Historical Events In To Kill A Mockingbird

Its prestige stems from the topic it pertains to: racism and the treatment of African Americans. The novel narrates the tale of how a young girl’s father is appointed to the trial Tom Robinson, an African American man who has been falsely accused of raping a white lady, Mayella Ewell. Despite the conclusive evidence, the verdict of the trial favored Ewell, inevitably sending Robinson to prison. The heavily deluded mindset of both the judge and jury opened the eyes of Harper Lee’s readers to the grating truth.

Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, is a realistic story that deeply discusses issues involved with the 1930’s that still resonate today. The struggles of life are evident within the believable characters of Maycomb County which is a microcosm, reflective of universal issues. Along with the authentic characters, setting and style also helps to convey Lee’s controversial notions of racial and gender prejudice, and persecution of the innocent, discussing many other ideas within.

Harper Lee is well known for her great contributions towards modern society through her astounding book, To Kill a Mockingbird. The novel is read world-wide, in high schools and colleges because of its in-depth look at the social classes in the south during the 1930's. The book was influenced by society, in particular the social order of the south during her childhood. Lee grew up during this time of controversy which is why she writes so passionately about the topic. Lee wrote the novel to make a point about race while basing much of the plot off a trial from her young age, her own father, and the society she grew up in.

The 1930s was the beginning of an extremely unethical era, which led to the spread of corrupt ideas and principles through the nation. This is shown in the article, “Standards Focus: Historical Context, Based on True Stories”. As the author is telling of the events that occurred during The Scottsboro Trials, it is mentioned that out of the nine black men accused of rape, eight “were given death sentences, despite the fact that the defense attorney pointed out that one of the men was blind, the other too elderly and crippled to commit the crime, another underage, and that they were not even in the same rail car.” (Secondary Solutions). The verdict that the men were guilty was made because with the rough life people were living, they were willing to lie to keep themselves protected, and those who believed this act was wrong were not strong enough to protest. This is a parallel to To Kill A Mockingbird, because despite obvious evidence that Tom Robinson is innocent, he is still determined to be guilty. In the trial in Lee’s novel, the victim was hurt mainly on their right side. It is said that “He [Tom Robinson] rose to his feet and stood with his right hand on the back of his chair. He looked oddly off balance, but it was not from the way he was standing. His left arm was fully twelve inches

First of all, Scout is more a tomboy than a girl. Boys tend to live by the phrase, “Boys rule. Girls drool.” Scout expresses,” I was not so sure, but Jem told me I was being a girl, that girls always imagined things, that’s why people hated them so, and if I started behaving like one I could just go off and find some to play with.” (45). This quote implies that Scout thinks girl things are bad and boy things are good. She has constantly been taught this. Scout believes she can avoid being a girl by not acting like one. Being a girl to Scout is more about what she does than what she is born with. Another example of Scout being more of a boy is how she reacts to the situation with Walter Cunningham and Miss. Caroline. In the text, Scout states, “Ah-Miss. Caroline? Miss. Caroline, he’s a Cunningham.” (22). The gender role of a girl would usually to sit back and watch everything go down. In Scout’s case, she is outspoken and has no filter. She has to tell Miss. Caroline what everyone else is thinking. It is in this sense and others that Scout challenges the traditional gender roles throughout the

'To Kill a Mockingbird' is a novel that was written in the 1960s, but Harper Lee decided to set the novel in the Depression era of the 1930s in a small town in Alabama. Lee provided her readers with a historical background for the affairs of that time and in doing so she exposed the deeply entrenched history of the civil rights in South America. Like the main characters in this novel, Lee grew up in Alabama; this made it easier for her to relate to the characters in the novel as she would have understood what they would have experienced during the period when racism, discrimination and inequality was on the increase within the American society.

On March 25 1931 a group of nine boys were charged with raping two girls on a train traveling from Paint Rock Alabama. Several years later Harper Lee wrote her famous novel How To Kill a Mockingbird. In her story she made a character named Tom Robinson that was charged and accused of raping Mayella Ewell, it is an understanding parallel comparison between Tom Robinson and the Scottsboro case. Both Tom Robinson and the nine other boys race was presumed guilty before their trial. Harper Lee was convinced to making How To Kill a Mockingbird because she was a kid when the Scottsboro trial was happening and made comparison to the nine black boys to Tom Robinson, than Mayella Ewell to Victoria Price and Ruby Bates.

