To Kill A Mockingbird Social Issues

To Kill a Mockingbird is a groundbreaking novel that suggests and discusses many social problems that were present in the 1930’s during the Great Depression and that are still present today. Some of the issues are very heavy topics such as suicide and sexual assault. Throughout To Kill A Mockingbird, sexual assault is a major theme. Suicide is mentioned in the novel, but is not heavily discussed. This essay is going to detail these social issues and discuss how they are still present today and what can be done about them.

During the 1930’s, sexual assault was very common. This is partially due to the fact that women were seen as objects that were only there for the convenience of men. “Much of the debate about sexual assault revolved around

Many people receive mental health treatment before any suicide attempts. This is partially due to the fact that regular visits to a family physician checks one’s mental health status, and they can be referred to a psychiatrist before a patient can become a harm to themselves. “In 2019… the global suicide rate for women was 5.4 deaths per 100,000; for men, it was just over twice that figure at 12.6 per 100,000”(ourworlddata.org). Studies show that male suicide rates are particularly high because they are seen as stronger figures. However, this should not be the case. Men should be able to express their feelings, in a way where they should not feel ashamed to do so. Another reason that men may feel a sort of responsibility for taking care of their families when in actuality, women should also take responsibility in doing this. A lot of men in this day in age like to stick to past ways and take on the role of a traditional male in history- a male that is in charge and is there to only provide for their families, just as men stereotypically did in the

This caused suicide to be one of the leading causes of death in males during the Great Depression. The majority of adults in this time period were suffering from severe depression and anxiety. These are the leading causes of suicide which further supports the fact that suicide was a lot more common during the Depression. Now that mental health treatment is more accessible and advanced, mental illness can be treated before it becomes a serious problem. This has led to the downfall of suicide rates in the United States and Globally. Before mental health care advanced, mental health was a very taboo subject. Lobotomy was often the only mental health treatment available. This was a severely invasive procedure that often caused death, and for patients to forget who they are. This procedure has now been stopped and is no longer used for the treatment of mental illness. Now there are residential facilities and psychiatric hospitals that can treat certain mental illnesses accordingly, and to help prevent suicide. Oftentimes, when a person attempts suicide, they are taken into a hospital for review and treatment for their own safety and the safety of others. This is a gigantic reason as to why suicide rates have dropped in the past one hundred