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To Kill A Mockingbird Social Class Essay

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Imagine what the world would be like if all social classes interacted the same with one another. To Kill a Mockingbird is the story of the Finch family who doesn't conform to society's norms on how social classes interact; they believe that everyone should be treated equal no matter what race or social class. Harper Lee uses social classes play a major role in human interaction because they show how people in lower classes are viewed as inferior. The Cunninghams show how social classes play a major role in human interaction. One example happens when Walter Cunningham doesn't have a lunch, miss Caroline wants to give him change while he keeps declining the money eventually making Scout be brave and say “‘Walters one of the Cunninghams, miss Caroline.’” (26) This example illustrates the theme because Walter is a person with a lower class, causing Scout to say why he has no money. Another example happens when Jem and Scout invite Walter over …show more content…

An example of this happens when Mr.Ewell is first introduced into the courtroom and he makes an intolerable joke in front of the whole court “‘Well, if I ain't I can't do nothing about it now, her ma’s dead,’” (230) This example show the theme because Mr.Ewell has a lower social class so he didn't know how to acceptably act in a formal place such as the courtroom. Another example happens when Mr.Ewell continued to use unacceptable language for a courtroom and Judge Taylor has to intervene “Mr.Ewell, you will keep your testimony within the confines of Christian English usage, if that is possible.” (232-233) This example shows the theme because Mr.Ewell has a lower social class making Judge Taylor doubt if he even can only use Christian English. Harper Lee showed the theme social classes affect human interaction through Mr.Ewell by making him a sleazy lower class man who still felt he was more superior than colored people because he was

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An example is how buttercup and westley fall in love. In the book Buttercup and Westley insult one another and disagree on who is considered to be smart. Buttercup is not treated like she is an intelligent girl by Westley and she treats him in the same manner. The movie doesn't focus as much on Westley and Buttercup taunting each other as the first scenes of the film revolve around Buttercup and Westley love for one another . Within the first chapter of the book, the Countess and Count arrive at Buttercup's family farm.

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To kill a mockingbird was a political statement, yet it was not meant for the public to so widely see. In To Kill a Mockingbird, the award winning novel by Harper Lee, many important topics are touched upon with themes such as family and justice, however, the most prevalent theme is racism and Harper Lee manages to touch upon it many times. Race in Maycomb County helps to determine social class and power, it also creates an unspoken set of rules regarding code of conduct and how many people interact in their relationships, both interracial and not. In Maycomb County race is a major determining factor in a person’s positioning in the social hierarchy.

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506 Words | 3 Pages

Some excellent examples of this are discrimination, bravery, and family. Lee introduces discrimination into the story by showing the different social structures of the people in Maycomb. For instance, even though the Robison’s, and other black families, are more courteous than the Ewells, they are put below them on the social scale because of the fact that they aren’t white; the only people that are put below blacks are mixed people because they are unwanted. When it came to the trial, it was the word of a white man against the word of a black. As a result, Tom was still convicted, even though he was telling the truth and the evidence showed it wasn’t him, because Mr. Ewell was a white man.

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Out of the Normal Society has a set of actions as what they see as “normal” and socially acceptable. They define this set of unspoken rules as social norms. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, a reader will often find many characters breaking the social norms of Maycomb County, Alabama. The defiance of these social norms help the young protagonist, Scout, learn valuable life lessons of equality.

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254 Words | 2 Pages

In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird, one of the most significant themes is race and social class cause inequalities. For example, the all-white jury decided an innocent black man’s verdict, when Judge Taylor polled the group, the vote was unanimous “guilty… guilty… guilty… guilty…” (Lee 112). The white men were all considered of higher class than Tom and going into the trial they all already knew the outcome. Furthermore, Bob knew that he could use Tom to cover up his mistakes and once he got his daughter to go along, “Tom was a dead man the minute Mayella Ewell opened her mouth and screamed” (Lee 128).

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Social Inequality in, ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ Harper Lee demonstrates her terrific writing ability while displaying the theme of social inequality within, ‘To Kill a Mockingbird.’ She uses literary elements like symbolism and imagery to allude to the injustice and prejudice in the town. Without social inequality many of the events in the story would never have happened, especially the main conflict. Lee also used both experiences from her own life and real world events as inspirations in the story. Social inequality in ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ is reinforced by both poverty and racism with black residents being considered inferior to all other people.

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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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One example of this is Mr. B. B. Underwood. Mr. B. B. Underwood is a somewhat racist man who is furious over Tom Robinson’s death. On page 275 it is quoted “He linked Tom’s death to the senseless slaughter of songbirds by hunters and children, and Maycomb thought he was trying to write an editorial poetical enough to be reprinted in The Montgomery Advertiser.” A another example of this is on page 174. Scout ends up making Mr. Cunningham question what he is doing when he is trying to kill Tom Robinson.

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Challenging Social Standards Through Literature:To Kill A Mockingbird In the book To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee There are many hidden rules that drive Macomb County with racism; this changes relationships, power of language and social status in ways that can make or destroy a person in Macomb. Harper Lee is challenging the status quo about race relationships through To Kill a Mockingbird while describing Macomb County she does this through characters who are seen through a stereotypical lense in the beginning of the novel, but as the book develops the character changes and is the exact opposite of what the author first described. The race structure relationship that Harper Lee wrote into the novel is shown through the characters in Macomb.

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Another example is when Scout hides the impudent remarks her cousin made about Atticus. Lastly, though not as clean-cut of an example: Mayella Ewell’s testimony also Lee’s assertion.

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Hello Family, Yesterday I went to a training in regards to the new open carry gun law. It is a very disturbing and dangerous law. The law basically states that a license person may carry a gun openly in public. There are some exceptions to this law. The person must have the gun in a holster when carried on his body.

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How does Harper Lee vividly capture the effects of racism and social inequality on the citizens of Maycomb county in ‘To kill a mockingbird’? In the novel, ‘To kill a mockingbird’, Harper Lee conveys the theme of racism and social inequality by setting up the story in Maycomb, a small community in Alabama, the U.S back in 1930s. Lee presents some of the social issues of 1930s such as segregation and poverty in the novel. These issues are observed and examined through the innocent eyes of a young girl, Scout, the narrator.

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535 Words | 3 Pages

Harper Lee touches upon many social issues in To Kill a Mockingbird. Among these issues is the matter of racism in America during the 1930s. This novel focused on the issue of racism through the case of Tom Robinson which conveyed the strong hostility towards African-Americans in Maycomb, Alabama. Other various occasions in the novel exhibit racism’s potential and influence in this country including Aunt Alexandra's disapproval of Calpurnia, and Mr. Dolphus Raymond’s hidden life. Through the results of these instances, Harper Lee shed a new light on racism and how it will always persist in America.

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In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee demonstrates that social inequality breaks down a society through the use of conflict, symbolism and irony. Social inequality plays a pivotal role in the novel because the whole conflict between Bob and Tom is wrapped in it. From the first accusation to the final conviction inequality is intertwined in every paragraph, every word. To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel that stands the test of time because while our society has made improvements, inequality will never truly go away. This novel displays characters you relate to, ones you despise, and all that you fall in love with.

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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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