To Kill A Mockingbird
By:Gabriel Wilson
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In the book, To Kill A Mockingbird, race, gender, class discrimination divide people. People with brown skin are treated less in all ways than people with white or light colored skin because, "around here once you have a drop of Negro blood, that makes you all black." This is said by Jem to explain to Scout what it means to be part negro, and how their lives are inherently different in all ways. This quote explains how people thought back then, not only in the small county of Maycomb, but throughout the United States in the early 1930’s.
Discrimination is not only about race, but it is also about gender, too. “I was not so sure, but Jem told me I was being a girl, that girls always imagined things, that's why other people hated them so, and if I started behaving like one I could just go off and find some to play with!” From a young age Scout believes that girl things are bad and boy things are good, girl things are frivolous - things girls think, say and believe are silly and all mixed up. But being a boy and thinking, speaking and acting like a boy means respect in one’s family, one’s school, one’s church, town, county, state and the world. Without a mother to model herself after, Scout is naturally drawn to the ways of her father and her brother. Even her nickname reflects her belief that boys are superior - she distances herself from her gender by adopting a tomboy nickname and by not using her given name, Jean Louise Finch.
In the 1930’s class discrimination was clearly defined white men enjoying all the power in upper and middle classes. Even lower class white men enjoyed a higher status than men of color and other nationalities. At the bottom of the socio-economic ladder were blacks. "There's four kinds of folks in the world. The ordinary kind like us and the neighbors... the Cunninghams... the Ewells... and the Negroes." This sentiment explains Jem’s understanding of his social class and what he thinks of blacks and poor people like the Cunninghams.
Today we face some of the same issues that society faced back in the early 1900s, but much less severe. Today women are only paid 70 cents for every dollar a man makes. Black people don’t have the same opportunities as white people because they lack the privilege and opportunities of white folks. Most black children still do not make it to college and their lives reflect lack and limitation and a never-ending cycle of stress and poverty. Poor people in this country are thought of as less bright and are underprivileged with much shorter lifespans resulting from a life of constant stress.
The book, To Kill A Mockingbird, is a story woven with the themes of racism, gender prejudice and class discrimination. This book has been widely taught in schools across America and is considered an American classic not only as great literature, but also as a means to teach children about social intolerance, injustice and to decry prejudice. An overriding theme of To Kill A Mockingbird is the destruction of children’s innocence. Scout Finch, aged 6 at the start of the story and her older brother Jem live in sleepy Maycomb county, Alabama, spending most of their time with their friend Dill and spying on their mysterious neighbor, Boo Radley. When Atticus, their Dad and a respected lawyer, defends a black man named Tom Robinson against fabricated rape charges, the trial and its surrounding events expose the children to evils of discrimination and the voiceless among people of color.