Examples Of Segregation In To Kill A Mockingbird

True Feeling of Segregation In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee teaches her audience about the unfair treatment of people based on their, race, gender, and if they are rich or poor. Society was not the best during the time the book was written. Harper Lee gives the perfect picture of how segregation was during her time period. People were segregated for the simplest things. The topics that will be focused throughout this essay are gender, racism, and foil characters. Throughout this book, race was an ongoing issue; people are treated poorly and unfair based solely on their color. Jem, being a Finch and white, was made fun of for waiting tables. Atticus, the lawyer, was always in court. Only the white men were able to become lawyers or be on the jury. For example, “ Not only a Finch waiting on tables but one in the courthouse lawing for blacks”(Lee 117). Another instance based on racism is Cal’s church, “Blacks worshiped in it on Sundays and white men gambled in it on weekdays”(Lee 134). The trial is another great example of the racism throughout this book. “Guilty. . .guilty. . .guilty. . .guilty. . .”(Lee 240). Tom Robinson was found guilty because he was a black man.
At one point in the book, Scout was being ridiculed for being a girl. Because Scout was a girl, she was not allowed to wear overalls. ‘“Sister, I do the best I can with them’ It had something to do with my going around in overalls”(Lee 92). Girls were not the only ones ridiculed; boys would be teased for cooking. “‘Boy’s don’t cook’ I giggled at the thought of Jem in an apron”(Lee 93). Lastly, Jem could not cry because he is a guy. “When we went in the house I saw he had been crying; his face was dirty in the right places, but I thought it odd that I had not heard him”(Lee