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Social Class and Family Groups in To Kill a Mockingbird Essay

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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. Family groups were also seen to be important. This is evident when a fire breaks out in Maycomb and the whole community comes together, just like one big family. They put all their differences aside in order to help one of the much loved…show more content…
It is important to note that the difference between the second and third class was not a financial one. Both were "poor". The difference, however, was in the way they interacted in the society. The Cunninghams, unlike the Ewells, refused to accept any kind of charity and paid back their debts with what little they had. The Cunninghams were also different from the Ewells because they did not take advantage of Negroes.

The fourth and lowest class in Maycomb was best described as a "caste" because it was impossible to escape from it. All blacks were included in this group. Prejudice ran deep in Maycomb County. Although many classes existed within the black community, one of colour must always be in the lowest class. The majority of the black people had very little money, which is obviously a great contrast from people such as
Atticus Finch. The blacks lived apart from the whites in their own section of town and seemed to have a society separate from the whites.
Reasons for this conflict could be because of the matters that occurred during the American Civil War.

In U.S. history, the conflict (1861–65) between the Northern states
(the Union) and the Southern states formed the well-known civil war.
It is generally known in the South as the War Between the States and is also called the War of the Rebellion, the War of Secession, and the
War for Southern Independence. The name Civil War, although much criticised as
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