When Harper Lee was writing about the trial of Tom Robinson in “To Kill a Mockingbird,” she had a very real case to look to for inspiration. The trial of the Scottsboro Boys was a world renowned case in the 1930’s in which nine black youths were accused of raping to white girls in Alabama. Lee’s novel took this case and created the fictional case of Tom Robinson, a black man accused of raping a lower class white girl in a small town in Alabama during the Depression-era. The Scottsboro trials were the main source of inspiration for Lee’s novel, and although the circumstances of the novel differed from the real-life scandal, the similarities between the two cases are quite abundant.

To Kill a Mockingbird, a classic novel written by Harper Lee, is focused on racism that takes place in Maycomb, Alabama during the 1930s, where African Americans were segregated by white men. Harper Lee said that the Scottsboro trial, which was a trial that started because of discrimination, inspired her on writing To Kill a Mockingbird. Despite the differences between the Scottsboro Boys and To Kill a Mockingbird, both of them had an impact on the racial implications and laws of the south.

For example on page 118-120, Scout and Jem attend Calpurnia's church service. Being white children in a black church, Scout and Jem further stand out. “Lula stopped, but she said, "You ain't got no business bringin' white chillun here—they got their church, we got our in. It is our church, ain't it, Miss Cal?” “...When I looked down the pathway again, Lula was gone. In her place was a solid mass of colored people. One of them stepped from the crowd. It was Zeebo, the garbage collector. "Mister Jem," he said, "we're mighty glad to have you all here. Don't pay no 'tention to Lula, she's contentious because Reverend Sykes threatened to church her. She's a troublemaker from way back, got fancy ideas an' haughty ways—we're mighty glad to have you all." page 119. This is the first occasion that Scout and Jem encounter racism first-hand. Jem and Scout feel as if they're the objects of somebody else's racism, which place them in a rare position. Henceforth, Scout and Jem understand that no matter what they do or how persistent they are, they will still be dealt like a superior of the black community and they see this owing to perspective. Scout and Jem noticed the black community of Maycomb County’s of view by being the minority in the black church. Scout and Jem obtain the gist of how the black community feels, but they yet never actually will feel exactly how the black community feels. Thanks to changing their

Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, written in 1960, identifies and addresses problems such as racism and prejudice, which was a major problem then, and still is a major problem now. She also, however, conveys messages throughout her novel about the true meaning of the word courage. The novel is told from the perspective of Scout Finch, a young southern girl who acts nothing like a southern lady and constantly engages in fights with others at school. Taking place in depression-stricken 1930s Alabama, the book entails her coming-of-age, as well as the development and the growing of the characters around her such as her father Atticus, and her brother Jem.

We can use the characters, the setting, and the relationships between characters in To Kill a Mockingbird to understand how the past affects the future. When Lee’s novel takes place, it is during the prime of racism and discrimination in America, specifically Alabama. Caucasians are incredibly rude to African-Americans solely because of skin color. Many cities and states are segregated during this terrible time period. To Kill a Mockingbird accurately illustrates how life during the 1930s was when it came to racism, the Great Depression, and false rape accusations.

Harper Lee's ‘To kill a Mockingbird’ explores the prejudicial issues which plague over the town Maycomb. Harper Lee uses the trial of Tom Robinson a black man accused of rape on a young white girl, Mayella as a central theme to portray the prominence of racial discrimination in Maycomb. The racial prejudice is also widely shown through the characterisation of Atticus. Having Scout as the narrator allows Harper Lee to highlight the gender inequity through a youthful unbiased perspective. The chauvinistic attitudes and prejudiced views of most of the town’s folk leaves Maycombs social hierarchy in an unfair order, victimising many of the town’s people due to their socially non-conforming habits some ‘socially unaccepted people’ including Boo

In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the obvious lack of the female gender is surely evident. The main character in this novel, Scout Finch becomes influenced in the ‘wrong way’ as a result of the lack of female role models in her life. She associates and accompanies herself with males a majority of the time. The times she is accompanied by mother-like figures she widens her perspective for only a short bit of time and it makes her realize that being a girl is not half as awful as she has been influenced to think. Scout is impacted by Atticus’s views on how women should be treated, Jem’s teasing towards her for being a girl, and by the few women in her life that accompany her from time to time.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee has become a mainstay in American high-schools. This is a classic novel that has inspired many people of all ages. It had a big impact on how people viewed and treated each other. This is a story that teaches everyone about the value of honesty, love, friendship and trust. Every word written in this book has a truly deep meaning to it. The time period that the book was written in was during the Great Depression in the 1930’s. This setting was in a small town in Maycomb, Alabama with people who did not get along. During this time there was a lot of segregation within America and different races. To Kill a Mockingbird is about a family who believes in doing the right thing and being honest. There was a