To Kill A Mockingbird Social Class
Imagine if you walked down the street and were treated differently because you were of a lower social class. This is how many of the people in Maycomb county feel in the book To Kill a Mockingbird. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Jean Louise Finch “Scout”, who is the narrator, is essentially the main character. One can see many of the issues of social class through her eyes. By using countless examples like The Ewell, Cunningham, and Finch families, Harper Lee shows us that judging others based on class is not right. In To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee portrays the Cunningham family to be of the lower class. The Cunninghams are a farmed based family with not so much money. Atticus Finch, Scout and Jem’s father, however, does some legal work for
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Their family member, Aunt Alexandra, who is the sister of Atticus Finch, believes this to be true. When Aunt Alexandra comes to stay with the Finch family, she believes that she is a priority to Scouts life, and that she needs a female influence. Scout however does not like this. Throughout the book you see Jem transform into, what seems to be, a young man. Atticus does not approve of Scouts rebellious behavior towards her. He shows this by saying: ¨Your aunt has asked me to try and impress upon you and Jean Louise that you are not from run-of-the-mill people, that you are the product of several generations’ gentle breeding--” (177). This shows that Aunt Alexandra believes the Finch name to be of the higher class. Many of the people in this town believe that there is a barrier between social classes; saying who you can and cannot hang out with. This is strictly shown when Jem is talking to Scout about trying out for football and Scout complains to Jem about how Aunt Alexandra portrays certain people. Jem stated:¨There’s four types of folks in the world. There’s the ordinary kind like us and the neighbors, there’s the kind like the Cunninghams out in the woods, the kind like the Ewells down at the dump, and the Negroes” (302). This shows how Jem and Scout grew up with this outlook on people, that they classify people into groups based on where they live and how they act. This is exactly what Harper Lee is trying to point out, that judging people based on their class is simply
Their family member, Aunt Alexandra, who is the sister of Atticus Finch, believes this to be true. When Aunt Alexandra comes to stay with the Finch family, she believes that she is a priority to Scouts life, and that she needs a female influence. Scout however does not like this. Throughout the book you see Jem transform into, what seems to be, a young man. Atticus does not approve of Scouts rebellious behavior towards her. He shows this by saying: ¨Your aunt has asked me to try and impress upon you and Jean Louise that you are not from run-of-the-mill people, that you are the product of several generations’ gentle breeding--” (177). This shows that Aunt Alexandra believes the Finch name to be of the higher class. Many of the people in this town believe that there is a barrier between social classes; saying who you can and cannot hang out with. This is strictly shown when Jem is talking to Scout about trying out for football and Scout complains to Jem about how Aunt Alexandra portrays certain people. Jem stated:¨There’s four types of folks in the world. There’s the ordinary kind like us and the neighbors, there’s the kind like the Cunninghams out in the woods, the kind like the Ewells down at the dump, and the Negroes” (302). This shows how Jem and Scout grew up with this outlook on people, that they classify people into groups based on where they live and how they act. This is exactly what Harper Lee is trying to point out, that judging people based on their class is simply