How Does Lee Present Injustice In To Kill A Mockingbird

In 1960 Harper Lee published a book by the name of To Kill a Mockingbird. The book tells the tale of a young girl named Scout and her life in the town of Maycomb. Harper Lee surrounds Scout with characters, her brother Jem, their friend Dill, her father, Atticus, Her Aunt Alexandra, and many others. The interactions of these characters and the events of the book portray the good and the bad of the 1930's, the book's setting. While the narrative displays many key themes of the time period, from racism to religion. Injustice, one prevalent theme to both book and time period most often surfaces through the events of the novel. However, the author uses one character to represent the smaller injustices of the time, Scout's upper class aunt, Alexandra.

Lee presents one injustice through Aunt Alexandra, labeling people because they are poor. Aunt Alexandra exclaimed to scout, “I'll tell you why. Because-Walter-is-trash, that's why you can't play with him.”(301) Her reasoning for this came from the fact that the Cunningham family owned little money. This labeling does the family, and Walter, an injustice because, though they were poor, the Cunninghams always made it their goal to repay people, even without money. This honest, hardworking standard set the Cunninghams apart, placing them even above many of the richest. In this way, Harper Lee employs Aunt Alexandra to represent the theme of injustice very

Atticus a busy man, had less time to raise his kids than many parents, this led to Jem and Scout having a more unconventional upbringing. Aunt Alexandra unjustly ignores these circumstances, ridiculing the children's manners and clothing choices constantly. “...you've got to do something about her. You've let thing go on to0 long, Atticus, too long.”(182) Not only does saying this show a lack of respect for Atticus, but Aunt Alexandra says this to Atticus during the time where he works on a incredibly stressful case. Even after this she also says he should stop his defending work in the court. The work she believes he should stop is the work he considers to be his calling as a lawyer. Lee again displays the smaller injustices of the time through Aunt Alexandra, as she ridicules Atticus both for his hard work that he values so mush, and his upbringing which he had to achieve without the help of a