Examples Of Classism In To Kill A Mockingbird

Decent Essays
Prejudice, classism, and gender bias are powerful tools of oppression. These three subjects, in themselves, are controversial in their existence. However, the novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee has conjured up quite the reputation for exploding these intense and difficult subjects using characters from the novel. First, she utilizes in the character Boo Radley and the prejudice he receives from the town, then Aunt Alexandra and her perspective on classism, and at last she employs Scout Finch to demonstrate how women are supposed to act.

First and foremost, Harper Lee uses the character Boo Radley to introduce the intense and difficult subject of prejudice.

Furthermore, Harper Lee uses the character Aunt Alexandra to elucidate

Related Documents

  • Decent Essays

    The people of Maycomb are significantly affected by racism and prejudice. Although there are many examples of this present throughout the text, I will be highlighting three of them; the first one being the Tom Robinson’s case. Another example of this is the bullying Jem and Scout receive as a result of Atticus defending Tom Robinson in court. The last example I’m going to share is the town's disapproval of Mr. Dolphus Raymond’s interracial relationship. All of these examples support my thesis of racism and prejudice being extraordinarily present in maycomb.…

    • 283 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Harper Lee’s classic novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, follows the story of a young girl named Scout progressing from an immature, naïve mentality to a more mature one, brought upon by the cruel events which occur amidst the lazy Southern town in which she lives. Lee explores the idea of social conditioning contributing to the darkness that is so apparent in society, and commends those who fight against it. She acknowledges the bravery of individuals who overcome personal darkness, but also acknowledges the difficulties of facing both personal demons and the prejudice of an unbalanced society. Lee illuminates the idea that society can sometimes raise us to contribute to cruelty such as prejudice, and recognises individuals who see past these original…

    • 690 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    To a lot of people, economic class runs almost everything in your life. It decides what you can buy and what you can’t buy, which in turn, decides how you live and how much you enjoy that time living. Well, to me, economic class in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird affects the story substantially. Just like in the real world, economic class in the story decides how characters live and the conditions they live. To begin, one family greatly affected by their economic class are the Cunningham family.…

    • 465 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee creates a diverse plot that captures her audience’s attention. Through the eyes of a little girl named Scout, Harper Lee tells us a story of a family and community during the 1930’s. The town she is raised in is a little town called Maycomb, a town full of poverty, injustice, and depression The author of the book establishes many different themes including; racism, injustice, and depression. One main reoccurring theme that is seen throughout the book is intolerance. Harper Lee illustrates intolerance through Bob Ewell, Jean Louis Finch, and Lula.…

    • 858 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    To Kill A Mockingbird, stereotypes can be the rapid cascade of any community. In this story Lee shows us how sexist, social class, and racist stereotypes affects the small, once innocent, town of Maycomb, Alabama in the 1930’s. All scrutinized through the young eyes of Jean Louise Finch. No matter the color of a person's skin or their social class, the town gossips had to share there judgement. The club gatherings were no help, inciting more rumors and straying from the focus of the group.…

    • 511 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    To Kill a Mockingbird: Study of Prejudice “Prejudice in any form is more than a problem; it is a deep-seated evil within our society.” Bigotry goes further than one’s judgement; it spreads rapidly and defines humanity as a whole. It lies within the heart of society resulting in immense social issues that affect the innocent. In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee utilizes the motif of prejudice to illustrate the prominence of the social issue of discrimination in Maycomb through Atticus Finch, Boo Radley, and Tom Robinson. First, Atticus Finch faces animosity from society due to his moral beliefs and actions.…

    • 1033 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Prejudice is a problem that exists in societies around the world. Whether it is gender, class, family, religious, or racial prejudice, it exists everywhere. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is a book that takes place in the 1930s that illustrates many different types of prejudice, especially in race, class, and family. Prejudice is portrayed on various occasions including when Tom Robinson is put on trial for a crime he clearly did not commit, when Aunt Alexandra explains to Scout Finch that she is not allowed to invite a boy whos family is not in their social hierarchy, and when Scout must explain to her new school teacher that Walter Cunningham and his family can not afford to have lunch. People tend to judge others in different situations based…

    • 1056 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Classism is assumed to be determined by the amount of money a person has. A person’s wallet seems more visible than their heart. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, the reader is told about a young girl, Scout, growing up in South Alabama in the 1930’s during the Great Depression. Her father is a respected lawyer who is assigned to defend an African American accused of raping a white girl. The trial for the case finally comes up, and the man’s legal status is decided.…

    • 1148 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Harvey Milk, a gay rights activist, once stated, “All men are created equal. No matter how hard they try, they can never erase those words. That is what America is about.” Although it is a fundamental American idea that people are created equal, this often is not the case due to personal bias. The similar sentiment, unnecessary racism, is mirrored in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.…

    • 1003 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    She used the device of characterization to illustrate the individual sides of the race debate and how character traits play a role in what side they are on. Characters like Atticus Finch and Bob Ewell, who are foils of each other, were used to display each “side”. Harper Lee also used diction to show the decency of certain characters and their social class. She showed that diction is directly correlated to education which is directly correlated to views on racism. She established that people with more education and better diction are more enlightened and less opposed to racial equality than those without it.…

    • 919 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    As Nelson Mandela once said, “Racism is a blight on the human conscience. The idea that any people can be inferior to another, to the point where those who consider themselves superior define and treat the rest as subhuman, denies the humanity even of those who elevate themselves to the status of gods” (Mandela). Racism has been happening ever since but is slowly fading away. There are still some who believe one's ethnicity and appearance change everything in that particular person. The 1930s was a moment in our history where racism was ubiquitous, particularly in the South.…

    • 1007 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    As a philosopher, Allan Bloom said, “reason transformed into prejudice is the worst form of prejudice, because reason is the only instrument for liberation from prejudice”. Harper Lee explores prejudice and how it affects society in her novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. The main character is a young girl named Scout, growing up in the 1930’s in Maycomb County, Alabama. Her father, Atticus is a lawyer, and tries to raise his kids to be unprejudiced. Having been raised this way, Scout and her brother Jem, struggle to understand the prejudiced ways of their society, sometimes showing their own prejudices themselves despite Atticus’ efforts.…

    • 1998 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    To Kill a Mockingbird was written by Harper Lee in the early 1960 's. The story takes place in the town of Maycomb, Alabama. All is normal in this southern town until a particular court case involving an African American man named Tom Robinson comes to the attention of the residents of Maycomb. The case has also come to the attention of Atticus Finch. Atticus is a small town defense lawyer who, unlike anyone else in the town, disagrees with the false accusation of rape againest Tom Robinson.…

    • 1429 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In To Kill a Mockingbird, Mayella is powerful based on class, gender, and race. The book shows us how she does have power, and gives supporting evidence. In this time period, in a small racist Southern community during the 1930’s, all of the categories listed are very important and contributes a lot to a person. Each category has its own reasonings why Mayella is powerful. Mayella has much more power than the other person in their situation, because of all of the listed evidence.…

    • 761 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In Harper Lee’s book,”To Kill a Mockingbird”, there were social issues like discrimination, lack of equality, and human rights. These issues were really effectively illustrated in the book, and they are important for the world the know. In “To Kill a Mockingbird”, Harper lee explains how people of certain groups were discriminated against, stereotyped, and treated unequally. First, discrimination was very common in the book, For example,”In Lee’s novel of a small town, the Africanist presence is muted in the spite of the trial in which an innocent black man by the name Tom Robinson was accused of rapeing a white woman named Mayella Ewell, (Baeker).…

    • 991 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays