Cats Eyes Cunningham

Imagine a city where inequality existed at all. The social status of a person, just something different or unusual about this person. In To Kill a Mockingbird, is exactly what happens. It is not too far from reality either. This novel is set in the 1930s in a town called Maycomb Alabama county. It was your typical southern racist town many other problems. Many different themes are hidden in the novel by Harper Lee, but the three that seemed to stand out the most are: the social inequality, prejudice differences, and the symbolism of the mockingbird.

At the beginning of history, we are almost immediately introduced the different social status and social inequalities in Maycomb County. An example of social inequality are the Cunninghams. Specifically, Walter Cunningham. An example of this is when Scout became friends with Walter and Aunt Alexandra asked if he could come to dinner. Aunt Alexandra diapproves, "Jean Louise, there is no doubt in my mind that it is [Cunningham] not good people. But they are not our kind of people" (Lee 224). This shows that Aunt Alexandra does not think that Scout should be interacting with Cunningham, mainly because they do not fall on the same social level as Scout and his family. She said later that the Cunningham are trash. finches on the other hand, are the upper end of Maycomb of "social ladder". For example, when Scout asks Atticus if they are poor, "Are we poor, Atticus? Atticus nodded." We are indeed ...." Are us as poor as the Cunninghams? "Not exactly. The Cunninghams are country folks ... "(Lee 21). This proves that there are different social levels in the town of Maycomb. While Finch are still poor, the Cunninghams are still below them on the ladder, then, according to Aunt Alexandra and many others, Finch are not supposed to interact with people below them on scale. This is just a couple examples of social inequalities that exist in the county of Maycomb.

The symbolism of the mockingbird is another theme that I found. The idea that mockingbird do not hurt, but only good is an important concept in this story. This metaphor is mentioned several times in history. There are characters that represent the mockingbird. An example of this is Tom Robinson, "Not after she gave me a nickel the first time. I was happy to do it, Mr. Ewell did not seem to help zero, and n ' Nor has the Chillun ... "(Lee 191). This quotation shows that Tom has not accepted money from Mayella. He wanted to help because it was the right thing to do. He saw that no one helped her, so he made his life better by helping with tasks. Another example of a mockingbird is Boo Radley. After Mr. Boo killed Ewell, Mr. Tate said: "To my way of thinkin ', Mr. Finch, taking the only man who has done you and this city a great service a draggin' him with his shy ways of fires ramp--For me, it's a sin "(Lee 276). Boo is a shy person and he does not like crowds. Scout deduced later that making Boo go to court and testify would be like killing a mockingbird. Boo does not hurt, in fact, it took a load off of Maycomb and made life better for some, by killing Bob Ewell. These are two prime examples of how the metaphor Realations to characters in the book.

One of the most obvious themes in To Kill a Mockingbird, is to the detriment of differences. This is shown repeatedly throughout the novel. In Maycomb, if something is different, then that person is strange. Boo Radley is an excellent example. At the beginning of the book is Jem believe a picture of Boo Radley, Boo was about six and a half feet tall, judging from his tracks, he dined on raw squirrels and cats he could catch, that is why his hands were stained with blood .... There was a long jagged scar that ran on his face that he had his teeth were yellow and rotten.