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Social Issues In To Kill A Mockingbird

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Caused by the prosperity during the 1920s, and flourished by the stock market crash in 1929, the lives of many were ruined (Shindo 538). Harper Lee shows the effects of the Great Depression in her novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. The novel introduces the social status of the townspeople in a fictional town called Maycomb, in Alabama, whos lives had been flustered by the Great Depression. Rigid social divisions throughout Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird exhibits the social hierarchy during the Great Depression in the 1930s. The story takes place during the peak of the Great Depression from 1933-1935. The economic hard times caused by the Great Depression had affected the entire town (Telgen 296). “‘The Cunninghams are country folks, farmers, …show more content…

Although the dilemma of social injustice has always existed, the Great Depression had further divided people from one another. During the Great Depression, most native-born white Americans suffered greatly, but many of America’s most visible racial minorities suffered the most. African Americans and other races not only experienced greater hardships than whites, the most able-bodied among them were competing for far fewer jobs, because of their race (Williams 789). No matter how hard African Americans and other races worked, they were guaranteed no higher position than the whites, because of the social inequity that disunified everyone. Even though there were relief programs designed for different colored Americans, they still maintained pay differentials, racial employment systems, and other forms of discriminations, which shows social injustice during the Great Depression (Williams 790). Although programs tried to create an equal level of justice between people, nothing could stop the unfair treatment between the different races. Social divisions are revealed to be irrational and destructive because of the unfair treatment of people by the color of their …show more content…

The Great Depression, caused by the hardships in the 1920s, further separated the people on social levels. Harper Lee shows this in her novel, which took place during the midst of the Great Depression. Social injustice was shown because of the unfair treatment of the colored Americans against the white people, no matter their working ability. The Cunninghams mainly showed the social problems caused by the stock market crash because of all the hardships they faced as a result of the crash. Finally, the Great Depression not only caused economic problems, it also greatly separated the townspeople from one another, causing social

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But unfortunately the reality was that the minorities had much harder times than white Americans. In 1933, the general unemployment rate in the United States was over 25 percent; at the same time, unemployment rates for various American minorities ranged up to 50 percent or more (“Great Depression and the New Deal Reference Library”1). Racial discrimination was high and minorities were the first to loose their jobs during the Great Depression. They were denied to work. They were often denied employment in public works programs, they were sometimes threatened at relief centers when applying for work or assistance, and even some charities refused to provide food to needy minorities, especially to blacks in the South.

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One of the quotes from the book that will always be in my mind is “the most significant fact about the Depression era may well be that it was the only time in the twentieth century during which there was a major break in the modern trends towards social disintegration and egoism.” This era made a lot of people including the rich and middle class realize just was being poor felt like. This quote shows that the Great Depression did not discriminate against a specific

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An amazing book, with a ton of amazing lessons that are taught in the book. This one takes place in Maycomb, Alabama during the Great Depression. In this time, the Jim Crow laws were still in effect, and because of it, even an American citizen would be treated differently, because of a skin color.

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The African American community faced many hardships; some might say, even worse then those faced by the rest of America. They found it harder to get jobs, and were fired before the Caucasian workers. Additionally, most new deal reparations didn’t apply to African Americans, so they did not get the jobs administered by the state to the unemployed. In order to be able to cope, the African Americans made their own charities, and their leaders urged them to unite for civil rights. Along side them helping each other, the government also tried to improve the poverty in African American communities.

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The people of times were at a standstill as there wasn’t anything that can cause people to grow and nothing out there to strive for. The people suffering from the Great Depression were too poor to buy goods and no goods to buy. In addition, people couldn’t have dreams or as stated in the novel nothing “outside the boundaries of Maycomb County” as they were barely trying to live in the present with the crippling economy. Families like the Cunninghams represented the entire farmer population affected by the crash as they suffered severely and their way of life showed the impact. These impacts were evident by the condition of the Walter Cunningham Jr. such as the “absence of shoes ”(pg) that led to hookworms from exposure to the ground.

