2.4 To kill a Mockingbird Essay

Harper Lee’s 1930’s coming of age drama ‘To kill a mockingbird’ exposes her controversial views on what small-town America could have looked like in the Southern States. Lee’s clever use of the setting and characters within are used within the novel to expose a variety of ideas (and themes) such as perspective, good vs evil and above all prejudice. Throughout the text, Lee has capitalized on her passion for controversy exposing inequalities such as racism, sexism and class prejudice and using specific locations of importance to reinforce these ideas. Locations such as the Courtroom, the Finch Household and the School. Lee uses prejudice as a plot device that ties characters and the town of Maycomb and these significant locations together.

Harper Lee uses the Courtroom as a setting to symbolize the idea of racism through the use of conflict of two opposing perspectives. A Courtroom by definition is a place of fair judgement, it is a place in which two parties can come to be judged free from any exterior forces or pre-conceived ideas. A courtroom is commonly symbolized by the scales of the law. Each party come to be weighed by their worth to society by the all fair judge and jury. I thought this to be a very clever use of irony on Lee’s part because the men on the white jury are supposed to be outstanding and successful citizens that are supposed to represent the best that Maycomb has to offer If these men weren’t right for the job then who was. I guess it just goes to show how normal this behaviour was that it was embedded in both ends of the spectrum. The one thing about racism that Lee uses continuously throughout the novel especially in the courtroom is that racism is human nature but it is also a choice much like everything thing else in life. Atticus knew that he had to take this case because he knew he had to be an example not only to the town but also Scout and Jem. He knew that to prevent his kids from catching “Maycomb’s usual disease” of racism he had to stand up for what was right even if he was guaranteed to lose. Lee uses this conflict in the courtroom setting to showcase how universal this topic was and very much still is. To the jury, Atticus’s ideas were going against southern society which was undoubtedly in itself racist at its core. Their case challenged the idea of black people and their place in the social hierarchy at the time. And in no way shape or form were that jury going to let a black man gain even the slightest bit of freedom in a white world. To the jury, change was the ultimate enemy. That’s what they saw in Tom Robinson not a man but a threat that needed to be expunged. The white jury saw him in the form of change, they didn’t recognise him as an innocent human being but as a black man in a white world. Ultimately they were willing to kill as many innocent men as they saw fit to keep it that way.

The Finch Household has long been a place of contrast within the setting of Maycomb. It is the Finches themselves that stand out in a small town such as Maycomb. It is their ideals, the Ideals that Atticus has passed onto his children through his education about the world and how cruel and sometimes unfair it can be. When Aunt Alexandra arrives to stay, Scout must fall back on her morals to overlook the way her aunt portrays how women “should” be represented in society. Harper Lee uses the finch household to represent Sexism through the polarization of opinions between Scout and her Aunt Alexandra. “In To Kill a Mockingbird” one of the opening quotes on the first page is: “Ladies bathed before noon, after their three o’clock naps, and by nightfall were like soft teacakes with frostings of sweat and sweet talcum.” I think Lee sets the scene for the entire novel with this quote in terms of how women are portrayed this quote implies that women are more or less objects that should seen and not heard. It implies that while their husbands were out working they were preparing for him to return as if their entire existence revolved around pleasing men. Lee implies that within the micro-society that is Maycomb women should be upheld to a certain image that is deemed acceptable. This is very much how Aunt Alexandra’s generation was brought up and the older beliefs she is now trying to push on Scout. Scout is exactly the opposite she can be classified as being a “tomboy” because she dresses like a boy, likes fighting and plays with the boys. Scout associates the word “girl” with not being fun. Scouts Aunt is not the only female figure in her life that believes in upholding the female image in society, The Finch household cook Calpurnia lets scout wear overalls at home but when she goes out to church she makes her wear a dress. I think Lee deliberately made Calpurnia like this as a character because as a black woman it proves that all women of all races understood their place and purpose in society. They knew to except sexism as normal because in the 1930’s it was. The Finch household represents Sexism because all females within it conform to its rules even Scout. Although she might not know about its societal importance at the time, the female role models make sure in the public’s eyes they were all seen as respectable women. Lee uses the finch household and Scouts contrasting ideas of sexism to her female role models around her at the time to educate the readers about just how confronting and unfair life as a young girl could be.

The schoolhouse within the novel is a setting that promotes learning and education. Harper Lee uses it to expose a much more sensitive Idea commonly referred to as class prejudice. Class prejudice is a very common occurrence both in the fictional setting of Maycomb but also in the modern world we live in today. Humans are hardwired to compare themselves to others surrounding them, it is our human nature but it is in no way fair. Human comparison and categorization It is what has allowed us to define ourselves as individuals and set ourselves apart from many other species on this planet. For everyone it’s out of their control, some get lucky others don’t. What better setting to expose this idea within the novel than the schoolhouse as school is where most of us figure out what kind of person we want to be through this very natural process. Unfortunately, you can’t categorize human social life so easily, Lee knew this and designed specific characters such as the Cunninghams to represent this in the text. At the beginning of the novel, Jem says to Scout: “I’ve thought about it a lot lately and I’ve got it figured out. There’s four kinds of folks in Maycomb County. 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. The thing about it is, our kind of folks don’t like the Cunninghams, the Cunninghams don’t like the Ewells, and the Ewells hate and despise the colored folks.” I think Lee paints a picture of the classes that make up Maycomb perfectly with this quote. Lee uses it to show exactly how divided Maycomb is. Lee also shows how someone as young and innocent as scout couldn’t come to comprehend such an idea. In response to this scout says: “Naw, Jem, I think there’s just one kind of folks. Folks.” Though Scout cannot come to see citizens of Maycomb as anything other than equals she still exposes Walter Cunningham as poor in front of the teacher Ms Caroline. Lee wanted to show the way a young child could identify class tiers within Maycomb.

Harper Lee used a range of settings that were central to the development of characters and the storyline to represent and further expose the underlying theme of prejudice in the novel. Harper Lee has used not only used everyday places but locations of great importance that represent certain types of prejudice. These scenes have been planned and skillfully placed by Lee to represent its corresponding theme. She has done this in a manner that each place of significance such as the courthouse in itself represents something such as justice before applying conflict in that place, this way comes away from that scene after reading and remembers how their perspective of that place has been challenged. Now they remember the fierce racism that has tainted their once saintly view of the courthouse. Very much like the meaning of prejudice we all have ideas conceived prior to the real experience. Lee has used this technique to wash away all fallacies and expose these ideas to the readers. Lee has used this to full effect as readers come away from the book to see the world in a new light not as things should or could be but as they are. Harper Lee wrote to kill a mockingbird to inspire change and through her use of setting and how places can represent prejudice readers can now challenge real-world opinions by analysing real facts.

By Nathan Beaton