2.4 To Kill A Mockingbird Essay

“Maycomb was an old town, but it was a tired old town when i first knew it… There was no hurry, for there was nowhere to go, nothing to buy, and no money to buy it with.”, not only the setting of Maycomb itself portrays great significance in the novel of To Kill A Mocking bird but also the locations within the setting such as the Finches house and of course, the courthouse. These three settings, Finches house, Maycomb and the courthouse reinforce the idea of prejudice such as sexism, class prejudice and racism. The author, Harper Lee, displays these elements of prejudice through settings which enables the author to portray to the readers that not everything is perfect. Harper Lee, the author, drives these ideas off the real lives that they lived in the 1930s.

Scout grew up in an environment with male influences and a father who encouraged her to be herself. It was fair to say that she had grown up with “unladylike” manners and tomboy personality traits in which her Aunt Alexander, a feminist, believes is a portrayal of womankind In the 1930s. ” Aunt Alexander was fanatical on the subject of my attire. I could not possibly hope to be a lady if I wore breeches; when I said I could do nothing in a dress, she said I wasn’t supposed to be doing things that required pants”, Scout states this in the novel when her Aunty is being critical about the way she acts. Aunt Alexander believed that woman should not partake in any activities that require pants and that girls should behave like girls. The Finches house reinforces this idea of sexism as when Aunt Alexander becomes aware of Scouts tomboyish behaviours she decides to temporarily move into the household. She feels it is important to teach Scout how to be a lady and have a feminine influence in her house. Alexander has the intention of staying in the Finch’s household until Scout abandons her tomboyish ways in favour of more femininity. Harper Lee portrays this idea of sexism through the setting of the Finch’s house as its the environment that Scout grew to be a tomboy and is where Aunt Alexander hopes to change Scout into more of a lady of society. The society of the 1930s may have influenced Harper Lee to develop this idea of prejudice in her novel, as woman were perceived to be less than men and were in low paid “women’s jobs” such as cooking and caring. The time of the great depression did not do woman any favours, as it reinforced that men should primarily have the well-paid jobs and that the proper place for a woman was at home in unpaid work such as looking after the children. The author is attempting to show us that people should not be judged for the way they behave or what sex they are but should be accepted for who they are as a person. Over the last 50 years, sexism has moved towards greater equality between the two sexes. Today woman have greater rights with respect to how much they get paid and have greater job opportunities compared to the 1930’s. In today’s world woman have the right to vote, we are governed by a female prime minister and we are encouraged to be individuals more so than the early part of last century. However, I think the world is not completely free of sexism as there are still stereotypes for both sexes and gender inequality is still evident with respect to pay parity. There also continues to be large differences in how male and female athletes are treated in professional and amateur sport. I do think the gap is closing though.

The town of Maycomb reinforces the idea of class prejudice as its clear that there are different classes and each class is treated differently. Part way through the book, Jem assorts certain classes into four groups. “There’s four kinds of folks in the world. The ordinary kind like us and the neighbours… The Cunninghams… The Ewells… and the Negroes”. This gave readers the idea that social classes were obvious as even a young boy like Jem was able to identify them. Class prejudice was also evident through Scouts views of Walter Cunningham. In the chapter where Jem invites Walter over for dinner, Scout expresses that she feels as if he’s poor and is undeserving of their company. She states ” He ain’t company Cal, he’s just a Cunningham”. Cal quickly corrects her and informs Scout that anyone is deserving of company, whether you are rich or poor. Atticus also reminds Scout that she should accept people for the good in their heart and not their social class. Harper Lee expresses this idea to the audience to show the reality of the social classes in the 1930s and how people were treated differently depending on their wealth. Harper Lee also depicted to readers that everyone was so quick to judge people by their class and proved that the world had a lot to work on, in terms of accepting people. The great depression in the 1930s hindered this situation of class prejudice as people did not have copious amounts of money to spend and Scout referred it to being “tired”. “There was no hurry, for there was nowhere to go, nothing to buy and no money to buy it with”. This quote explains to us that everyone was in the same situation yet they still judged people based on their wealth. In today’s world, we still see a variation in wealth and there is still massive inequality between the rich and poor in many countries. Towns like Wanaka are overall expensive places to live and others from outside the area judge you for living in an affluent area. This may not be the same if we lived in larger cities where there is more poverty. I think people of today should not be so quick to judge people by their wealth and judge people by who they are and the good in their heart. There are many less fortunate people who still contribute a lot to our society by helping those less fortunate. Once again Lee’s message to the reader is relevant to today, in accepting those for who they are, not what they have.

Racism is another prejudice illustrated throughout the novel, not only because it was a massive problem in the 1930s, but to also spread a message to the readers that this problem needs to be solved. The setting that reinforces this idea of racism is the Maycomb County Courthouse. The courthouse is placed right in the middle of Maycomb not far from where the Finches live. The courthouse has two floors and is described to have dark hallways which give us the vibe that it is a dark, moody place. The courthouse is where most came to the realisation that even if a negro man has been proven innocent, he will still be punished because of the colour of his skin. In the novel Atticus believes that there’s something about race that makes people crazy, he mentions to Jem ” there’s something in our world that makes men lose their heads- they couldn’t be fair if they tried. In our courts, when it’s a white man’s word against a black man’s, the white man always wins. They’re ugly, but those are facts of life.” This quote proves that racism has now become a fact of life that at this point in time couldn’t be changed. Atticus mentions this to Jem because of his youth and his expectation that Jems generation will change these racist views of innocent people. He hopes that his children can embrace people for who they are, not the colour of their skin. Harper Lee uses the courthouse to drive home her ideas to the reader that racism was horrific in the 1930s and that something needed to change. The author wants to accentuate to the reader that all people should be treated equally and with dignity, despite their race or colour. Fast-forward to 2020 there are still racist comments made. Many people still can’t accept the fact that despite the different colour of their skin, they are equal to us in every way and should be treated accordingly. I think that racism has come a long way since the 1930s but is still obvious to this day in many countries that share citizens from differing nationalities. The mosque shootings in 2019 in Christchurch are a prime example of individuals still not accepting different race and religions. Lee’s message to the readers to embrace people for who they are is still relevant today.

Harper Lee portrays the ideas of prejudice including sexism, class and racism through the important settings of Finches house, Maycomb and the courthouse. She wants to articulate the message that in the 1930’s it seemed impossible to treat each other as equals and that it was a significant problem in America at that time. Atticus refers to prejudice as “Maycomb’s usual disease” as it’s hard to be cured of prejudice thoughts. This also gives us the message that it spreads just like a disease. Harper Lee portrays prejudice as a disease with no cure, it is work in progress and something we all need to be mindful of. When will we know when the world has finally accepted people for who they truly are? Or is this even possible?