Prejudice toward groups of people results in social inequality that limits people's potential. This prejudice towards groups of people is present in Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird. Published in 1960, To Kill a Mockingbird takes place in Macomb county a sleepy, southern town in the midst of the 1930’s. The novel focuses on the childhood of Scout Finch, a young, curious girl, her family and the town she grows up in. More specifically, the prejudices toward certain groups of people in the town, such as the colored community. Scout takes readers through, first hand experiences of these prejudices via the trail of Tom Robinson, a black man who is accused of raping Mayella Ewell, the eldest daughter of the impoverished Ewell family. Forms of prejudice oppress the victims of this social inequality and limit their potential. This oppression is shown in the limitation of characters among certain targeted groups that face, sexism, classism, and racism. The people who face these forms of prejudice and discrimination are not given the same opportunities as others and face oppression in this way. Specifically, sexism is a form of prejudice that oppresses the groups of women affected and limits their character potential. For instance, the oppression of the sexes in shown in the brother sister relationship between Scout Finch and Jem Finch, in the manipulation of Scout Finch and in the powerlessness of Maycomb women such as Miss Maudie. Towards the beginning of the novel, during
Prejudice is one of the world’s greatest struggles. It does not only hold society back, but is harmful to the people who do good .In Harper Lee’s book To Kill A Mockingbird, Scout and Jem live through and witness prejudice and racism in the small town of Maycomb. They see someone wrongly accused of a crime because of his race. Scout and Jem also witness and take part in prejudice against a man no one knows anything about. In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird Harper Lee uses characterization to show the negative effects of prejudice and racism.
Social inequality is an uncivilized ranking scale which was created by simple minded people who held the fear being surpassed. The argument made by Harper Lee in her work To Kill a Mockingbird is that social inequality is a hierarchy that is complex and affects everyone. More specifically, the author argues that the racial boundaries put between the black and white during the 1930’s caused great stress. This is proven in the novel multiple times. The people of Maycomb judge one another based on the background and wealth of their families. Not only do they judge each other within the community, they discriminate against anyone different than them. Social inequality does not only exist in the form of racism, there are many forms; some of the major ones appear in this book. Social inequality based purely on family background, social inequality based on the wealth of the individual and family, and racism. These are three of the major forms of social inequality that appear numerous times in the book.
Social inequality based entirely on race affects people who don’t deserve it. To Kill a Mockingbird original publication was in 1960, it is a classic novel written by Harper Lee, the book is set in 1933 to 1935. To Kill a Mockingbird takes place in a small town called Maycomb, Alabama and follows two years in the life of 7-year old Scout Finch, her brother Jem, and their father Atticus, an attorney who hopelessly strives to prove the innocence of a black man accused of rape. The book also talks about Boo Radley, a mysterious neighbour who saves Scout and her brother Jem from being killed. The definition of social and legal codes are social codes made up of rules and standards, and a legal system is a code of laws made by a state or nation. Throughout the book, social and legal codes are exploited by people to help maintain their social status. In Maycomb County, social and legal laws harm black people to protect white people, such as Atticus Finch, Bob Ewell, and Tom Robinson.
The act of prejudice is one that everyone experiences. Whether it be, a person who is distributing hate, or a person who is receiving hate, everyone has contact with it. Although it is present all over the globe, it is prominent in the United States. Both in the present and the past, endless acts of discrimination have taken place and left a monumental impact on the country. The effect that it leaves can be seen in the novel “To Kill A Mockingbird” by Harper Lee. In this story, sexism, racism, and isolation, are demonstrated in the small Southern town of Maycomb, Alabama during the 1930’s. As the story progresses, Lee compares these concepts to one another and uses them to make a statement about the problematic nature in America.
