Social Inequality In To Kill A Mockingbird

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“Prejudices, it is well known, are most difficult to eradicate from the heart whose soil has never been loosened or fertilized by education; they grow there, firm as weeds among stones," said Charlotte Brontë. This wise quote is thematically portrayed in Harper Lee’s best-selling historical fiction novel To Kill a Mockingbird. Considered a classic by many, To Kill a Mockingbird is a poignant story about a young girl named Scout and her perspective on many controversial issues. Through her interactions with the citizens of her hometown, Maycomb, she learns some truths about social inequality. Along with her brother Jem and a summer friend named Dill, Scout tries to provoke Boo Radley- the neighborhood recluse. Meanwhile, their dad Atticus is…show more content…
However, Maycomb was too ridden with racial prejudice and chose to convict Tom instead of promoting what was socially just. Aside from racial stereotypes and prejudice, gender played a key role in how people were judged in this novel. During the 1930s, women were supposed to follow menial, cookie-cutter roles. Scout, a tomboy, had trouble conforming to the idea of what a “proper young lady” was supposed to be like. When Aunt Alexandra visited Maycomb, Scout automatically felt restricted in her pursuit for self-expression: “I felt the starched walls of a pink cotton penitentiary closing in on me, and for the second time in my life I thought of running away” (Lee 136). Lastly, people who deviated from strict social norms were also ostracized by society. Even though Atticus, a respectable man, was the “one in a million” who stood up for others’ rights, he was still oftentimes treated like an anomaly. Many citizens in Maycomb were motivated by bigotry, like Mrs. Dubose, who stated: “Your father’s no better than the niggers and trash he works for” (Lee 102). Manifestly, there are many cases of social inequality in To Kill a
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