“We are all a part of a culture of violence that dominates every aspect of our lives,” according to Bryant Mcgill. For instance, To Kill A Mockingbird is an extremely powerful novel by Harper Lee that significantly shows how the children in the book live in an imperfect world. A time when racism was thriving, and inequality was dominating. The book is mainly focused in a rural part of Alabama during the early 1930’s also known as the Jim Crow Era. The book explores race relations in the deep South, the issues with public education, gender roles, and most prevalent, inequalities amongst white and black people. The main characters of the book, Scout and Jem Finch, are young children introduced early to the imperfections of their society including, racism and inequality. In an effort to shield Jem and Scout from the harsh realities
...that surrounds them, Atticus, their father, teaches them that everyone is equal and not to trust individuals who say otherwise. Harper Lee illustrates how the children in the book live in an imperfect world, full of racism, and inequalities between various groups of people.
To begin with, racism was imbedded into the foundation of society. When Scout’s cousin Francis comes to visit, Francis tells Scout that his grandmother is disappointed that Atticus has “turned out to be a [n-word]-lover”. (Lee, 83) The grandmother's words clearly express how racist people were doing this era, the color of someone’s skin defined whether the individuals could be associated with each other. Francis's grandmother is a great example of the hatred that surrounded the south that came across as normal. An example of this behavior being acceptable
would be the interaction between Jem and Scout when they were building a snowman, since there was not enough snow Jem had the idea to use mud along with the snow. Then Scout said “Jem, I ain’t ever heard of a [n-word] snowman” (Lee, 66). Scout at the time did not see her racial slur as being problematic. In other words, the children were following what they viewed as the norm of their society at that time, which is why Atticus tried to stear them away from that direction. Another event in which the children followed for example was the time when miss Maudie, a neighbor of the Finches', house had burnt down she was rummaging through her things. As Jem walked to what miss Maudie’s house used to be, he saw hands were bloody and covered in dirt and said, “You’ve ruined ‘em, … “why don’t you get a colored man?” (Lee, 74). Here is another example of the racism existing in the novel. Since Jem viewed people of color as less than, he believed miss Maudie shouldn’t have to do here own labor. Once again showing the imperfections the children were regularly exposed to and had grown up around.
Furthermore, the inequalities between various groups of people were at a hardship among the Maycomb society. For example, on the first day of school Scout’s teacher Mrs. Caroline offered Walter Cunningham, one of Scout's classmates, a quarter to go get himself lunch since he didn’t have any. He denied her offer and the teacher did not understand why so, Scout explained by saying Walter is a Cunningham and “The Cunninghams never took anything they can’t
pay back … They don't have much, but they get along on it. “(Lee, 20). In like matter, this shows the inequalities between people, how some people can afford to pay back a quarter and some were so poor that they could not. The remark said by Scout, not only caused her embarrassment by Walter it also, shows a difference of socioeconomic class amongst Finches and Cunninghams. In addition, other than the Ewells being white they too face social injustice. They live right by the dumpster, known to be very rude people and have an alcoholic as a father who spends all the money on himself. The reason why they are this way is because the family is run by Bob Ewell, their father, who doesn't raise his children properly or even at all. Causing, them to all be very filthy in all angles. For instance, one of the children while at school with Scout is asked to leave the classroom because he has lice and he says to the teacher “Report and be damned to ye! Ain’t no snot-nosed slut of a schoolteacher ever born c’n make me do nothin’! “(Lee, 38) The remark made one of the Ewell children is a demonstration of them living up to their bad reputation. Because of the children always being called troublemakers, they began to live up to that reputation, not knowing any better. This yet another example of showing the injustice between social classes. Lastly, another inequality is during the Tom Robison case, Tom is accused of a crime that he didn’t commit, and no one trust the word of a black man over a white
man. The crime Tom is accused of is raping a girl named Mayella Ewell and Atticus try’s his best to defend Tom but is unsuccessful. Because of the inequality and racism Atticus see’s happening on the daily he says, “There’s nothing more sickening to me than a low-grade white man who’ll take advantage of a Negro’s ignorance.” (Lee, 221). Therefore, showing how the color of one’s skin can define the justice they are given. Black people’s rights were overthrown by white men and denied when needed. During this era, it was best known as a white man’s world, where the injustice between gender, race and social class were all in a crisis. These imperfections surrounded the children day and night.
In conclusion, the racism and inequalities between numerous groups of people were why the children grew up in an imperfect world. Scout and Jem had to learn how to grow around these imperfections and learn how to see everyone as equal, no matter the color of skin, the amount of wealth their family has, the environment in which one has grown up in, etc. Atticus played a big role in trying to stear his children away from these imperfections, but some things they had to learn from their selves like right from wrong and truth from lie and most importantly try and veer away from all the cruel things in the world.
