In this essay I am going to explain What life is like in Maycombe county, which is described in the book "To kill a mocking bird. " I feel that the main theme in the book is prejudiced. Most of the characters experience prejudiced from others and are, in some degree, prejudiced towards others. Atticus who starts out a well respected character in the town soon starts to receive a negative image when he accepts a court case for Tom Robinsen, a Negro. Not only Atticus but Jen and Scout receive abuse.
This come from several places: Mrs Dubose there elderly neighbour "" finch defending niggers in court"" and Jem and scouts school friends. "He announced in the playground that scout Finch's' daddy lawed for niggers. " This show in the town how a well respected family can be turned against because the mix with the Negro's. At the beginning of the book racism is barley present and scouts doesn't pick up on it when it is mentioned. As the book goes on it becomes more prominent. I think that this is because we are told the story through scouts eyes.
She is a very young and innocent child at the beginning of the book and although racism id there she tends not to notice or understand it. As she becomes more aware and mature, she begin to learn more about the society that she lives in. We too, like a child growing up slowly become aware of these factors. I think that that it is a good thing that there is not too much racism at the beginning as this may destroy our focus on the rest of the plot if we were thrown straight in to it. Religion plays a large part in both sides of the community.
During the week the Negro church is a town hall where white men gamble. This show the lack of respect between the tow sides of the town. Calpurnia takes great pride in taking the children to the Negro church because of what their father is doing for the Negro community. Some of the Negro's show a dislike to the children though. Some people in the community are neither black or white (half cast).
They are neither wanted by the blacks or the whites. This show how much pride each of the sides show for themselves and how rigid they are to the "rules. " They don't want to be seen as mixing.
