Social Forces in to Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

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

Social classing systems, also known as social hierarchy have been around since the beginning of time. In such a system those of the upper class take advantage of the classes below them; whether it is kings and their servants or a boss and their workers. This social hierarchy has a profound effect on society and the events in Harper Lee 's novel To Kill A Mockingbird. There are four classes in Maycomb; they are distinguished in the Tom Robinson case and in the crowd who attend his trial. Due to the social structure of Maycomb, Tom Robinson, a black man, is unjustly accused and convicted of a crime he does not commit.

thing during and following slavery. In the novel, a man named Bob Ewell despises black people and calls out Atticus by saying, “too proud to fight, you nigger lovin bastard?” (Lee, 291). What that quote is saying is how Bob is getting upset with atticus just because he is Tom Robinson's lawyer and Bob Ewell doesn’t like black people. Another example of racism occurs in chapter 11. This happens when the kids are walking by Mrs.Dubose’s home, and she starts yelling out racist comments about Atticus. She yells out to Jem and says, “your father is no better than the niggers and trash he works for!” (Lee, 105) She attacks their father for doing his job, but even more so attacks Jem and Scout by Yelling furiously about their father. These two ways are clearly shown in To Kill A Mockingbird and there are many other ways throughout the novel.

Anthony Storr says that, “Originality implies being bold enough to go beyond accepted norms “ Social norms imply that everyone is the same or does something the same way, to break that you need to go out of your comfort zone and be bold enough to break those norms. Although it is very common for there to be social norms in society, when someone breaks one it can be the very first step to making the world a better place.

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.

Inequality is a theme that runs throughout all of history. Harper Lee uses the theme of inequality in her book, To Kill a Mockingbird. Tom Robinson must deal with inequality when he is accused of a crime he didn’t commit because no one will trust a black man over a white man. The Cunningham family must face discrimination because of their lack of money. Scout even faces inequality when she tries to play with Jem and Dill. The theme of inequality is a strong one in Lee’s book, and her use of inequality doesn’t only define racism, but also discrimination based on wealth and gender.

Social norms are apart of every society in some way, shape, or form. Issues occur off these social norms when there are outcasters who don’t exactly fit in with society's expectations. In the book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Scout was pressured by many relatives and neighbors to “act like a girl”. Accept, Scout wants to be her own person. She wants to play in the dirt and have fun. Although, one particular person keeps putting her down, and that is Auntie Alexandra. Alexandra tries to play a female role for Scout and tells Scout how she is suppose to act. Scout however is very similar to Juliet capulet in this way. In Romeo and Juliet, Juliet was pressured by her mother to be more like other girls and to get married. Scout and Juliet,

Page 127 of “To Kill a Mockingbird” is at a superficial level a passage about the main character’s father killing a dog that has rabies. However, by looking beneath the surface, we see Harper Lee conveying a sense of non-conformity against one specific social norm.

During the civil war, the states had a very vast difference between their views on slavery. The south refused to give up their views of slavery, before and even after the war was fought. This shows that even with forced sudden change in society, it will still take time for years of habit to change. In the book “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee, it shows a black man on trial for his life. Some will claim this is a reason why change should occur quickly, but the human mind is not keen to accept such drastic change. So this is why social change should occur slowly, because of the jury, the opinions of the town, and the actions of people like Miss Maudie.

Society influenced every character in To Kill a Mockingbird in many more ways than one. People in the everyday world feel the stress and pressure of the world to conform to its standards, even if those standards aren’t who the people see themselves as being. Harper Lee and her protagonist, Scout, in To Kill a Mockingbird truly capture how, in such a short time, society can pressure playful girls into becoming the standard southern bell or rowdy boys into men. In the days of this setting, people weren't always given a choice or option of who they wanted to be. Too often in that time children were pressured to be exactly how they were expected to be in society. Men and women traded the flow of children's creativity for conformity instead.

The novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is one of the few classics that efficiently addresses many issues while keeping the book interesting for its readers. The many themes that are taught in the book can be applied to real life and the many issues discussed accurately criticizes events that are going on in the real world. Due to the abundance of themes and issues that are explored in the book, some might be confused on what the novel is really trying to teach us. In my opinion, the book’s main theme is ‘social classes and their consequences’. My reasons for this is because the book has many examples of this theme, one of the main plot points in the book focuses on this theme, and because the theme is one of the most applicable to real

In this novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, is told in a child's point of view in the early 1930’s. Scout and Jem Finch are raised by a single father and lawyer, Atticus Finch. When Atticus is sent to defend a Black man, the entire town is skeptical about it. The theme levels of Society appears in the novel when Tom Robinson is treated unfairly in the courtroom, when Scout’s teacher is frustrated because she already knows how to read, and when Boo Radley saved Jem because no one ever seems to notice

My presentation document was focused on social attitudes because I know in our society that is kind of an issue. In my presentation, I touched on a lot of issued about prejudicial attitudes and how that affects our society in general. For the movie presentation, I used "To Kill a Mockingbird" and explained the many connections it had with social attitudes. I found that socials attitudes still need to change in our society, a lot of people, in general, think issues like this is fine which not the case is. There are still many examples like the YouTube clip I found that unconscious and institutional racism is still a problem in our society.

The novels To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie are alike in many ways due to their three themes. Their societal problems have a major impact on how they act and how they choose to see things. The unjust treatment and social problems the main characters in To Kill A Mockingbird and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian have to conquer, enforces the similar themes as it results in the unfair treatments of education, poverty, and social inequality in the race.

The film “To Kill a Mockingbird” is an extraordinary illustration of the Southern United States stereotypical racial injustice that were exist in the American history. The main highlights of the film is the innocent black man was falsely accused of raping a white girl. There were many social psychological theories and phenomenon were found such as mass delusion, confirmation bias, self-serving bias, conformity, group influence, traditional gender roles throughout the movie. By providing strong evidences from the film there paper will discuss these social psychological concepts in detail.