Challenging Social Standards In To Kill A Mockingbird

Challenging Social Standards Through Literature:To Kill A Mockingbird

In the book To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee There are many hidden rules that drive Macomb County with racism; this changes relationships, power of language and social status in ways that can make or destroy a person in Macomb. Harper Lee is challenging the status quo about race relationships through To Kill a Mockingbird while describing Macomb County she does this through characters who are seen through a stereotypical lense in the beginning of the novel, but as the book develops the character changes and is the exact opposite of what the author first described.

The race structure relationship that Harper Lee wrote into the novel is shown through the characters in Macomb. The first character that stands out as a stereotype, but then evolves into a complex addition to the story, that pushes race boundaries without anyone in the town noticing is Dolphus Raymond. Raymond is married to a black women as a white man, and the townspeople think about him as a drunk; Jem a main character says this about Raymond “Mr.

Scout in the beginning of the book is naive about the town and does not see the racial boundaries in Macomb, but as the book progresses she starts to see them through events like the trail and the people in the town that she meets. In the beginning of the book she is naive she does not see the racial and social divide. This is shown through the scene in which Scout does not realize that there is a mob where she goes and talks to a familiar face and says 'Hey, Mr. Cunningham.' The man did not hear me, it seemed...Tell (Walter Jr.) hey for me, won't you?" ( chapter 15). This shows the nieveness of scout in the beginning of the book which shows how Harper Lee is testing social boundaries. She is showing how the social structures and racism gets passed on through generations, but can be challenged by humanity