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The consumer revolution that occurred in the 1920s gave Americans prosperous hope for the future of the United States of America. The people became comfortable on how they were living their lives. After the stock market crashes in 1929, people were left jobless and hungry. For those who do not know exactly what happened in the Great Depression and just figure it was a time of famine and unemployment and wasn 't thought of as a big deal, but it sure was. In the text book it talks about the specific effects the Great Depression had on all types of people.

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On October 29, 1929 the Stock Market crashed in the United States. The years to follow were full of desperation and despair. Most Americans suffered greatly but two groups that were hit in similar and very different ways were African Americans and white people in America. Although the Great Depression may have brought some people together that was not the case for these two groups. African Americans and white people experienced the Great Depression in similar ways but also in different ways because of racial inequalities partly to do with everyone’s desperation to find work, this caused a divide in America.

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Race has always been a part of history, from slavery to MLK, to Barack Obama. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee defines race in the south during the 1930’s. Jean “Scout” Finch, is the narrator of the story. Her brother Jeremy “Jem” and her dad, Atticus, are both main characters. Calpurnia is their house cook and helper, she is also black.

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The Great Depression was not only one of the defining moments in American history, but also one of the most difficult hardships Americans faced. During the Great Depression, which was ignited by the stock market crash of 1929, people faced unemployment, poverty, and changes in government the ultimately shaped America today. Many people believe that The Great Depression began when the stock market crashed on October 29, 1929 (“The Great Depression,” American Express). In the mid to late 1920’s the stock market grew majorly, the stock prices skyrocketed gaining interest from all kinds of people.

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The novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee takes place in the town of Maycomb, Alabama during the Great Depression. The author Lee demonstrates some major themes such as social inequality, intolerance, education, legal justice and bravery through this character. The title To Kill a Mockingbird symbolises innocence where Lee explores this through the eyes of Jem and Scout who are kids of Atticus Finch. He is one of the most honest, patient, kind, fair, respected and admired men in Maycomb during the Great Depression. Atticus is known for his moral character throughout the book.

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What if the world was still the same as it was back during the great depression. What if this was the truth. In To Kill a Mockingbird readers can see how prejudice affected people of color back then, and how it’s not so different from today. In the novel readers will find unfairness in court, hate crimes, and segregation. Today readers can still find these same issues, but in different forms.

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As you may know Harper Lee’s book came out in 1960 although the book is based on the 1930, when the great depression hit bad in the south. It left many families with a small amount of money, since the stock market crashed and

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In the novel, ‘To kill a mockingbird, Harper Lee demonstrates the small, imaginary town, the Maycomb County, as a place where racism and social inequality happens in the background of 1930s America. Not only the segregation between whites and blacks, but also the poor lived in a harsh state of living. As Scout, the young narrator, tells the story, Lee introduces and highlights the effects of racism and social inequality on the citizens of Maycomb County by using various characters such as Boo Radley, Tom Robinson, and Mayella Ewell. Firstly, Harper Lee portrays Boo Radley as a victim of social inequality through adjectives and metaphor in the phrase, “There was a long jagged scar that ran across his face; what teeth he had were yellow and rotten;” ‘Long jagged scar that ran across his face’ tells us that Boo Radley has stereotype about his appearance, which forces to imagine Boo as a scary and threatening person. The phrase, ‘yellow and rotten’ make the readers think as if Boo Radley is poor and low in a social hierarchy, as he cannot afford to brush his teeth.

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Social inequality is overlooked by many. It affects so many of us, though we have yet to realize how extreme it is. Lee argues in this novel how much stress social inequalities put on the black and white races throughout the 1930s. Although, social inequalities did not just affect different races, it also affected poor people and family backgrounds. These are proven in the novel multiple times through Boo Radley, Tom Robinson, and the Cunninghams when the book is looked at more in

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1395 Words | 6 Pages

In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Lee presents a large social atmosphere that includes many different cultures and extremes. The story takes place in the southern town of Maycomb, Alabama during the Great Depression. This novel illustrates how the southerners perceived different ideas about each other and social norms. It is told through the eyes of a young girl, Scout Finch, as she is growing up and becoming influenced by societal attitudes. Throughout the course of this book Scout learns many lessons including: how a society functions, why there is conflict between different cultures, and what makes cultures different from each other.

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