The novel To Kill a Mockingbird was written by Harper Lee and was published in 1960. This novel is included in various curriculums to enable students to take this well-written novel to identify the themes and messages and be educated from their literature. Prejudice is defined as a preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience. The different forms of prejudice that will be analysed are racial, class and social, thus, leads to the citizens of Maycomb to marginalises characters and treat them as an insignificant. It is evident that many characters in this novel suffer from different types of prejudice, which creates a sense of marginalisation. Tom Robinson, Mayella Ewell and Arthur Radley are the important, main
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.
To Kill a Mockingbird, a novel written by Harper Lee, tells the story of a little girl named Scout. Set in Alabama in the 1930s, Maycomb county, Scout’s home, is a sleepy place, that hides a dark streak of racism. Maycomb gets pulled into a whirlwind court case of sexual assault consisting of an African American man getting accused of beating and raping a white girl. Scout, whose father defended the African American, learns of the deep problems in society. Still in the mindset of constant racism, the jury ruled against the black man, even though the evidence clearly proved that the girl’s father beat her. Unfortunately, this racism survives today, and one only has to take a peek at the news, or a glance outside to notice it. Racism still exists today, as seen through brutality against
“We hold these truths to be self - evident that all men are created equal, and they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” This is a famous line that Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence in 1776. Yet, America has failed to show social equality to every race, religion, and gender since the known article was created. Throughout the novel, To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, and in society today, social equality is not demonstrated in the novel nor in the present.
To Kill a Mockingbird What is social inequality? Social inequality is the existence of unequal opportunities and reward for different social positions. For example in To Kill a Mockingbird some social positions are gender, race, and religion. This is shown in Tom Robinson’s court case.
As the United States “progresses” in economic, educational and technological advancements we still are fighting for racial equality. With more than 50 years since the brown vs. board of education case there is still incidents like Ferguson, Baton Rouge, and Phiando Castile where many questions are still unanswered. However, Harper Lee dealt with these same problems in 1960 when she wrote To Kill a Mockingbird. Lee created an emotionally confronting story. Lee writes through the eyes of “Scout” a lawyer’s daughter in a small sleepy town of Maycomb in Alabama during the great depression. Throughout the book “Scout” learns coming of age lessons from Atticus and her own experiences. But when Atticus takes on a case defending a black man (Tom Robinson) convicted for rapping a white woman (Mayella Ewell) and is found guilty. “Scout” her brother Jem begin to understand the effects of the prejudices in society. Therefore, Lee applies the literary concepts of diction and tone to revel the truth that prejudices in society negatively affect the way people treat each other in To Kill a Mocking Bird.
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
To Kill A Mockingbird: Social Inequality To Kill a Mockingbird takes place in Alabama, in the 1930’s. racsism , sexsim,and other social innequalities among the people were a ginormous construct in society during that time. Not to mention it takes place in the south, which is a melting pot for racism. Also it takes place in the height of the great depression. So To Kill a Mockingbird really got hit hard.
In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird, one of the most significant themes is race and social class cause inequalities. For example, when the jury was deciding Tom Robinson’s verdict, Jem was convinced that Atticus had won the trial and Tom Robinson would be found innocent. But, Reverend Sykes knew that that would not happen. Reverend Sykes said that he had never “‘seen any jury decide in favor of a colored man over a white man…’” (111). The racism in the south was so deep, even if you compared the lowest class of white people, like the Ewells, to African Americans, the Ewells were considered better. Even juries, which are supposed to be fair, still showed racism and hatred towards African Americans. The justice system is designed
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
In the riveting coming-of-age novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, the author Harper Lee projects the idea of acceptance of all people, through the eyes of a child. Harper Lee combats the prejudice of social standing when she proves that some of the poorest people have the best of character traits. While racism of African Americans is first and foremost in this novel, the acceptance of white people into the African American community shows racism can be beaten from both point of views. Finally, the disabilities that Arthur Radley portrays, is forgotten, when his actions help him soar above the bigotry of the people of Maycomb County. The most obvious topic is the overt racism based on a person's skin color, however, Harper Lee takes us beneath the skin to show that discrimination occurs in other ways.