'How does Harper Lee use the trial scene to show the social divides in Maycomb's society?'

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English coursework.

‘How does Harper Lee use the trial scene to show the social divides in Maycomb’s society?’

By Neal Gotecha.

Nelle Harper Lee was born on April 28th 1926 in Monroeville Alabama. She was the youngest of three children and her father was a lawyer. Harper Lee’s background is almost exactly the same as Jean Louise Finch (Scout) the main character in the novel. Scout was also the younger of two children and her father was also a lawyer, she was born in the fictitious town of Maycomb, the county next to Monroeville. The novel is set in the 1930s and had similar events to those that occurred in Harper Lee’s own life. When Harper Lee was only 5, the accusation of nine black men raping two white girls had a high impacted in her life. This showed the racial corruption in her society and also became the main theme in her book. ‘To Kill a Mocking bird’ can be interpreted as being a semi-autobiographical text, however, Harper Lee denies this and stated.

‘People are people anywhere you put them.’                     (1961 interview)

This book was popular then and still is even today as it collects all the aspects of the racial and prejudice mind of society. Of how an event can manipulate the whole town into believing one man just because he is white. This reflects on the period because this book was written in the time of the Great Depression. This was the period in which America’s economy collapsed, causing many businesses to close down. This led to the thousands of jobless citizens. Shantytowns grew and racial tension became immense, as white people were jealous at the blacks that had jobs. Also segregation in America took place even though the black community had been emancipated in the mid 1880s, they were still treated as an under class till the 1950s. Segregation meant that black people could not drink form the same water fountains, shop in the same convenient stores and they couldn’t even sit at the front of the bus.

Racism between the white and black people is the main theme throughout the novel. The trial scene is one of the small parts that focuses and justifies the situation of separate divisions in society. This is seen as the black people have a separate balcony for themselves and also seen when the black people live on the other side of the garbage dump.

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Atticus is the lawyer defending Tom Robinson. He does not argue with the fact that he is defending a nigger but simply takes it on as any other job he has done. Atticus was a highly respected man but since people knew that Atticus was defending a nigger, his respect was lost. Scout was been bullied and confronted with children calling her dad a ‘nigger lover’. However Scout retaliates, but Atticus responds by educating Scout that using violence is not the answer. However when we see Atticus in the trial scene, he is seen as a different person. He ...

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This essay shows knowledge of the novel and makes some mature and perceptive comments. More quotes are needed and also analysis of the way Lee builds tension and uses dialogue to depict character. More discussion is needed on Atticus's role in the trial scene. Also the essay sometimes resorts to merely describing events without any quotes and at times loses focus on the question.