Scout’s Loss of Youth In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Scout, the main character, undergoes a sudden change when she hears the verdict of Tom Robinson’s trial. Scout goes from an immature, rash and stubborn child, who gets in fights and doesn’t think about her actions, to a young woman who formulates her own opinion, fully understands racism, and understands the role it plays in her town’s justice system. Before this turning point Scout is immature and childish. For example, Scout tried to get Calpurnia fired for selfish reasons. Scout claims that “[Calpurnia] likes Jem better’n she likes [Scout], anyway” and then proceeded to “[suggest] that Atticus lose no time in packing her off.”(25).
Child of the Dark, most of the favelados are equally poor and powerless. Everyone in the favela have jobs that give them enough money for one day of food. Each day they work but only get enough to feed their family. Carolina is a paper collector and from what she writes, she makes enough to feed her children and sometimes doesn’t get enough so they have to go hungry. There are times when the children will just find something from a garbage can and eat it because they have nothing else to eat.
She has a fun memory despite the struggle of being poor. Next, she talks about her boyfriend and how he is being sent off to fight in the war over in Africa. She looks forward to the romantic side of it but is still saddened that he is leaving. Finally, she talks about her experience over at a camp where they learned to do many things that the government required them to do such as grow tobacco or cut sugar cane in order to produce around 10 billion tons of sugar. She explains the struggle of only having little food there because it was the ones her parents brought her during the weekends but she had to save it in order for it to last.
Maycomb society and it's setting is situated around the concerns of ignorance. In chapter one of To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee is expressing to the reader through the perspective of Scout that Maycomb County is an aged town where people moved slowly and that there was "nothing to buy and no money to buy it with, nothing to see outside the boundaries of Maycomb County.." (pg.5-6) This quote emphasises to the reader that Maycomb County is a small yet congested town that also reveals the widespread poverty of the town, implying that the setting of Maycomb County is in the midst of the Great Depression. It also reveals the town's lack of knowledge beyond the boundaries of Maycomb County, suggesting that the town itself is the only town in Alabama suffering from the unfortunate event of the Great Depression, publicising the fact that the town is in a state where they are unable to find hope or a sense of closure for the town. Thus, reinforcing the town's ignorance. Alongside of Maycomb society and its ignorance, the town also situates around the concern of discrimination - most particularly, towards the Radley Family.
Society has also played an important influence on both these Authors as Tanya Barrientos explains in Se Habla Espanol. Because of her families desire to have English to be the only spoken words in the home, she tells of how she grew up around few Latino’s. And that speaking Spanish reflected your social status of being poor, and that you where limited to a meager life of housekeeping and waiting tables. That even ambitions for ones future was frowned upon because of the language that her family denied to speak. This very thought by society is reflected in (3rd paragraph 489). “Your children are always behind, and you have the nerve to bring them
I am so blessed not to have experienced what Jo Goodwin Parker went though. As I read her definition on poverty, I could see the devastating effects that this had on her and her children. Three affects that Jo Parker endured during these hard times were neglected heath issues, malnutrition, and no luxuries. First of all, they had neglected heath issues that most would consider minor, such as, red and cracked hands from not having any hand lotion. She once saved her money for two months to purchase Vaseline for her dry hands.
To Kill a Mockingbird Themes Have you ever seen discrimination against a darker-skinned person from a lighter-skinned person? To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee tells a story about a little girl, Scout, and her father, Atticus, who is a white man. He has to defend a black, Tom Robinson, who has been accused of raping a young white girl, Mayella Ewell. This book had many themes that all taught a valuable lesson, such as: individuals have a right to protect the innocent, people often fear what they don’t understand, and the most important part of a child’s education may take place in the home and community rather than in the school. The first theme is individuals have a responsibility to protect the innocent.
“Atticus, he was real nice…most people are, Scout, when you finally see them”(Lee 281). To understand a persons reasoning, people have to see the world from his or her point of view. No one should make judgments about someone they don’t know because you don’t know what they have been through or who they are as a person. No one fully understands anybody until you walk in their shoes. “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee is set in a southern American town called Maycomb in the 1930s, during the depression.
Scout could not do anything without Aunt Alexandra and Mrs. Dubose criticizing what Scout was wearing, doing, and behaving. 4. To Kill A Mockingbird sets out to challenge several stereotypes. Describe the use of stereotypes in the novel using quotes from the text to support your
Marilena Biasi Victimization’s Acceptance in Society Discrimination and abuse have no place in this world. Can you imagine having lived in an era when such barbaric behaviour towards humans was considered the norm? Victimization is seen through false stories, racism and sexism in this novel. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, victimization is a major theme that is made evident through the characters Tom Robinson, Mayella Ewell and Arthur ‘Boo’ Radley. Victimization is a consistent theme that is first demonstrated through the character Tom Robinson.