'Living Behind The Masks In To Kill A Mockingbird'

Dasha Serechenko
Mrs.Crays
9/10 English Class
April 28, 2017

Living Behind the Masks Why does Harper Lee puts such a big accent mark on the inequality and stereotype theme of the book called “To kill a Mockingbird”? The answer is simple, this is the biggest problem of our society then and now. No matter how many laws were passed, no matter how many “bully-free” signs were put up on the school walls, every person wants to feel higher than someone else. In this book, the main character, Scout Finch goes through a period of racism, and poverty during the The Great Depression. She learns how really unfair this world is, and everything is not the way it seems to be. From living by the standards people put, to treating other

It was the year 1930, so slavery was still pretty popular. One of the slaves in the story, gets accused of rape towards a white poor women. Throughout the course of the trial, Tom Robinson, isn't accepted as an equal human as those in the courthouse. This is seen in chapter 23: “ As you grow older, you'll see white men cheat black men every day of your life, but let me tell you something and don't you forget it—whenever a white man does that to a black man, no matter who he is, how rich he is, or how fine a family he comes from, that white man is trash” (155) Atticus was speaking so quietly his last word crashed on our ears. I looked up, and his face was vehement. "There's nothing more sickening to me than a low-grade white man who'll take advantage of a Negro's ignorance. Don't fool yourselves—it's all adding up and one of these days we're going to pay the bill for it. I hope it's not in you children's time”. Throughout the story, Scout realizes that blacks are people too, that have the same feeling, emotions and daily life styles as her. Blacks could've lived on the same rank as any other people, but because of the man's cruelty and selfishness, they get to be sent all the way by the dump. On the trail, we learn that the stereotype isn't true about them, and Tim Robinson is the example why. This example is on page 125, and it states the following, Yes, suh. I felt right sorry for her,

In the story, the poorest of the poor, were the Ewells. Their mother had passed away, so it was all on Mayella, to take care of them. She had no friends, no job, and no self-esteem. She knew how people thought about their family in the town, so she didn't want to be more embarrassed than she already was, for her lifestyle and her father. Scout then realizes , that if it wasn't for the unfair inequality, sorting people from rich to poor, then her situation would have been very different. In the courthouse, Atticus asks her questions, to show others what kind of lifestyle she lives in, and why the situation happened. Chapter 17, it says the following: “.....the remains of a Model-T Ford (on blocks), a discarded dentist’s chair, an ancient icebox, plus lesser items: old shoes, worn-out table radios, picture frames, and fruit jars, under which scrawny orange chickens pecked hopefully. . .One corner of the yard, though, bewildered Maycomb. Against the fence, in a line, were six chipped-enamel slop jars holding brilliant red geraniums, cared for as tenderly as if they belonged to Miss Maudie Atkinson, had Miss Maudie deigned to permit a geranium on her premises. People said they were Mayella Ewell’s. Mayella looked as if she tried to keep clean, and I was reminded of the row of red