Theme Of Social Inequality In To Kill A Mockingbird

Words: 1093
Pages: 5

To Kill a Mockingbird was written in the 1940’s, which was the prime of social inequality. Social Inequality is the most relevant issue but is still overlooked majorly. In Harper Lee’s Novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Social Inequality was shown through the novel numerous times. This book had social inequalities from gender to class to race.
Harper Lee talks about gender throughout her novel. Scout lost her mother at an early age, but does not fret over the lack of femininity. Her Aunt Alexandra does not approve of her “unladylike” behavior. While Atticus shows little to no effect towards Scout’s tomboy-ish attitude, Aunt Alexandra makes it her mission to get rid of Scout’s tomboy habit’s. Scout shares a lot resentment towards being called a “girl,”
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It is uncivilized and Harper Lee made sure her opinions of it were crystal clear. When it came to social inequality based on the color of skin of an individual or group. In her novel, the african american people were underpaid and treated poorly simply because of the color of their skin. They also were not able to live in the same town as white people, they had to have their own separate community. Racism is not a one way street though, the African American people are also racist towards white people. “You ain’t got no business bringin’ white chillum here- they got their church, we got our’n” (page 119). Lula, a african individual, demonstrates how there is racism in both communities regaurdless of social status in chapter 12. This is a concept was new for both Scout and Jem and when they hear this they never thought it would be possible for others to look down upon the white people. Racism is a very complex matter that affects everyone involved whether they be children, adults, or elderly’s. Maybe if the golden rule was implemented here there would hardly be any racism to one another. They do learn, in fact, that there is a lot of racism in the white community when they sneak into the courtroom when Tom Robinson's’ case is being investigated. This quotation from Jem on page 208 provides evidence of how they jury clearly only convicted Tom because of the color of his skin, “…we’ve won it. Don’t see how any jury could convict on what we just heard”. This statement shows that it was not a matter of opinion in the courtroom, rather plain ignorance. In conclusion, the novel To Kill a Mockingbird explores more than the obvious racism issues, it provides evidence that it is a complex and affects