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What Is Family Distinctions In To Kill A Mockingbird

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“Family and Class Distinctions” “Naw, Jem, I think there’s just one kind of folks. Folks.” Different social classes have divided up societies throughout history and still do today in many situations. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird she showed many different types of family and class distinctions. It matters what family or class people belonged to and what class distinctions there were because they affect the story. In Maycomb County most of the people were of a poor status, but some were more poor than others. “Are we poor, Atticus?” Atticus nodded. “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). This quote shows that the Finch family is indeed poor, but not as poor and low class as the Cunningham’s are. Although the …show more content…

“The tribe of which Burris Ewell and his brethren consisted had lived on the same plot of earth behind the Maycomb dump, and had thrived on county welfare money for three generations” (130). This quote shows that the Ewells had always been an unpleasant and low class family. The Ewells had to live off welfare and they were rude and ignorant. During Tom Robinson’s trial, you were able to see the Ewell’s true colors and ways they were disrespectful. Some of the people of Maycomb had different opinions on other people that may have been of a lower social status than them. For example, Aunt Alexandra told Scout that she couldn’t play with Walter Cunningham because she says that he and his family are not their kind of folks. “Because-he-is-trash, that’s why you can’t play with him. I’ll not have you around him, picking up his habits and learning Lord-knows-what” (225). This quotes shows how Aunt Alexandra believes that Scout shouldn’t associate with Walter Cunningham even though he is

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There are many different social classes that are greatly represented in Lee's well known book "To kill a Mockingbird." For example, the Cunningham's in the Ewell's. In the book, Walter Cunningham attends school regularly to get a good education, while Burris Ewell only shows up for the first day of school every year. This is a very subtle representation of the different social classes.

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Hierarchy. . .racism. . .prejudice. . .these are all struggles faced throughout the world today. Unfortunately, these struggles are not unfamiliar and are exemplified in the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee.

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Atticus Finch prioritizes his role of father in that his responsibility teach his kids right from wrong takes precedence over all other things. Respect for all neighbors, in spite of Maycomb stereotypes, its a requirement in their household as the kids learn to accept the Cunningham's social class, Dolphus Raymond's lifestyle, and Boo Radley's eccentric Behavior. The Cunningham family is look down upon because of their low social class. Since they are so poor they are viewed as a different type of folk.

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To KIll a Mockingbird by Harper Lee uses the town of Maycomb changing throughout the story ultimately affecting the ending. Lee represents society as an ever changing factor to people life. There are a few things that attribute to this change including the case against Tom Robinson as well as the mob that confronts Atticus wanting to get at Tom Robinson. Characters such as Atticus Finch have seen this change in Maycomb and are personally affected by it.

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Everyday people get judged for what they like, love, what they believe in, their race, and religion. In the To kill a Mockingbird takes place in Maycomb, Alabama. In the town where the book takes place there's a lot of judgement that goes on every day through the town, basically everyone that lives in Maycomb everyone has a reputation. There is a lot of social and inequality

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In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, we follow along as the author leads us through Maycomb’s towns people’s lives in the 1930’s. As we shadow Atticus and his family we learn some background on his family as well as other characters. As we read along we experience some of the problems in the town like stereotyping as well as other ones. Although not being like others in this case not being stereotypical it may lead to some consequences, but in the end things won’t be that bad. Think about it there may be some obstacles

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Throughout the book, you will see how the characters interact with each other according to this social class and how it affects their lives daily without them even knowing. You may experience these in real life, this is something Harper Lee was very consistent with. She took real life into account when writing about Maycomb. Maycomb is a small southern town, where education,

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The Prejudice of Maycomb County Prejudice has plagued the United States of America for decades, and still plays an important role in the lives of everyday people today. Moreover, it can be in the form of racism, sexism, classism, or one of many other countless methods of presumption towards others. Harper Lee, author of To Kill a Mockingbird, chooses to illustrate the prejudice of Maycomb County through the use of characters’ actions and dialogue. Aunt Alexandra may be full of pride, but she is prejudice nonetheless.

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The Cunninghams were viewed negatively because they were farmers who did not conform to the same social norms as everyone else. Scout told Aunt Alexandra that she wanted to invite Walter over but Aunt Alexandra declined and “took off her glasses and stared at me. ‘I’ll tell you why,’ she said. ‘Because-he-is-trash, that’s why you can’t play with him” (Lee 301).

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I can’t figger it. ”(156) In this quote Mae is describing the upper class people that enter her diner, saying they steal and are anxious. This shows how the rich people are so blind to what's actually going on in the country but they too believe they are desperate and suffering, refusing to be comfortable. They are unhappy but unlike the migrants, they have no reason to be.

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Maycomb refuses to accept Tom Robinson’s innocence and instead uses him as a scapegoat to protect the Ewell’s pride and to justify blaming him for Mayella’s circumstances which preserves Maycomb’s power over the African American community. Maycomb’s inability to believe Tom’s innocence is because his case is a “black man’s word against the Ewells” and “the jury [can’t] possibly be expected to take Tom Robinson’s word” because Maycomb deems ignorant, uneducated white people, like the Ewells, as more respectable, valuable, and trustworthy than black people (88, 108). Tom’s case demonstrates how Maycomb sees African Americans as expendable because of deep-rooted prejudices. Maycomb chooses to condemn a black man to death over damaging Mr. Ewell’s pride. Maycomb attempts to rationalize this verdict with stigmas about black people, falling back on their ingrained prejudices.

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The only thing we’ve got is a black man’s word against the Ewells‘. The evidence boils down to you-did—I-didn’t. The jury couldn’t possibly be expected to take Tom Robinson’s word against the Ewells’—” (Lee 117).  Every adult in Maycomb, who knows the ways of the town, knows that Tom has absolutely no chance of winning. The hate, and peer pressure to hate, is rooted to deep into the minds of the citizens, that they know the outcome even before the

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Who is rich and who is poor in To Kill a Mockingbird. In To Kill a Mockingbird the Author (Harper Lee) shows that the more money some has, the better their life is. This is shown through the Finch family, the Ewell family, and the Robinson family. How is the social class divided by families throughout Maycomb? The more wealth you have the better your life would have been in this book.

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In To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee teaches us about the town of Maycomb County during the late 1930s, where the characters live in isolation and victimization. Through the perspective of a young Jean Louise “Scout” Finch, readers will witness the prejudice that Maycomb produces during times where people face judgement through age, gender, skin colour, and class, their whole lives. Different types of prejudice are present throughout the story and each contribute to how events play out in the small town of Maycomb. Consequently, socially disabling the people who fall victim from living their life comfortably in peace. Boo Radley and his isolation from Maycomb County, the racial aspects of Tom Robinson, and the decision Atticus Finch makes as a lawyer, to defend a black man has all made them fall in the hands of Maycomb’s prejudice ways.

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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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