What Is The Great Depression In To Kill A Mockingbird

To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, is a novel written during the Great Depression, and the novel goes through the life of a young girl and the struggles throughout this era. In this novel class affects one’s position is Maycomb’s society because characters get treated a little differently and people associate other characters in a certain way. Since the Great Depression hit Maycomb, Alabama, most of the people there are very poor, trying to support their family, and trying to provide food. More than half of the students in Scout's class are poor and some come to the first day of class and that is all. In Chapter 3, Lee writes, “‘they can go to school anytime they want to, when they show the faintest symptoms of wanting an education,’ said Atticus.

Atticus also mentions that they are a disgrace for three years running. The Ewells only go to the first day of school because the first day was reinforced by the sheriff but other than that they don’t go to school. Burris Ewell has been in the first grade for 3 years now. Although the Ewells are “people” they didn’t live like people, they barely had food, and hardly took baths. Their father would spend his relief checks on whiskey instead of feeding or getting clothes for his kids. The Ewells have no new method of making money or going to school. The Ewells position in the Maycomb society is that they are seen as the lower class because they still had no money to support their children or to buy other necessities. Harper Lee wants to point out that even though the Ewells were born white, the Great Depression hit them hard, and the type of class you’re into has a lot to say about who you are and what your children