Unequal And Prejudice In To Kill A Mockingbird

A Segregating Society Martin Luther King Jr. once stated “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” In the story, To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, the people of the town of Maycomb, Alabama judge individuals by the color of their skin, not the content of their character and face various incidences of Social Inequality. Harper Lee demonstrates how unequal and prejudice the 1930s southern culture is when Walter Cunningham comes over for dinner and Scout does not respect him, when Aunt Alexandra does not agree Atticus defending Tom Robinson, and when Tom is falsely charged with rape because of his skin color.

At this point in the novel, Scout tells Atticus that Walter “‘...ain’t company, he’s just a cunningham’”(Lee 24) when Walter is simply pouring syrup on his dinner. Walter is looked down on by Scout Simply for the fact that he is in a lower income class and for this reason, Scout believes he is not company although anyone who visits the Finch house is thought of as company according to Atticus. The Cunninghams have always been sighted as poor, non wealthy individuals unlike the Finches which has importance to the overall message of social inequality because they are both human beings and should be treated with the same amount of respect respect and compassion. Many members of the human race are guilty of judging people by their social class and not by what truly matters: their character. Harper Lee is attempting to instill the ideas of social equity to better the future of humanity and focus on the better and more important ideas of life that certainly matter the most. To conclude, the ideas of social inequality and classism are shown when Scout was being rude to Walter Cunningham at the dinner table for being in a lower class than she

Francis offends Scout and tells her that her father has “‘...turned out a n-lover’” and “‘he´s ruinin´ the family’”(Lee 83) when Scout contends with the fact that Atticus is a lover of the African race because he is defending Tom Robinson in the trial. This offends Scout because she is not used to her father being verbally attacked and she is used to him being respected by the majority of people. There is significance to this scene because it demonstrates how Atticus was looked at throughout the novel after he was admitted to defend Tom Robinson. The fact that people are questioning why Atticus is defending Tom contributes to the theme of Social Inequality because Tom is unequal to the white population and is not worth it to most people in Maycomb to defend him. The passage is important to society because the sooner we all the human race begin to quit with our prejudice mindsets, the sooner we will be able to thrive and unite together. The author is suggesting that we must not judge an individual externally but rather internally. In short, when Francis and Scout dispute over whether Atticus loves the black population of Maycomb illustrates the racist and socially unequal 1930s southern