To Kill a Mockingbird is a fictional story about a young girl, Jean Louis Finch (Scout) growing up in Depression-era Alabama. Alabama …show more content…
2 “Children were the worst affected by the Great Depression that swept America in the 1930s.” Express your response to this statement.
It is extremely sad to realize that the primary effects of the American Great Depression of the 1920s and 1930s on children were that of hard labor, malnutrition and hunger, and displacement. Many had developed emotional and psychological problems due to constant hardship. Receiving education had become difficult. From not being able to afford the supplies, to not being able to pay the tuitions, many people found it impossible to attend school. The novel, To Kill A Mockingbird written by Harper Lee shows how the lack of education during the Great Depression affected Southerners lives, hampering their growth.
In the novel, Scout’s teacher, Miss Caroline, asked one of her students where his lunch was. He then explained that he did not have a lunch because his parents could not afford it. “He didn’t forget his lunch, he didn’t have any. He had none today nor would he have any tomorrow or the next day.” (Lee 20). Rather than watch their children starve, many families elected to send children to various relatives or friends in other places. This caused great displacement and isolation. Many children of the Great Depression were malnourished and ill and food lacked protein, vitamins, and minerals that growing children need to …show more content…
In the novel, Scout describes the Ewell family, who only attends school the first day of every year because their family is poor: “They come the first day every year and then leave.” (Lee 27). In most cases children were pulled out of school, in order to help their families get by and these young people who left school would mostly never return to school.
During this time, overall standers of education fell, as finding qualified teachers became a problem. In the novel, Scout’s teacher, Miss Caroline, was hired to teach the first grade. Unfortunately, she proved to be under qualified for the job and was unable to teach. “Miss Caroline’s progress next door could be estimated by the frequency of laughter; however, the usual crew had flunked the first grade again, and were helpful in keeping order” (Lee 58)
To Kill A Mockingbird proved that southerners did not receive complete education during the Great Depression. Mayella Ewell was a nineteen-year-old girl who had dropped out of school because there were already two people in her family who could read and write (Lee