure to fit into the stereotypical gender roles accustomed to girls at this time in history.
Rajan Dosanjh Mrs. Haber ENG 1D0A January 18, 2017 To Kill A Mockingbird Theme Essay Discrimination is a societal issue which has been prevalent for a long time and still brings people down in today’s society. Discrimination can be defined by the unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories of people or things, especially on the grounds of race, age, or sex (www.dictionary.com) Lee’s book To Kill a Mockingbird is based in a small town in Alabama called Maycomb where a man named Atticus Finch is appointed to defend a man named Tom Robinson who was accused of raping a teenage girl.
Scout has many mentors throughout the story, but Atticus is one of the most influential. Atticus teaches Scout life lessons that she uses to develop as a person. He enlightens Scout’s thinking by suggesting that “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view… Until you
Scout changed a lot over the course of this story. She was exposed to many events that led to her gradually changing her way of life. She doesn’t change as much as Jem does or as fast as him, but she still changes. She learns to mature, understand things better, and treat people with respect.
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee is the story of a small town named Maycomb Located in Alabama, highlighting the adventures of the finch children and many other people in the small town. The people in this town are very judgemental and of each other and it often leads to people being labeled with stereotypes and people think they know everything about that person however that is not reality. It is not possible to know the reality of a person 's life by placing a stereotype without seeing it through their own eyes and experiencing the things they experience. This happens often throughout the story with many people in the town. People are labeled as many things such a “monster” a “nigger” and many other things that seem to put them in their
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee tells a story of racial prejudice during the Depression and how it is combated. The main development in the novel is that a Atticus, the father of Scout and Jem, has been appointed to defend Tom Robinson, a black man accused of raping a young white woman named Mayella. Many people in the town of Maycomb, particularly people involved with the case of Tom, have a negative attitude towards African Americans. Prejudice was a terrible issue in the South during the Depression, but Atticus Finch shows that racial injustice can be combated in two main ways, each having different levels of effectiveness.
In To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee teaches us about the town of Maycomb County during the late 1930s, where the characters live in isolation and victimization. Through the perspective of a young Jean Louise “Scout” Finch, readers will witness the prejudice that Maycomb produces during times where people face judgement through age, gender, skin colour, and class, their whole lives. Different types of prejudice are present throughout the story and each contribute to how events play out in the small town of Maycomb. Consequently, socially disabling the people who fall victim from living their life comfortably in peace. Boo Radley and his isolation from Maycomb County, the racial aspects of Tom Robinson, and the decision Atticus Finch makes as a lawyer, to defend a black man has all made them fall in the hands of Maycomb’s prejudice ways.
Here is an example of Miss Maudie choice to defend Scout in a group full of women: “That Stephanie’s a card,” somebody said. Miss Stephanie was encouraged to pursue the subject: “Don’t you want to grow up to be a lawyer?” Miss Maudie’s hand touched mine and I answered mildly enough, “Nome, just a lady. ”Miss Maudie (Lee,122) Like Atticus Scout father she gives advice and listens to.
In To Kill a Mockingbird there are lots of racial, gender, and religious, discrimination. Which is shown a multiple amount of times throughout the novel. To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel written by Harper Lee which takes place in Maycomb Alabama, where there is a lot of racial discrimination. But there is also some gender, and religious, discrimination.
In the novel, ‘To kill a mockingbird, Harper Lee demonstrates the small, imaginary town, the Maycomb County, as a place where racism and social inequality happens in the background of 1930s America. Not only the segregation between whites and blacks, but also the poor lived in a harsh state of living. As Scout, the young narrator, tells the story, Lee introduces and highlights the effects of racism and social inequality on the citizens of Maycomb County by using various characters such as Boo Radley, Tom Robinson, and Mayella Ewell. Firstly, Harper Lee portrays Boo Radley as a victim of social inequality through adjectives and metaphor in the phrase, “There was a long jagged scar that ran across his face; what teeth he had were yellow and rotten;” ‘Long jagged scar that ran across his face’ tells us that Boo Radley has stereotype about his appearance, which forces to imagine Boo as a scary and threatening person. The phrase, ‘yellow and rotten’ make the readers think as if Boo Radley is poor and low in a social hierarchy, as he cannot afford to brush his teeth.