Historical Influences in To Kill A Mockingbird “The Great Depression was a time of devastation and uncertainty. After the stock market crashed in October 1929, millions of Americans lost their jobs and homes” (McCabe 12). Harper Lee used real-life events like the Great Depression– as To Kill A Mockingbird took place during this time period– as inspiration to give the book more authenticity. In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird, there are connections to the Jim Crow laws and mob mentality.
Social injustices have been an apparent theme throughout history for many years. Anti-Semitism and Racial discrimination are just two of the many examples of social injustices that have been exhibited in our society. In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, and The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, both novels share the theme of Social Injustice. Narrated by Death, The Book Thief follows nine-year old Liesel Meminger during World War two in Germany. Liesel and her family are on their way to Molching when Liesel
But that doesn’t seem like a good enough reason to change a big part of the novel. Taking out the “n-word” would not only be taking out some of the history but also some meaning and significance of the novel. Many readers see To Kill a Mockingbird as a racist book because it shows the whole truth about that time period. The “n-word” was just part of everyone’s vocabulary back then it was used many times even in the same few sentences like when Atticus’ daughter Scout asks: “Do you defend niggers, Atticus?” (pg 77).
So·cial jus·tice, noun, 1. justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society. 2."individuality gives way to the struggle for social justice.” (Google Search). Social Justice is a term used to justify the equality in the world; equality of race, equality of gender, equality of religion, of age, of background; equality of all people not dependent on any outside factor, but of the people themselves.
The book, To Kill a Mockingbird, takes place in an old time in the south that would be unreal in the actions and everyday life to society today. One example of how this occurs is when a passage notes “for Calpurnia rarely commented on the ways of white people” (13). Since Calpurnia is black this shows that there is racism and segregation going on at this place and time suggesting that To Kill a Mockingbird takes place before the civil rights movement sometime around the early 1900s. This book takes place in the southern racist state of Alabama. The text states that “Maycomb, some twenty miles east of Finch’s Landing, was the country seat of Maycomb country.
ScOUT of the Box: Analyzing Social Injustices in TKAM “What’s the worst possible thing you can call a woman? Don’t hold back, now. You’re probably thinking of words like slut, whore, b***h, c**t (I told you not to hold back!), sk*nk. Okay, now, what are the worst things you can call a guy?
One of the ways Harper Lee relates to conflict in real life are the Jim Crow laws and shows us that they were very unfair. The Jim Crow laws were very unfair to all the African Americans and it made the white people more superior than the African Americans. The Jim Crow laws were unfair because the blacks could not eat with the whites, the African Americans could not show love affection with their partners in public (Pilgrim). Another reason they were unfair was because at every intersection people had the right away no matter what (Pilgrim). In To Kill a Mockingbird, there is evidence of the Jim Crow laws because of many reasons.
In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird there is evidence of a racist past that is still brought up to this day. There are many lessons to be learned from this book that are still relevant today such as inequality in the justice system and underlying racism. In modern day society, historian Elizabeth Stordeur Pryor talks about how the “n-word” is used by many but most of the time people do not know the harm or history behind the word. I believe that Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird is still relevant to this day and that it can help teach future generations to stray away from using the “n-word” by learning from its racist past. Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird brings about the unfairness of the justice system for African
In the time of slavery, the word was looked at as a common and harmless (except in the African Americans minds) word that was used by white Americans to describe an African American slave. In today’s day and age, the N-word is looked at as a common word that is also very offensive word that can harm anyone. The view of the N-word in general has changed into being an effective word that can hurt someone of any race, which changes the mind set to thinking that the word is bad and should not be used. The N-word in today’s educational system has brought about a questionable topic.
Race has always been a part of history, from slavery to MLK, to Barack Obama. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee defines race in the south during the 1930’s. Jean “Scout” Finch, is the narrator of the story. Her brother Jeremy “Jem” and her dad, Atticus, are both main characters. Calpurnia is their house cook and helper, she is also black.
In the setting of To Kill A Mockingbird, whites use the n-word as an insult to the blacks because they feel superior to them. This word stands out and gives the reader a better affect than the other derogatory words used in the text, like the b-word, etc. I think this is because of the "double standard" of the n-word. At the time in To Kill A Mockingbird, the n-word was commonly used just like it is commonly seen today. However, the n-word today is used more "friendly" than derogatory.
Although the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, took place in the 1930s, it ties closely into the Civil Rights Movement. This novel displayed the obvious superiority whites had over blacks. It took place during a time when colored people faced discrimination, prejudice, and racism. When the book was published in the 1960s, it made whites furious, resulting in a lot of controversy. Harper Lee had a goal when writing, she wanted to show the relation between actual events that happened during the civil rights and incorporate it into her own novel to show how cruel colored people were treated, specifically when whites accused blacks of doing sinful acts.
This essay aims to investigate the literary context of Harper Lee 's To Kill A Mockingbird (1960) from four different perspectives. The scope of this essay does not only include the context from historical, cultural and social points of views, but also the significance of Lee 's early life is considered. The essay explores deeply the novel 's events, characters and main themes, which can all be related to the literary context. This is why the research question of this essay is “A Study of Literary Context in Harper Lee 's To Kill A Mockingbird”. To Kill A Mockingbird never fails to amaze a reader because of its audacity, as it brings out many controversial issues from 1930s America.
In the novel, ‘To kill a mockingbird, Harper Lee demonstrates the small, imaginary town, the Maycomb County, as a place where racism and social inequality happens in the background of 1930s America. Not only the segregation between whites and blacks, but also the poor lived in a harsh state of living. As Scout, the young narrator, tells the story, Lee introduces and highlights the effects of racism and social inequality on the citizens of Maycomb County by using various characters such as Boo Radley, Tom Robinson, and Mayella Ewell. Firstly, Harper Lee portrays Boo Radley as a victim of social inequality through adjectives and metaphor in the phrase, “There was a long jagged scar that ran across his face; what teeth he had were yellow and rotten;” ‘Long jagged scar that ran across his face’ tells us that Boo Radley has stereotype about his appearance, which forces to imagine Boo as a scary and threatening person. The phrase, ‘yellow and rotten’ make the readers think as if Boo Radley is poor and low in a social hierarchy, as he cannot afford to brush his teeth.
One of the main themes of the novel is Racism. During the time of depression, racism and poverty were a common issue. People with a dark skin tone, i.e the African- Americans were seen as derogatory and treated like dirt. Harper Lee depicts it in a very realistic way.
