Oppression In To Kill A Mockingbird

Taking place in the 1930s, To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, explores the life of a little girl named Scout and her experience with oppression in Maycomb County in Alabama.

During the 1930s, prejudice, racism and sexism were some of the most prevalent societal problems within America. Throughout the book, the citizens apply oppression unto characters like Scout, Calpurnia, and Mr. Raymond. Lee demonstrates that no one is safe in the hands of prejudice, racism and sexism in this county, whether you are a little girl, black woman, or white man. Scout gets criticized for not wearing dresses and her tomboy personality, Calpurnia struggles with her familial identity and Mr. Raymond endures a social identity crisis within Maycomb. Because of

Calpurnia took Jem and Scout to a black church and another black lady, Lula, started talking to Calpurnia about bringing whites to a black church. “‘I wants to know why you bringin’ white chillun to n-word church,’ [Lula] ‘They’s my comp’ny,’ said Calpurnia. Again I thought her voice strange: she was talking like the rest of them. ‘Yeah, an’ I reckon you’s comp’ny at the Finch house durin’ the week,’” (119) Lula doubts that Cal is considered “company” at a white family’s house because all Cal does [not from Finch’s point of view] is clean without any emotional impact within the county. Scout then realizes that Cal “led a modest double life never dawned on me...she had a separate existence outside our household was a novel one, to say nothing of her having command of two languages” (125). Scout is appalled by this realization because she does not have to deal with the oppression Cal struggles through and Scout can’t imagine a life like Cal because Scout is a young white child. In the novel, Calpurnia experiences rejection from both the black and Maycomb community. Cal is a black woman disliked by some citizens but speaks like them in order to feel like she belongs in Maycomb and in the Finch family. When Cal is with her community of black people, she speaks in Ebonics but because she helps a white family, they don’t accept her either. Cal speaks differently in certain communities because she wants to be included in each. But for Cal, she speaks most differently in Maycomb. If she does not act the way the citizens do, she will not be accepted. So she speaks “their” English in order to feel included into the Maycomb society even though she is a black