Discrimination Is Alive And Soaring

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

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

To Kill a Mockingbird was a very influential book in the eyes of a growing young woman in America in the 1930’s from the eyes of Jean Louise as a child and Jean reminiscing or reflecting as an adult about the past. Mayella Ewell was a white woman who was looked down upon by her own race and the African Americans were too scared to talk to her. Mayella was looked at to be powerless over her own life and others. If she is, then why does she win the case against Tom Robinson? In the town of Maycomb race, class, and gender played larger roles than some may think let's determine how.

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.

In the book To Kill A Mockingbird, which is a book that was written by Harper Lee and is a historical fiction book, Mayella Ewell, a poor white woman who is at the center of an enormous controversy and is abused by her alcoholic father, isn’t powerful when it comes to gender, class, and race, in my opinion.

Today we struggle with sexism and how women are treated differently/ downgraded compared to men, this issue is also a problem in Maycomb. In maycomb women didn’t have as many rights as men did. For example, “ For one thing miss Maudie can’t serve on a jury because she’s a women. ”page 296 There are still problems today with sexism like in the article, Serena Williams Letter:

In Maycomb, whites were above blacks. If you were white, you automatically had more power than a black because of the time period the story takes place. Blacks and whites were still separated in schools, bathrooms, and neighborhoods. Even though Mayella was white, she was still very lonely and isolated from everyone. “White people wouldn’t have anything to do with her her because she lived among pigs; Negroes wouldn’t have anything to do with her because she was white” .(Lee 1960 Chapter 19) This was said about Mayella by

In Maycomb, unfortunately, racism is common and black people are considered as the lowest class in the society, with hardly any rights or

While she claims that prejudice of Jews is bad, she doesn’t say the same thing about the the prejudice of blacks. Black people had a similar social standing in the eyes of white individuals in Maycomb as Jews did in the eyes of the citizens

In the book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Maycomb is a town divided by racial stereotyping that affects everyone consciously or unconsciously. White men in Maycomb have their rules as though white women in order to please white men. Colored people in Maycomb have their rules that differentiates them from white people and have limited resources. White women in Maycomb have to dress appropriately for their gender. In the Maycomb of Harper Lee’s

The expectation of the gender roles of Maycomb effect Jean Louise Finch (Scout) directly. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee there is an ‘unspoken law’ about how women should act and present themselves. The character Scout in the novel breaks these laws frequently. To begin, it is Christmas and Scout is at the Finch Landing and Francis is starting to get on Scout’s nerves: “This time, I split my knuckle to the bone on his front teeth. My left impaired, I sailed in with my right” (112). Scout hit Francis because he was calling Atticus a “Nigger lover” for defending Tom Robinson.She did this because she has a high level of respect for her father and that is why Scout hit Francis, it was in defence of Atticus. But the expectation of gender roles in Maycomb state that proper ladies are not to be violent, but to be polite and proper all the time.

There are a few social classes in Maycomb. “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 the Negroes.” (Lee 230) If you analyzed this quote very carefully, the Ewells are a higher class that the people of color. This quote comes to life when Mayella Ewell falsely accuses Tom Robinson, a colored man, of rape. IN the trial Atticus was constantly dominating, but lost because of one word, racism. Keep in mind that the year is 1930 and Blacks were constantly getting discriminated. Atticus was prepared to lose the trial and he said to Jem with these words, “In our courts, when it’s a white man’s word against a black man’s, the white man always wins. They’re ugly, but those are the facts of life.”. (Lee 224) Mr. Ewell must have had a brain to know this and he made Mayella falsely accuse Tom of rape. Mr. Ewell did this because he wanted

Harper Lee demonstrates the gender inequity In to Kill a Mockingbird through the description and words of the female narrator, Scout. The prejudice of Maycomb is shown so clearly, even an innocent child like Scout can see the raging extent of gender prejudice that surrounds her. Scout having traits that are more masculine in quality automatically makes her an outcast and disliked by Maycomb's many conforming ideals. Scouts innocence allows the novel to develop through an unbiased perspective. Women had little to serve in juries and there was the constant expectation all women had to act and dress like a Lady. Aunt Alexandra an evident example of having strong beliefs on how separate genders should behave, constantly scolding Scout for wearing her overalls and behaving too tomboyish." I was not so sure, but Jem told me i was being a girl, that girls always imagined things, thats why other people hated them so, and if i started behaving like one i could just go off and find some to play with. (4.119) Scout is raised to believe boys were better than girls, raised in a bigoted and heavily bias community, scout finds it a difficult and unfair experience trying to understand the unjust perceptions of the adults around her. Having Scout narrate the whole novel allows Harper lee to highlight the gender inequity in Maycomb.

people discriminate: Evidence from a series of natural field experiments. No. w17855. National Bureau of Economic Research, 2012.

Discrimination comes in many forms. Discrimination and diversity are closely linked considering the reasons behind discrimination are what makes up the definition of diversity. Not only is discrimination made against gender, race, and religion, but it is also made of age, disabilities, appearance and in a lot of cases, women who are pregnant too. This is very much a reality for many employers. There are laws protecting acts of discrimination. This topic is so sensitive, that many employers implement diversity and discrimination into their mission statements. Many companies make it their practice to host training sessions to prevent discrimination from happening, then there are many companies who can’t afford such training for their