Social Class in To Kill A Mockingbird
Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is about two children, Jem and Scout, and their relationships with their father, Atticus. The children raise themselves growing up, many people would say they were irresponsible, but they are both appear to be intelligent individuals. The novel, To Kill a Mockingbird the novel demonstrates a rigid class structure and social stratification in the County of Maycomb. People should not be judged by their social class, they should be judged on their personality. To Kill a Mockingbird is as relevant today as it was in 1930; significant changes have occured since then, but we still have a ways to go. In the novel people people judged others depending on their social class. In the novel people looked at Mr.Dolphus who was upper class
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Mr.Dolphus was considered upper class in the novel. “He’s not, he owns all one side of the riverbend down there, and he’s from a real old family boot” (Lee, 135). Mr.Dolphus was wealthy pre and post depression therefore, everyone considered him in the upper class.
The second social class was the middle class which was the Finch Family. Atticus was a lawyer, his salary was modest, therefore; he brought decent amount of money home for the family “Atticus derived a reasonable income from the law” (Lee, 2)
The third social class demonstrated in the novel was the lower class, that included the workers and farmers who struggled to make ends meet. In to novel, the Cunningham’s is a good example of the lower working class. The Cunningham’s were farmers. Many people back than believed farmers were very poor, but it was the fact that the depression hit them the hardest that made them struggle so much financially, “Are we as poor as the Cunninghams? Not exactly. They Cunninghams are country folks, farmers, and the crash hit them the hardest” (Lee,
Never judge someone without knowing the whole story. The novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is about two young kids named Jem and Scout Finch growing up in the south in the 1930’s during the great depression and segregation. Through Jem and Scouts experiences, the author shows that before you judge someone, you should take the time to walk in their shoes and understand them.
For example, Atticus, Scout, and Jem are part of the highest social class. They are part of this social class because Atticus is a lawyer, which makes him a highly respected person in the community. This is also one of the highest-ranking jobs in Maycomb society Scout and Jem are his children and therefore also part of
The novel To Kill A Mockingbird is able to relate to the real world. About how unfair the world is and about the inequality people still face. In the novel, Jean Louise Finch (AKA Scout) is narrating and telling a story about how her older brother Jeremy Finch (AKA jem) broke his arm from the elbow down. It all starts in a little town called maycomb during the great depression. Scout first starts the story by telling her family history. How atticus left their family land to become a lawyer and how his sister Alexandra Finch stayed to take care of the land. Scout and Jem meet a kid named Dill during the summer and when Jem tells Dill about Boo Radley, Dill becomes more curious the more jem tell him. When summer ends it’s time for school, scout gets in a fight not even a week into school and she gets in an argument with the new teacher Miss.Caroline. Later on in the story Atticus is defending and negro man named Tom Robinson and that causes trouble in the whole county against that. In this paper i will be talking about how good and evil go against each other and how social inequality was and still is a problem.
In this novel, Jem learns he is part of the highest social class. Besides him, this class includes Miss Maudie, Judge Taylor, and Mr. Underwood who look down upon every other social class. An example of
As children grow up, they open their eyes to the harsh truths in the world around them that they once did not understand or question. This is experienced by the main characters of Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird. The story is of a girl called Scout and her older brother, Jem, who go through the trials of growing up in the fictional small Southern town of Maycomb, Alabama in the 1930s. Racism is rampant in the mindset of the townspeople, shown when the children’s lawyer father, Atticus, takes the case of an obviously innocent African-American man and they convict him in their hearts before the trial even starts. Through this all, we can see the theme of loss of innocence in the children. Lee uses characterization to portray
It is important to put yourself in one’s shoes. By doing so, you can understand that person’s situation better. In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Aunt Alexandra is prejudiced towards social classes, and Bob Ewell is prejudiced towards people whose skin color is different than his.
In the end you can see that even though To Kill a Mockingbird is set in the thirties it shows examples of the racial and social problems that went on at that time. When you look at those problems you can see that we are not completely over them yet, and I doubt if we ever will be. The only hope that I think we have to equality for all is if we forget the past, and agree on a fresh start. While that is highly unlikely to happen, we have already made so much progress already, and I believe that we will continue to make progress in the years to
There are many different social classes in “To Kill A Mockingbird.” The factors that separate people into these social classes are their skin color and their occupation. For example, Atticus, Scout, and Jem are part of the highest social class. They are part of this social class because Atticus is a lawyer, which makes him a highly respected person in the community. He is also white, which, at that time was a very important factor that chose who belonged in what social class. Scout and Jem are his children and therefore are also part of this social class.
How far do you think Harper Lee has effectively shown social class and family groups to be important at that time? The rigid class structure and social stratification of Maycomb County had a profound effect on the events in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. The impact of this class structure was especially evident in the trial of Tom Robins on, a Maycomb Negro. The extreme prejudice of the town eventually led to the unjust conviction of Robinson for a crime he did not commit.
I think Mr. Feeney’s social class is the working class for various reasons. The paragraph says he attended Cornell University, which is one of the top ranked universities in the United States, but it does not necessarily indicate that he is wealthy to be able to attend that school it could have been paid off by him joining the Army. He then majored in Hotel Administration, which he could have had difficulty finding work in that particular area during that period of time. Therefore, he worked in retail sales at the airport, stocking shelves and waiting on customers, this indicates that his job is a blue- collar occupation that involves working with your hands. He claims to enjoy participating in free activities and has a frugal lifestyle hence,
Lastly, implicit bias is seen through Walter, a poor boy who is judged due to his social class. At one point in the novel, Jem gracefully invites Walter to their house to eat lunch. While eating his meal, Walter dumps molasses all over his food, “on his vegetables and meat with a generous hand,” (Lee 24). He seems extremely odd for doing this, but it is what he is used to through his poor lifestyle. Then, this not only causes Scout to say something and embarrass Walter greatly, but also shows a variance in status between the Finches and the Cunninghams. Social class affects how everyone is thought of through Maycomb, Alabama, but as we know, social class has no effect when compared to race.
One of the first major examples of how social class affects a society is how Atticus shares how the Ewells are very different in their society. In the book To Kill a Mockingbird Scout was talking about what Atticus said about the Ewells. Atticus said the Ewells had been the disgrace of Maycomb for three generations. None of them had done an honest day’s work in his recollection” (40). Here Atticus is talking about how the Ewells aren’t structured at all and have no work ethic. Atticus also said “they are people, but
In the beginning, while the main character Scout Finch is going to class with her new teacher Miss Caroline whom is new to town and doesn’t know very much about the people, social class is a very prominent theme. First off, while Scout was going to school she met a boy from the Cunningham tribe. The Cunningham tribe was very poor and worked off the land for all that they had. As Scout
According to these different type families in the novel, we can obviously understand the differences of these 3 types. Looking further, the highest class of society in this novel includes Maria Ward and Sir Thomas Bertram. This class is the social category composed of those who should plough wealthy, well-born, or both. They scarcely have to work, have the capital that they need and live very comfortably in castle and
Social class differences were a major contributor to the story line and the lasting effect of Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations. Social classes has a broad set of criteria that the majority of people think determines class. Dickens uses class differences for various reasons but most importantly, he uses them to show how he felt about those differences. Additionally, the fact that the differences that Dickens displays in the book are similar to today's class variations, makes Great Expectations and its theme of class, influential to this day. Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations perfectly illustrates the Victorian era’s class differences and shows where Dickens compassions laid.