Atticus said professional people were poor because the farmers were poor."
In the quote from the book stated above, Atticus states how he and his children are in fact poor. He also states how there was a crash. This crash is the
stock market crash, and it was the crash that started the Great Depression. Though there were other reasons that Atticus and his children were poor, the beginning of the Great Depression was a key factor.
Racism is also influenced by the time period in To Kill a Mockingbird. Because it takes place in the south in the 1930's, racism is still very prominent. Racist slurs are thrown around without a second thought, and there is a lot of racial injustice. In fact, the main conflict in To Kill a Mockingbird revolves around racism and racial injustice. The Civil War had only ended less than a hundred years before the book's time period, and there are even some Confederate veterans who are still alive in the book.
…show more content…
To someone living in modern times, a cent is practically nothing. This was not the case in the early to mid 1900's. A penny had a lot more value, and the story reflects on this many times. One example of this in the book is when Walter doesn't have any lunch or lunch money on him. Mrs. Caroline offers him two quarters for him to get lunch.
"I thought I had made things sufficiently clear. It was clear enough to the rest of us: Walter Cunningham was sitting there lying his head off. He didn’t forget his lunch, he didn’t have any. He had none today nor would he have any tomorrow or the next day. He had probably never seen three quarters together at the same time in his life. "
The Cunninghams may have been poor, but even the most poor people can find a dollar today. However, quarter was worth about four dollars back then. Thus, quarters were worth significantly more back then than they are