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Examples Of Social Inequality In To Kill A Mockingbird

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The quote “to kill a mockingbird” means more than simply killing a bird. The book To Kill A Mockingbird takes place in the 1930’s, during the great depression. The book is mainly about a family who deals with social inequalities and sees how others live in many ways. The main inequalities that go on are gender roles, race, age, and wealth. There are many different social inequalities that occur in the novel, as well as in our society. In the book they talk about race and how it occurs in everyday life and how people deal with it. While reading I saw that the blacks are basically nothing compared to the whites. In court the black person always loses against a white person. Tom Robinson, who is black, lost his trial against a white woman, even though there was enough evidence that he was innocent. A specific quote from the book that gives an example about race is “In our courts, when it’s a white man's word against a black man’s, the white man always wins” (pg 295). This quote explains that at the time a black man never wins against a white man. …show more content…

In the novel, gender plays a big part in everyday life. For example when Aunt Alexandra wants to change Scout and make her act like a lady. Also when Jem tells Scout that she always acts like a girl.
A quote that explains gender roles is, “I declare to the lord, you’re acting like a girl more and more everyday” (pg 69). This quote states how people in the 1930’s saw girls as weak people and thought women couldn’t do half the things a man could

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When his father is arrested for murder, he was held in jail for 3 years waiting for trial. Furthermore, 9 white police officers testified against him. Although the jury had 8 blacks and 4 whites (page 50), Hobbs mentioned this might have been something the jury could not disregard. As we can see in critical race theory, the law continually oppressed

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Based on the evidence in Patrick Shanley’s play, Doubt: A Parable, I conclude Father Flynn is guilty because of his desire to help boys and his ability to hide his past. Father Flynn has a strange liking of boys. He is the basketball coach at the school and loves spending time teaching kids how to play basketball. Although he is suppose to be teaching the boys about basketball, He tends to boys how to be men. When talking to the boys Father Flynn says, “I’ve noticed several of you guys have dirty nails.

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As one learns later, Tom Robinson and Calpurnia are blacks who are not innocent and do not win the trial. This book has themes that relate to

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For example, Tucker, one of the old men in the story, tells how a white mob beat his brother after he defeated them in a contest between his mules and their tractor. Then tucker asked them “How can flesh and blood and nigger win against white man and machine?”(96) They beat him brutally with stalks of sugar cane. Another example of white supremacy in the novel was when they put Gabel’s mentally ill son in an electric chair all because he was accused of raping. He was not but sixteen years old, half out of his mind, but still they put him in the electric chair on the word of a poor white girl.

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The first connection to America’s actual history is the presence of the Jim Crow laws in the book. Jim Crow laws are never assert or even intimate that a White person is lying. Never impute dishonorable intentions to a White person. Never curse a White person. Never comment upon the appearance of a White female.

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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.

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Throughout the entirety of the novel, Lee portrayed the town to be prejudice towards African Americans, to the extent of blinding them from distinguishing right and wrong. For instance, when the jury came to a conclusion, Judge Taylor announced, “guilty, guilty, guilty…” (Lee 225). This judgement unveils, how racist the town is towards African Americans. This racism came to the point where it was unacceptable for a white male or female to have any associations with another black person.

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Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel that show the life of a southern state od Alabama during the “black racism” time period, where majority of the people had the mentality that (quote) with the exception of a few. To chosen to portray it from the eyes of Scout Finch, from a child’s point of view. Living in Maycomb, in the midst of a conservative society of the 1930’s and 20’s Southern America Scout Finch is an extra ordinary child.

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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.

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The novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee takes place in the town of Maycomb, Alabama during the Great Depression. The author Lee demonstrates some major themes such as social inequality, intolerance, education, legal justice and bravery through this character. The title To Kill a Mockingbird symbolises innocence where Lee explores this through the eyes of Jem and Scout who are kids of Atticus Finch. He is one of the most honest, patient, kind, fair, respected and admired men in Maycomb during the Great Depression. Atticus is known for his moral character throughout the book.

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In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee demonstrates that social inequality breaks down a society through the use of conflict, symbolism and irony. Social inequality plays a pivotal role in the novel because the whole conflict between Bob and Tom is wrapped in it. From the first accusation to the final conviction inequality is intertwined in every paragraph, every word. To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel that stands the test of time because while our society has made improvements, inequality will never truly go away. This novel displays characters you relate to, ones you despise, and all that you fall in love with.

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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.

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Through Atticus, the author presents an argument for equality and racial tolerance. All black people were categorised in this era; they were seen as aggressive, untrustworthy and inhuman. This is completely different

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(Lee 269). This shows conflict between classes because white people are giving black people a hard time. Black people were perceived as the lowest class and throughout the story people would treat them as if they were dirt. Being in the lowest class, they would have to do all of the terrible work. They never had a chance to get a good job and be successful because of the white people.

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