Among the major themes in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird is the quest to comprehend the interactions between people and groups of people in other words the senses of Otherness. The Other varies from a person to another and from a generation to another, The first thing we have to do is to identify the Other by exploring it in Lee's novel, Claudia Durst Johnson states in her book In To Kill a Mockingbird: Threatening Boundaries that the work "invites the conclusion that we reach some sense of self-identity by our encounters with other forces, that is, with forces alien to our commonplace lives. As a result of these encounters, we break the cultural and psychological barriers that imprison us and come to embrace a larger world" (p.72). Meaning
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Social otherness in mainly created out of invisible lines as he said f inclusion and exclusion, in To Kill a Mockingbird era those lines rule the lives of people and categorized them into groups and sections according to their race, gender, social status …, these distinctions carry on a high rate of dominance and authority, giving the control to the people in charge so they can socially supervise the other categories according to the disciplines they force. He suggested that “contemporary society deserves the name of disciplinary society” disciplines comes from the distribution of power thus by othering people you will be the one holding the control. Panopticism is very present in Maycomb County; everyone must act according to the traditional arranged disciplines and not sway away from …show more content…
Despite the efforts of Mr Underwood; the owner and the editor of Maycomb’s newspaper, The Maycomb Tribune, to empathize with the Tom’s unjust trial, people did not show any sign of emotions, they even considered him a fool” but Maycomb didn't play that way: Mr. Underwood could holler till he sweated and write whatever he wanted to, he'd still get his advertising and subscriptions. If he wanted to make a fool of himself in his paper that was his business” (p.219).prejudice in this town is so powerful that even a white guy with Mr. Underwood’s status cannot arouse the dormant empathy for the poor black Tom.
The Civil War between the States was sort of absent in Maycomb, that’s why the problem of racial injustice and social intolerance did not fade with time which only cause the tension to stay and the quarrels to grow. Otherness and isolation results self-arrogance. The whites look down on every other category in the panopticon, distinction is also made among each other based on the economical status that divided them ,and the blacks are look down upon by all the categorise above them . People in Maycomb did not quite change their safe routine, stuck with their past and previously deteriorated acquired
Social otherness in mainly created out of invisible lines as he said f inclusion and exclusion, in To Kill a Mockingbird era those lines rule the lives of people and categorized them into groups and sections according to their race, gender, social status …, these distinctions carry on a high rate of dominance and authority, giving the control to the people in charge so they can socially supervise the other categories according to the disciplines they force. He suggested that “contemporary society deserves the name of disciplinary society” disciplines comes from the distribution of power thus by othering people you will be the one holding the control. Panopticism is very present in Maycomb County; everyone must act according to the traditional arranged disciplines and not sway away from …show more content…
Despite the efforts of Mr Underwood; the owner and the editor of Maycomb’s newspaper, The Maycomb Tribune, to empathize with the Tom’s unjust trial, people did not show any sign of emotions, they even considered him a fool” but Maycomb didn't play that way: Mr. Underwood could holler till he sweated and write whatever he wanted to, he'd still get his advertising and subscriptions. If he wanted to make a fool of himself in his paper that was his business” (p.219).prejudice in this town is so powerful that even a white guy with Mr. Underwood’s status cannot arouse the dormant empathy for the poor black Tom.
The Civil War between the States was sort of absent in Maycomb, that’s why the problem of racial injustice and social intolerance did not fade with time which only cause the tension to stay and the quarrels to grow. Otherness and isolation results self-arrogance. The whites look down on every other category in the panopticon, distinction is also made among each other based on the economical status that divided them ,and the blacks are look down upon by all the categorise above them . People in Maycomb did not quite change their safe routine, stuck with their past and previously deteriorated acquired