"To kill a Mockingbird" was set in nineteen-thirty-two, the same time as The Great Depression which was an economic slump that started in nineteen-twenty-nine. After the Wall Street Crash thousands of people lost their jobs. It was very difficult for a large segment of the population to make a living. In September nineteen-thirty-one, fear and panic spread as over eight-hundred banks shut in America. Lots of people (one in three) were out of work.
At the same time, America was also suffering from large droughts. Areas became known as "The American dust bowl" as it was hard to grow crops. This went on for eight years.The farmers were hit the hardest as in "To kill a Mockingbird" Mr Cunningham pays in "Hickory nuts" and not money to Atticus for work.
Maycomb was a farming community who hated outsiders and anyone who is different. Also, the people of Maycomb are narrow minded and old fashioned. Like most of America at this time, Maycomb was extremely racist and sexist. The important people of the town (social hierarchy) were the white men, the white women, then black men and finally the black women. A big example of racism in nineteen-twenties America is the Ku Klux Klan who were a very strong racist group who went round threatening to kill black people.
The KKK was made up of only white people but they were only just losing popularity when the novel was written showing how racist America was. Some of this novel is influenced by Harper Lee's own experiences. Her Father was a lawyer who defended a black man accused of rape - just like in the novel. Whilst most of the novel is fictional Harper Lee lived in Monroeville, Alabama which is just like Maycomb.
In "To kill a Mockingbird", Scout is the narrator. This is so the reader can see how bad life in nineteen-thirties America and how bad Maycomb is through the eyes of an innocent child.This makes it easier for us to understand and gives us a biased view. In the novel, Scout sees two sides of Mr Cunningham where he is nice one minute and then is in a gang the next.
Scout says to Mr Cunningham, "Don't you remember me Mr Cunningham? " He is trying to act as if he is rough and hard so pretends he doesn't know Scout. When he is with the mob at the jail, it takes a young child to remind him that we are all people and they all get along. Scout highlights peoples prejudice in Maycomb as she can't understand people's behaviour.In the novel "To kill a Mockingbird", Harper Lee, who is the Author of the book - presents life as boring and there is nothing to do in Maycomb. Harper Lee uses the phrase "tired old town" to describe Maycomb and "days seemed longer". They both give the impression that you wouldn't want to live there as a days work would take forever to do.
"Streets turned to red slop" is a quote used to describe Maycomb. It means everything would just be boring and drowning. The society of Maycomb won't accept people with differences and the town is stuck in its ways.Maycomb is very prejudiced.
One of the characters is Miss Caroline who is a teacher. She is not accepted in Maycomb as Maycomb is in South America and Miss Caroline is from North America. This is because of Americas Civil War when the North and South fought. Maycomb holds grudges and won't forgive.
Miss Caroline fits the stereotype of a weak and pathetic woman. She is also treated in a sexist way by the boys at her school and accepts it. Scout is a tomboy and shows this by getting into fights with boys at school and playing football which is mostly associated with being a man.Scouts aunt would like her to be more ladylike and expresses this by buying Scout a dress to go to school in. Jem makes a lot of sexist comments and remarks towards Scout and can't do much about it because she's younger. An example of Scout being picked on for being a girl is where she says, "Jem told me I was being a girl, that girls always imagined things, that's why other people hated them so.
" Another example of sexism is in the courtroom where women aren't allowed on the jury and are asked to leave the room when a case gets too graphic as the men think that women won't be able to stand the gory details.In Maycomb, the whole place is not only sexist but racist and the justice system is corrupt as they will only accept white men on the jury. People in Maycomb use the word "nigger" quite often. Our modern society believes the word "nigger" is derogatory but in those days it wasn't said in an offensive way, this was just ingrained racism which was passed through the generations and society saw nothing wrong with it.
An example of this is when Tom Robinson says to Atticus, "If you wee a nigger like me, you'd be scared", and when Atticus' nephew Francis calls him a "nigger lover".Atticus is different as he tells Scout off for using it. Bob Ewell assumes that Atticus won't really defend a black man like Tom Robinson and Bob's sure that he'll "win the court case" because he's white and Tom's black. Another racist part in the trial is the way Mayella Ewell's lawyer speaks to Tom Robinson on the courtroom.
He speaks to Tom rudely, disrespectfully, and calls him "boy" which is questioning his masculinity as a man. Tom Robinson is a very nice person who is presented positively as a loving, respectable, caring, family man who is married to Helen with three kids.All of the evidence in the trial shows that Tom is innocent, but he is still convicted because he is black. Even the white people of Maycomb turned against Atticus and his family because he will defend Tom, although in all fairness, it's not his families fault. The black people of Maycomb can be racist too as Lula is rude to Scout and Jem at Calpurnia's Church.
The whites are very disrespectful of the Negroes as it says, "Negroes worshipped in it on Sundays, white men gambled in it on weekdays. " This is referring to the church.Dolphus Raymond's character shows huge prejudice as he pretends to be an alcoholic because he knows that the town can accept a drunk better than they can a white man loving a black woman. An example of this is, "folks can say that Dolphus Raymond is in the clutches of Whisky that's why he won't change his ways.
" Maycomb is full of gossips who just judge people. In the novel, there are two Mockingbird figures. The First is Tom Robinson and the second is Boo Radley. These two should not be killed as it "is a sin to kill a Mockingbird" as they never harm anyone.Boo Radley is described negatively at the start of the novel and as a "monster". When the kids are pushing scout down the hill in the tyre and it hits Boo's house, she runs away as fast as she can as she thinks that Boo Radley is going to do something to her.
They don't know anything about him but does lots of little kind things to make sure that they are okay like when he puts the presents in the tree and when Scout is dressed up as a giant ham walking with Jem and they get attacked he saves them by killing the attacker which was Bob Ewell. Towards the end of the novel, the reader is shown that he is a good kind man.Harper Lee is trying to tell us in her own words not to judge a book by its cover. Atticus' character is a kind one who is not racist or sexist. Both he and his family do not fit the stereotype of a white family in nineteen-thirties America. Atticus is chosen to represent Tom Robinson as he is a fair man who will represent him fairly and can try to make changes in Maycomb.
Although the children believe that Atticus is a boring Dad because he won't play Football as he is too old, he is a good Dad. An example of this is the fact that Scout can read before she can go to school and also teaches his children morals.In the court case and courtroom. Atticus shows that he is very against prejudice. He is a mouthpiece for Harper Lee's news particularly in his summing up speech.
No-one in Maycomb likes the Ewell family as Atticus says, "the Ewell's had been the disgrace of Maycomb for three generations. None of them had done an honest days work in his recollection. " Another person who hates prejudice is the Author Harper Lee and she is also very strongly against racism and sexism. In "To kill a Mockingbird", she presents the black community of Maycomb in a very positive way using positive imagery to show how respectful they are.
Tom Robinson is a very good example of this. Characters like the Ewells are juxtaposed to Tom Robinson to show how bad and awful they are by using negative imagery. Harper Lee wants the world to change for the good to a more peaceful world. Maycomb is presented negatively in terms of prejudice nut Harper Lee shows the reader that it has potential to change. Maycomb is not too different to where Harper Lee was born and raised in Monroeville Alabama, a small city of about seven-thousand people.
"To kill a Mockingbird" is Harper Lees only book ever to be published.
