In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill A Mockingbird, Scout enters an age where she can no longer be shielded from the ugly realities of the social stratification that exists not only in Maycomb, but also in the United States and the rest of the world. With guidance from Atticus, Aunt Alexandria, and her teacher Miss Gates, Scout loses a major aspect of her childhood innocence when she discovers that the America is not really a Democracy because equality is an illusion as she learns that poor people, blacks, and women face constant persecution which causes the law to become very flexible.
After Scout enters school, she encounters other children such as Walter Cunningham and Burris Ewell. After she gets home she realizes that she doesn’t want to go to school anymore, so Scout thinks she can get away with not going because the Ewell’s do. Atticus explains to her that “sometimes it’s better to bend the law a little in special cases. In [her] case, the law remains rigid. So school [she] must go” (Lee 40). Atticus explains that bending the law for the Ewell’s is okay because they live in a different environment; therefore, it would be pointless to force them to go to school because they don’t show “the faintest symptom of wanting an education” (Lee 40). After the Tom Robinson trial ends, Scout also learns another lesson from Atticus about the flexibility of the law, especially concerning blacks; he explains to Jem that “when it’s a white man’s word against a black man’s, the white man always wins” (Lee 295). Furthermore, Scout becomes aware that women cannot be part of a jury in Alabama in order “to protect [their] frail ladies from sordid cases like Tom’s… [Atticus thinks they’d never] get a complete case tried—the ladies’d be interrupting to ask questions” (Lee 296).
After Aunt Alexandria comes to live with Atticus in order to help Scout become a proper lady, her prejudice teachings and behaviors surprise Scout because she doesn’t understand why it isn’t proper to play with Walter Cunningham, or go to church with Calpurnia or to her home. When Scout mentions wanting to play with Walter Cunningham, Alexandria forbids it “because he is trash” (Lee 301). She also forbids Scout from going to Calpurnia’s house after she finds out that Scout and Jem went to church with her. Alexandria warns Atticus that he’s “got to do something about [Calpurnia]” (Lee 182), so she suggests that he gets rid of her. Sadly, Scout is not the only one Alexandria influences; Jem also begins to figure out how the social class and legal system works after the Tom Robinson trial and Alexandria explains about the Cunninghams. Jem and Scout become aware of social stratification: “There’s four kinds of folks in the world. There’s the ordinary kind like [Scout, Jem] and the neighbors, there’s the kind like the Cunninghams out in the woods, the kind like the Ewells down at the dump, and the Negros…[Scout’s and Jem’s] kind of folks don’t like the Cunninghams, the Cunninghams don’t like the Ewells, and the Ewells hate and despise the colored folks” (Lee 302-3).
Although Scout has already suffered a great loss of innocence because of what she learns from the trial and from Atticus, Alexandria, and Jem, perhaps her greatest loss occurs when she is in Miss Gates’ classroom when they are discussing Adolf Hitler. When Miss Gates prints out Democracy on the chalkboard and asks for the definition, Scout correctly answers, “equal rights for all, special privileges for none” (Lee 328). Miss Gates explains to the class that Germany is a Dictatorship and America is a Democracy. Scout’s innocence is lost when her teacher states that “over here we don’t believe in persecuting anybody. Persecution comes from people who are prejudiced. Prejudice… There are no better people in the world than the Jews, and why Hitler doesn’t think so is a mystery to [her]” (Lee 328-9).
Unfortunately, at the end of the novel, Scout realizes that America is not truly a Democracy because poor folks, blacks, and women do not have the same rights as others. Basically she cannot see much of a difference between what’s going on in Germany from what’s happening in America. Scout realizes how blind and ugly the world truly is.
Works Cited
Lee, Harper. To Kill A Mockingbird. New York: Grand Central Publishing, 1960. Print.
After Scout enters school, she encounters other children such as Walter Cunningham and Burris Ewell. After she gets home she realizes that she doesn’t want to go to school anymore, so Scout thinks she can get away with not going because the Ewell’s do. Atticus explains to her that “sometimes it’s better to bend the law a little in special cases. In [her] case, the law remains rigid. So school [she] must go” (Lee 40). Atticus explains that bending the law for the Ewell’s is okay because they live in a different environment; therefore, it would be pointless to force them to go to school because they don’t show “the faintest symptom of wanting an education” (Lee 40). After the Tom Robinson trial ends, Scout also learns another lesson from Atticus about the flexibility of the law, especially concerning blacks; he explains to Jem that “when it’s a white man’s word against a black man’s, the white man always wins” (Lee 295). Furthermore, Scout becomes aware that women cannot be part of a jury in Alabama in order “to protect [their] frail ladies from sordid cases like Tom’s… [Atticus thinks they’d never] get a complete case tried—the ladies’d be interrupting to ask questions” (Lee 296).
After Aunt Alexandria comes to live with Atticus in order to help Scout become a proper lady, her prejudice teachings and behaviors surprise Scout because she doesn’t understand why it isn’t proper to play with Walter Cunningham, or go to church with Calpurnia or to her home. When Scout mentions wanting to play with Walter Cunningham, Alexandria forbids it “because he is trash” (Lee 301). She also forbids Scout from going to Calpurnia’s house after she finds out that Scout and Jem went to church with her. Alexandria warns Atticus that he’s “got to do something about [Calpurnia]” (Lee 182), so she suggests that he gets rid of her. Sadly, Scout is not the only one Alexandria influences; Jem also begins to figure out how the social class and legal system works after the Tom Robinson trial and Alexandria explains about the Cunninghams. Jem and Scout become aware of social stratification: “There’s four kinds of folks in the world. There’s the ordinary kind like [Scout, Jem] and the neighbors, there’s the kind like the Cunninghams out in the woods, the kind like the Ewells down at the dump, and the Negros…[Scout’s and Jem’s] kind of folks don’t like the Cunninghams, the Cunninghams don’t like the Ewells, and the Ewells hate and despise the colored folks” (Lee 302-3).
Although Scout has already suffered a great loss of innocence because of what she learns from the trial and from Atticus, Alexandria, and Jem, perhaps her greatest loss occurs when she is in Miss Gates’ classroom when they are discussing Adolf Hitler. When Miss Gates prints out Democracy on the chalkboard and asks for the definition, Scout correctly answers, “equal rights for all, special privileges for none” (Lee 328). Miss Gates explains to the class that Germany is a Dictatorship and America is a Democracy. Scout’s innocence is lost when her teacher states that “over here we don’t believe in persecuting anybody. Persecution comes from people who are prejudiced. Prejudice… There are no better people in the world than the Jews, and why Hitler doesn’t think so is a mystery to [her]” (Lee 328-9).
Unfortunately, at the end of the novel, Scout realizes that America is not truly a Democracy because poor folks, blacks, and women do not have the same rights as others. Basically she cannot see much of a difference between what’s going on in Germany from what’s happening in America. Scout realizes how blind and ugly the world truly is.
Works Cited
Lee, Harper. To Kill A Mockingbird. New York: Grand Central Publishing, 1960. Print.