THESIS
The novel “to kill a mockingbird” by Harper Lee is set during the great depression in south America, in a town called Maycomb. The novel describes the experiences that scout and Jem encounter as they are growing up. Prejudice is portrayed in many forms, it shows the reality of discrimination and the differences still existing in our world today. Characters in the book suffer discrimination due to race, social status, and gender. Readers may be shocked by the social behaviours and rascism, but Lee Harper's use of the language illustrates how socially acceptable this behavior was in the 1930s.
SOCIAL
At the beginning of the story we are almost immediately introduced to the different social statuses and the social inequality of Maycomb County. An example of social inequality are the Cunninghams. More specifically, Walter Cunningham. An example of this is when Scout befriends Walter and asks Aunt Alexandra if he could come over for dinner. Aunt Alexandra diapproves,”Jean Louise, there is no doubt in my mind that they’re not good folks. But they’re not our kinds of folks”(224). This shows that Aunt Alexandra doesn’t believe that Scout should be interacting with Cunninghams, mainly because they don’t fall on the same social level as Scout and her family do. She later states that the Cunninghams are trash. The Finches, on the other hand, are on the upper end of Maycomb’s “social ladder”. For example, when Scout asks Atticus if they are poor,” Are we poor, Atticus? Atticus nodded. “We are indeed….”Are we as poor as the Cunninghams?” “Not exactly. The Cunninghams are country folks…”(21). This proves that there are different social levels in the city of Maycomb. While the Finch’s are still poor, the Cunninghams still fall below them on the ladder, therefore, according to Aunt Alexandra and many others, Finch’s are not supposed to interact with people below them on the ladder. This is just a couple examples of the social inequalities that exist in Maycomb...