Class Warfare In To Kill A Mockingbird

Harper Lee published an amazing novel in 1960 that would change lives for years to come. In her novel, Lee portrays her childhood through a story about a little girl and her family who all live in a small town of Maycomb, Alabama during the 1930s. The story revolves around the lives of Jean Louise “Scout” Finch, her brother Jem, and their father Atticus. In the story, Harper Lee expresses one major theme: the only way to truly understand other people is by considering their perspective. This could resolve bigotry, racism, and class warfare in society. The central idea Harper Lee expresses for curing racism, bigotry, and class warfare in To Kill A Mockingbird is in order to is to walk around in other people's’ shoes in order to understand their
perspective. This can be seen numerous times throughout the novel when the characters force themselves to see situations through the point of view of others. The most significant scene that showed this was at the very end of the book. The feared Arthur “Boo” Radley had recently saved Scout and Jem from Mr. Ewell. After talking to Atticus and Mr. Heck, Boo asks Scout to walk him home. When he goes into his house, Scout turns around to look at the street from the Radley porch. She even said that she “had never seen [their] neighborhood from [that] angle.” She started to recall major points of the story from Arthur’s point of view. She then mentioned that “Atticus was right. One time he said you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them. Just standing on the Radley porch was enough.” The theme was explored through many of Scout’s experience of class warfare.
Scout learns that certain people in town are feared, distrusted or hated because of their skin color, personal decisions, or rank on the social hierarchy, also known as class warfare. Colored people don’t receive as much respect as white people because they are lower in the social hierarchy than the white people who are on the top. By stepping into the shoes of Boo Radley, Walter Cunningham, and Dolphus Raymond, Scout learns a lot about class warfare. Tom Robinson is a black man who is falsely accused of beating and raping Mayella Ewell. The jury finds him guilty, and Scout knows that it was wrong. Her father, Atticus, was Tom’s lawyer, so she was able to experience each step of the trial. Arthur “Boo” Radley was feared by all of Maycomb because he stabbed his father with a pair of scissors when he was younger. Scout constantly wonders what it would feel like to be trapped in your house for so many years and be all alone to understand why Boo does not have great social skills and is quite shy. He left many things for the children in the hole of a tree, but expected nothing in return. Scout and Jem both recognized that he was not a bad man, and just needed some friends. Dolphus Raymond was the town dunk. Actually, he wasn’t. He drank Coca-Cola out of a paper bag to make everyone think that he was drunk. Dill and Scout got the opportunity to talk to him during the trail, when they decided to take a
break and go outside. Mr. Raymond offered Dill some Coke to settle his upset stomach, and explained to both of the children why he pretends to be a drunk. He explained that he knew that all of Maycomb hated him for marrying a black woman and having biracial children, but none of them could admit to it. Him being a drunk gave people an excuse to hate him. He said that if people were going to hate him, he might as well give them a reason. In the town of Maycomb, Lee racism through the Tom Robinson case, but also through the children’s experiences with Calpurnia, their house maid. Both Jem and Scout wanted to go to church with Cal, and she decided that she would take them. The church Cal went to was an all black church, so it was no surprise when both Finch children stuck out like a sore thumb. This was emphasized even more when Lula, one of the ladies at the church, asked Calpurnia why she brought those children to the church. After quite a bit of arguing, Lula said that the church was a black church and should remain that way because the white folk have their own church to go to every Sunday. This showed that not just white people are racist. This could easily be resolved if people just took the time to consider the other person’s perspective and walked around in their shoes for a little bit. In the racist community that Scout lives in, bigotry thrives in the citizens like a cancer. This can be seen throughout the town when Atticus is criticized for defending Tom Robinson. He was most harshly criticized by Mr. Ewell. When Atticus was leaving the courtroom, Bob Ewell came up to him and said that he had heard rumors that he was actually going to defend Tom. Of course, Bob did not believe them, but Atticus said that he deserved a fair trial. Mr. Ewell was quite displeased of Mr. Finch’s actions all throughout the trial, and took it out on all of the Finches. This shows bigotry because Mr. Ewell hates Atticus because he does not share the same opinion about black people as he does. The theme in Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird could easily be applied to today’s society.
By looking around, it is easy to notice racism, bigotry, and class warfare between everyone. A kid gets harassed because they are attracted to the same sex. A man gets shot simply because he is black. A teenage girl is attacked because she is an Atheist. Although the same events that happen in Lee’s novel may not happen in today’s world, the underlying problem of racism, bigotry, and class warfare, can still be seen. Harper Lee shows in her novel that all of that could be solved simply by walking around in other people’s shoes to understand that they are also humans with feelings, emotions, and loved ones. If people could just realize that the gay kid, the black man, the atheist girl, and everyone else they encounter are not much different from themselves, the world would be a better, safer, more loving place to live in. In To Kill A Mockingbird, so many lives could have been spared if they were seen as people, not discriminated by the color of their
skin. Harper Lee wrote a beautiful novel novel that teaches a beautiful lesson that can still be applied to everyone decades later. It doesn’t matter what the color of skin someone has when they accomplish something, when they fail, or when they are simply walking down the street. What matters is that they are human beings that should be judged by their attitude and actions instead of their skin color or religion. “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view … until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.”