In an effort to be pristine and perfect, societies often try to change those who are unlike the majority into people who reflect the society’s ideals. In To Kill a Mockingbird, a novel written by Harper Lee, many minority groups are represented by different characters. These characters are continuously confined in both real and metaphorical prisons with no means of escape. The idea of imprisonment repeated throughout the book shows how different minority groups are helplessly contained and held back, trapped in social codes and unable to explore new opportunities; furthermore, those who vary in race are not only trapped but also punished.
The idea of imprisonment reveals how the extremely poor class is trapped in their place in society. In the book, this group is
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Scout elaborates on this judgement, explaining that, “When Atticus asked if she had any friends, she did not know what he meant, then she thought he was making fun of her” (256). Mayella is trapped in a life in which she is responsible for her entire family, with nobody to provide her with comfort or support. She is held in her situation by her lack of money and by the fact that she has nobody whom she could marry. Due to the social codes, others do not want to interact with Mayella; she does not fit into the society’s ideals and does not even know polite etiquette, evident when she misunderstands Atticus’s courteous words. Nothing she does, even accusing Tom of rape, has any effect on her place in society. Mayella is trapped just as much as someone in a jail cell. A picture of Mayella’s “prison” is further solidified when she explains that the family’s relief check was “far from enough to feed the family, and there was a strong suspicion that Papa drank it up anyway” (244). Not only is Mayella responsible for her family and kept in her situation due to responsibility, but she also stays in this position due to fear. The reader can infer that Mr. Ewell is abusive, implied by his