Social Inequalities In To Kill A Mockingbird

Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird was originally published on July 11, 1960. This book is considered to be a staple in American literature. It is well written and seems like a very real story. It deals with themes such as racism, social inequalities, and the symbolic mockingbird. Lee creates a life-like story with the struggles of ordinary people. To Kill a Mockingbird is a story told from the perspective of a little girl from the South. It is set in the 1930s in Maycomb County, Alabama. Scout (the one who is telling the story) lives with her father Atticus, her brother Jem, and the housekeeper Calpurnia, who is the children mother figure. The story tells of the mysterious Radley neighbors and a life-changing case concerning a black man Tom Robinson, and how these events affect the children’s lives.

Throughout the story, the characters are constantly surrounded by the presence of racism ever present in the South of the 1930s. Social inequalities and racism show up mainly in the trial of Tom Robinson. There is no evidence to convict Tom, except for the testimony of the Ewells, and Atticus actually proved the guilty person couldn’t have been Tom because he could not use his left arm (186). Even with all the evidence, the jury still convicted Tom (211). Either the jury could just not accept the facts that a black man was not guilty, or the jury could not free Tom because he was simply black. Lee portrays the South in this situation and many others very