How Does Miss Maudie Show Social Inequality In To Kill A Mockingbird

Throughout To Kill a Mockingbird, the author, Harper Lee, argues that the unequal treatment because of race, gender, or social status is unfair. Harper Lee uses many ways to show social inequality, one example is the judgment shown to those of the lower class. On Scout Finch’s first day of school, she gets into trouble trying to explain why Walter Cunningham, a boy who comes from the lower class, does not have food and refuses to borrow money from their teacher, Miss Caroline. Scout gets in trouble and hits Walter later at recess, but then Jem comes over and invites him to their house to eat. While at the Finch’s house, Walter politely asks for molasses and pours it all over his food. Scout asks him what he thinks he is doing, which embarrasses

After the trial of Tom Robinson, Jem asks why people like them and Miss Maudie can’t serve on juries, Atticus replies, “...For one thing, Miss Maudie can’t serve on a jury because she’s a woman-’ ‘You mean women in Alabama can’t-?’ [Scout] was indignant. ‘I do. I guess it’s to protect our frail ladies from sordid cases like Tom’s…”(Lee 252). Atticus breaks the news to Scout that women cannot serve on a jury, because they are women. He says it is to protect their “frail” ladies from experiencing horrible cases such as rape. This however, should not be the case because the person who is filing the case against Tom Robinson is a woman, Mayella Ewell, who acuses him of rape. Women would sympathize more with Mayella, whereas men will try to understand how she felt, but ultimately fail. Another way that women are treated unequally, is the way that everyone believes that they should wear dresses and act feminine. Aunt Alexandra and Scout have different opinions on what it means to be a girl. “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 be doing things that required pants. Aunt Alexandra’s vision of my deportment involved playing with small stoves, tea sets, and wearing th Add-A-Pearl necklace she gave me when I was born;

However, it is not just shown towards black people, but also white people. When Atticus is making his closing remarks to the jury about Tom Robinson, he tries to get them thinking. He says, “Which, gentlemen, we know is in itself a lie as black as Tom Robinson’s skin, a lie I do not have to point out to you. You know the truth, and the truth is this: some Negroes lie, some Negroes are immoral, some Negro men are not to be trusted around women-black or white. But this is a truth that applies to the human race and to no particular race of me. There is not a person in this courtroom who has never told a lie, who has never done an immoral thing, and there is no man living who has never looked upon a woman without desire" (Lee 232). Another example of people showing racism, is when Mr. Dolphus Raymond explains to Scout and Dill why he lets people believe he is an alcoholic. “I try to give ‘em a reason, you see. It helps folks if they can latch onto a reason. When I come to town, which is seldom, if I weave a little and drink out of this sack, folks can say Dolphus Raymond’s in the clutches of whiskey-that’s why he won’t change his ways. He can’t help himself, that’s why he lives the way he does” (Lee 228). . A final example of social injustice because of someone’s race is when Calpurnia takes Jem and Scout to her church, where it is all black people. When they