To Kill A Mockingbird Inequality Quotes

In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee explores many social issues such as prejudice and inequality. Prejudice against Arthur ‘Boo’ Radley is a strong example of this as he is constantly treated unfairly by the people of Maycomb although he is an innocent man. A slightly unnoticeable form of inequality is the social hierarchy constructed by Maycomb. This segregates the white people from the black people and differentiates the social classes within the races. Finally, the most evident example of prejudice within the novel is Tom Robinson’ trial. Due to his skin colour, he is wrongly convicted of raping a white girl and his lawyer, the well–respected Atticus Finch, also faces consequences for helping a black man. These examples are typical

In the novel, there are multiple levels of social class and people comply to the unwritten rule that white people are to be treated kindly and more superior to other races, even if they obtain a lesser status within the community. This occurs during the novel when the Finches’ have Walter Cunningham over for dinner. Walter and the rest of the Cunningham’s belong to a class of poor white yet respectable citizens, whom lie below the very well-respected Finches’. As Walter Cunningham eats his dinner supplied by the Finches, he “poured syrup in his vegetables and meat with a generous hand” (pg. 26). Scout rudely questions Walter’s handling of the syrup but is punished afterwards by Calpurnia for acting rudely due to not letting him do or eat what he would like to. Mrs. Dubose is a further example of the social class below people such as the Finches’. It is evident that she is not of a higher social class as she does not treat community members with any respect. Instead, people passing by “would be raked by her wrathful gaze” (pg. 110). Below Mrs. Dubose and the Cunninghams’ are the disrespectful and poor white families, the Ewells’. The Ewells treat all people, including their own relative and friends, with horrendously bad manners. They live in areas of poverty and “Maycomb’s Ewells live behind the town garbage dump in what

During the novel, Atticus is asked to defend a black man, named Tom Robinson, in a case where he has been accused of rape. Throughout the trial, Atticus clearly proves to the court and jury that Tom is innocent and that the truthful reason that Mayella Ewell convicted Tom Robinson of rape was because “she did something that in our society is unspeakable: she kissed a black man.” (pg. 225). He then goes into further explain that “she has committed no crime, has merely broken a rigid and time-honoured code of our society, a code so severe that whoever breaks it is hounded from our midst as unfit to live with” (pg. 224). Due to the severity of prejudice against black people in Maycomb, Atticus knew that Tom Robinson would be named guilty as the jury was made up of twelve white men. During Atticus’s defence, he pleads the jury to not make “the evil assumption – that all Negroes lie, that all Negroes are basically immoral beings, that all Negro men are not to be trusted around our women… is in itself a lie as black as Tom Robinson’s skin.” (pg. 225). Although it does create lengthy discussion within the jury, Tom Robinson is finally decided guilty. Atticus Finch and his children are affected by Atticus’s choice to defend a black man, as this decision was not supported by the people of Maycomb.