Consequences Of Discrimination In To Kill A Mockingbird

Discrimination is the central theme when it comes to the early and even the mid-1900s. What is discrimination? The exact definition says: “the unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories of people or things, especially on the groups of race, age, or sex.” When reading To Kill a Mockingbird many incidences of discrimination are portrayed throughout the book. It is set in the mid to late 1930s during the period of the Great Depression. The main incidents that occur throughout the book are about a trial of a black man named Tom Robinson, treatment of a strange man named Boo Radley, and the treatment of Scout the narrator. As well as social discrimination. The trial of Tom Robinson is one of the biggest examples of discrimination.

During this time women weren 't allowed to serve on the jury or even attend the trial for that matter. Even in the workplace women are discriminated against pay cuts especially during this time when their pay got even lower than half of what men make. While men still experienced pay cuts. Also the Narrator and main Character Scout experience discrimination from her Aunt Alexandra. A quote from the book says: 'Aunt Alexandra was fanatical on the subject of my attire. I could not possibly hope to be a lady if I wore breeches when I said I could do nothing in a dress, she said I wasn 't supposed to do things that required pants. Aunt Alexandra 's vision of my deportment involved playing with small stoves, tea sets, and wearing the Add-A-Pearl necklace she gave me when I was born; furthermore, I should be a ray of sunshine in my father 's life… ' - Scout. Another big moment that stands out to me is the tea party that Aunt Alexandra hosts for her friends. While Jem and Dill are swimming Scout joins them for a while. During the party Scout is mocked for attending the trial this doesn 't really have to do with discrimination but since these ladies are proper and Scout isn 't they decide to have some fun. Also, she is mocked for finally wearing a dress. As well as over the summer Dill treated Scout like a piece of property. “He had asked me earlier in the summer to marry him, then he promptly forgot about it.

There is also discrimination of social status. The town of Maycomb has different social classes ranging from the “normal people” like the Finch family to the working class people like the Cunninghams, to the poor people or trash like the Ewells, and dead last are the black folks. Even at the beginning of the book Jem addresses this by saying “The thing about it is, our kind of folks don’t like the Cunninghams, the Cunninghams don’t like the Ewells, and the Ewells hate and despise the colored folks.” Also, Walter Cunningham or the family for that matter are discriminated by Aunt Alexandra who calls him trash and doesn 't want Scout “picking up their habits.” Because of these views, a man named Dolphus Raymond has convinced the entire town that the reason he is raising a child with a black woman is that he is in the clutches of whiskey. While he is really just a sober man with a kind heart but no one will view that acceptable because he is with a black woman. It isn 't illegal for a white man to marry a black woman but society makes it seem like it because of how