TKAM ESSAY PLANNING

Question: Analyse how setting used to reinforce an idea in the written texts.

Introduction:
– introduction to how setting such as Atticus’s house, the courtroom, and the overall town of Maycomb reinforced the idea of prejudice such as racism, sexism, and class.
– the novel was set In the 1930s in the same community called Maycomb county, located in the south.
– Harper lee portrays these ideas through setting and by scouts growth in the novel.

Paragraph 1
– finches house reinforces the idea of sexism
– aunt alexander moves in to teach scout “lady manners”
–  “Aunt Alexandra 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.”
– in the year of 1930’s it was said to be that girls should act like a lady, they should wear dresses and not take part in activities that you cant do in a dress.
– despite aunt Alexander being critical about scouts ways, Atticus still encourages
– finches house reinforces the idea of sexism as aunt alexander comes to stay at the finches house in chapter 13 to teach scout to be a lady and that scout needed “some feminine influence”.
– aunt alexander has the intention to stay at the finches house until scout abandons her tomboyish ways in favour of more feminine behaviour.
– the finches house reinforces the idea of sexism as aunt alexander was the only feminine influence in the finches household for the children
– in 1930s woman were in low paid “women’s jobs” such as caring and cooking as when the great depression occured it reinforced that men should primarily have all the well-paid jobs and that the proper place for a woman was unpaid jobs at home.
– in today’s day of age, sexism doesn’t come across as strong as a woman have equal right to how much they get paid and have a choice in which what job they want to have. however, I don’t think the world is cured of sexism as there are still stereotypes of what girls should and shouldn’t do and also the same for boys.

Paragraph 2
– Maycomb reinforces the idea of class- “There’s four kinds of folks in the world. The ordinary kind like us and the neighbours… the Cunninghams… the Ewells… and the negroes” in chapter 23 Jem finch assorts certain classes into 4 groups.
– Social classes were obvious and shown through scouts views of Walter Cunningham. “He ain’t company, Cal, he’s just a Cunningham”
– At first scout, views were that if he is poor, or if anyone is poor they do not deserve anyone company but Calpurnia corrects her and says anyone is deserving of company, poor or rich
– Writers intention: to show the division of the social classes and that the poor were the poor and the rich was the rich. Harper lee portrayed to us readers that the poor were treated badly and everyone was so quick to judge in the 1930s and proved that the world had a lot to work on in terms of accepting people.
– Relating to real-world of great depression 1930s: “There was no hurry, for there was nowhere to go, nothing to buy and no money to buy it with, nothing to see outside the boundaries of Maycomb County. But it was a time of vague optimism for some of the people: Maycomb County had recently been told that it had nothing to fear but fear itself.”
– when the novel took place it was during the great depression and didn’t have much money to spend on things and scout referred to it as being “tired”. in the time of the great depression in the 1930’s the black community were, of course, the first to lose their jobs and suffered from an unemployment rate two to three times that of whites. A lot of the high social class lost their fortune.
-real-world today in terms of Wanaka, there is definitely a variety but is an expensive place to live. as there is a variation of wealth, we do not let that define who we are and we are not so quick to judge.
– In today’s world I think we should continue to not be so quick to judge people by the wealth and judge them by who they are and their good of their heart.

Paragraph 3
-The courtroom reinforces the idea of racism
– Tom Robinson was accused in this courtroom of something he didn’t do due to the colour of his skin.
– Despite the judge knowing his innocence, it caused him this negro man his life.

Conclusion
-throughout the novel, harper lee continues to show how this setting reinforces the ideas of prejudice.
– the way she portrays this is through Atticus or other adults teaching or correcting scout or jem what is right and wrong and this is so its easier for us readers to understand what harper lee is trying to get across to her readers, by using the young protagonist.
– prejudice has not been cured, and there is still a lot of improvement needed until people can feel accepted for who they are whether they dress like a boy, haven’t got as much money as you, or for their colour of the skin.
– we all need to be able to accept one another, understanding is the first step to acceptance, and only with acceptance, there can be recovery.