Starting Important Conversations With To Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee

Liam Rogers

Mrs. Bruno

Humanities

28 April 2023

Starting Important Conversations with To Kill A Mockingbird

Famous American author William Faulkner once stated, “The past is never dead. It's not even past” (Faulkner). Although seemingly a bygone era, the past persists, profoundly impacting our future events. To Kill A Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee, exemplifies this. This bildungsroman features Tom Robinson, a black man accused of rape, and through his trial, the town's true nature becomes evident. Lee's book provides numerous examples of issues during that time that remain relevant in today's world. One example of this is the problem of racial inequality that is portrayed throughout the story through examples such as unfair stereotypes

To begin, in the middle of the book, when the Finch children walk past Ms. Dubose's house following news of Atticus's defense of a black man, Mrs. Dubose unleashes a comment she cannot contain, yelling, “Not only a Finch waiting on tables but one in the courthouse lawing for n*****s! “ (Lee 135). Some individuals are uncertain if it is appropriate for a white woman to express such strong criticism towards a race to which she does not belong. In the book Why To Kill a Mockingbird Matters: What Harper Lee's Book and the Iconic American Film Mean to Us Today by Tom Santopietro, he expresses that it was not very appropriate for a privileged white woman to have the right to write about black characters. Is it justifiable for a white woman, belonging to the oppressive race that has caused immense suffering to a marginalized group, to write about the said group? (Santopietro). As white people oppress black individuals throughout To Kill A Mockingbird, the novel bears relevance to contemporary issues such as the killing of George Floyd. The killing of George by a white police officer ignited the BLM movement, which saw individuals of all races participating, including those from the race that oppressed

To begin, on the first day of school, one of the Ewell children acts out, and Scout tells her teacher, “ ‘He’s one of the Ewells, ma’am,’ and I wondered if this explanation would be as unsuccessful as my attempt . . . You’re supposed to mark ‘em absent the rest of the year…’” (Lee 24). Much like how the Ewell children deal with education inequality because of their social class, studies demonstrate that education inequality in the United States stems primarily from social class, and children who start with an educational disadvantage tend to remain at a disadvantage, influencing their entire life trajectory (Garcia and Weiss). Just like the Ewell children missing school for the whole year because of their situation at home, children today still deal with the issues of social class causing education inequality. Education inequality, stemming from social class, continues to affect children, underscoring the relevance of To Kill A Mockingbird in promoting essential conversations today. Next, during Jem and Scout's visit with Ms. Dubose, Scout describes how they read to her, stating, “Jem reopened Ivanhoe and began reading. I tried to keep up with him, but he read too fast. When Jem came to a word he didn’t know, he skipped it, but Mrs. Dubose would catch