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Theme Of Poverty In To Kill A Mockingbird

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To Kill A Mockingbird Themes
“‘You never really understand a person until you consider his point of view… until you climb into his skin and walk around in it’” (Lee 39). This quote from the novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee includes many characters who suffer from the Great Depression and other conflicts that break out in the town of Maycomb. Racism, poverty, and domestic violence attend in the book and continue their way through to create rising conflict between the people of Maycomb county. Atticus Finch is a lawyer of Maycomb and a father of two children, Jean Louise Finch, also known as Scout, and Jem Finch. Atticus, a white man, fights to defend Tom Robinson, a black man, in a case consisting of domestic violence. Throughout …show more content…

The Cunningham’s have nothing to offer and the majority of their lives they refuse to take anything that they can’t pay back. “‘Atticus’... ‘Are we as poor as the Cunningham’s?’” (Lee 27). This shows that people don’t think that they are actually poor until they are “Cunningham” poor. The family who has to use their money scarcely, will not take money or “donations” from anyone without knowing for sure that they can pay them back. Another example of the theme poverty in the novel is the Ewell family. The Ewell family is the opposite of the Cunningham family. The Ewells are known for being “poor white trash” and do not follow morals or have manners of any kind. On Scout’s first day of school, Burris Ewell makes Miss Caroline cry. When his teacher tells him to go to the principal’s office, he responds with, “‘Ain’t no snot-nosed slut of a schoolteacher ever born c’n make me do nothin’!’” (Lee 37). Burris continues to insult her until she is crying as he storms out of her classroom leaving everyone in astonishment. In To Kill A Mockingbird the Cunninghams and the Ewells are perfect examples of

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The Ewells and Cunningham families in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee or complete opposites of eachother. The first way they vary is in their appearance. The Ewells don 't care what they look like so their “necks are dark grey, backs of hands are rusty, and fingernails black deep into the quick” (27). However, the Cunninghams look as best the can with a “clean shirt and neatly pressed overalls” (19). Another way they differ is their education.

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Harper Lee’s, To Kill a Mockingbird, is a novel that takes place in a small town, called Maycomb, in Alabama, narrated by Jean Louise “Scout” Finch. Scout learns how to deal with many things in everyday life, including racism and criticism. While learning about these things, she finds that courage is being shown by not only herself, but by other role models around her, including her father, Atticus Finch. The theme of courage is very significant in the novel.

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1464 Words | 6 Pages

Imagine you live in a tiny old divided southern town during the Great Depression. The people in that town will stand up for what they believe in and not back down for nobody and nothing. That town is called Maycomb and is the setting of the novel “To Kill a Mockingbird”(TKaM) written by Harper Lee. “To Kill a Mockingbird” is a realistic fiction novel that is told through a young girl named Scout, eyes. Scout has a father named Atticus and a brother she calls Jem.

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Harper Lee’s To Kill A MockingBird portrays many differences between the Ewells and Cunninghams. Cleanliness is one contrast between the two families. For example, the Ewells are dirty because Burris’ “neck was dark gray, the back of his hands were rusty” (27). Their appearances are unkempt because it isn’t their top priority; however, the Cunninghams choose to take pride in their appearance.

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637 Words | 3 Pages

“We are indeed.” Jem’s nose wrinkled. “Are we as poor as the Cunninghams?” “Not exactly. The Cunninghams are country folks, farmers, the crash hit them the hardest” (21).

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Tom Robinson is a black man who is falsely accused of raping a white girl, and Atticus defends him rightfully and justly, even though nobody would ever believe the black man. The community of Negros who live in and around Maycomb thank the Finches with a copious amount of food. “The kitchen table was loaded with enough food to bury the family: hunks of salt pork, tomatoes, beans, even scuppernongs. … Calpurnia said, “This was all ‘round the back steps when I got here this morning.

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1253 Words | 6 Pages

By analyzing the struggle of these individuals throughout Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird, the reader observes that the prejudiced society hurts the mockingbirds; this is important because the author demonstrates it is a sin to harm an innocent being. To start, Mayella Ewell symbolizes a mockingbird that the discriminatory society misjudges as a result of her low social class. When Scout is in first grade, readers see that the Ewells are poor and struggle to survive. Atticus tells Scout, “the Ewells had been the disgrace of Maycomb for three generations” (Lee 40).

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562 Words | 3 Pages

There’s the ordinary kind like us and the neighbors, there’s the kind like the Cunninghams out in the woods, the kind like the Ewells down at the dump, and the Negroes” (302). This statement clearly shows how much social class prejudice was around at this time. A ten year old is talking about social class prejudice and demeaning people that were not like him and his family. Social class prejudice was such a present theme during these times that it affected people of all ages. The third type of prejudice in this novel is gender prejudice.

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A behavior, of which, presents itself heavily while either talking, and or mentioning, the topics of religions, racism and classism. Given the time period is during the 1930’s, and that Maycomb County is located in the deep south, it is no wonder of why prejudice appears as a cultural norm. The Great Depression was going on at the time, and so, everyone is taking the chance in trying to look better off, in the terms of finance and living standards. In looking at the main family of the book, the Finches, they are part of the high standing class. And, as according to Aunt Alexandra, they, as a family, are above everyone.

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Jem said that “there’s four kinds of folks in the world. The ordinary kind like us and the neighbors… the Cunninghams… the Ewells… and the negroes.” This statement exemplifies the social stratification in the small town of Maycomb. Even very young children are able to distinguish and differentiate between classes. The book depicts “the negroes” as the very worst of the classes, and people like the Cunninghams, as among the highest class, the “whites.”

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1317 Words | 6 Pages

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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936 Words | 4 Pages

Jan Lopez Mrs. Herrick English 2 Honors Pd 4 16 January 2018 To Kill a Mockingbird: Essay #1 Throughout history, an individual’s status in society would have been determined by one’s affluence. Discrimination based on one’s level of wealth are one of the fundamental values acknowledged in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. The novel resides amidst the prevalence of segregation and economic declination of the American Great Depression, thus instituting a difficulty in one’s survivability.

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500 Words | 2 Pages

In To Kill A Mockingbird, there are many chapters that involve racism, poverty, and or violence. This book takes place in Maycomb, Alabama during the Great Depression. The Finches, Jem, Scout, and Atticus which are the rich white people, the Cunninghams, the poor humble people, the Ewells, the dirt poor white trash people, and the colored folks all are involved in either racism, poverty, and or violence. Many examples of poverty are stated in To Kill A Mockingbird. An example of poverty is the Ewells because the Ewells have nearly nothing.

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1169 Words | 5 Pages

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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1960 Words | 8 Pages

The book "To Kill a Mockingbird" describes different classes of people as been rich and poor. People classify themselves differently because some people are in poverty, while some are wealthy. Most wealthy people help the poor, but the main people they help are the Cunningham 's family. They help the Cunningham 's family because they are willing to work and they are hard working. People never help the Ewell 's family because they are rude, lazy, and they waste their money on alcohol.

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