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...was written by Harper Lee during the 1950's in America, and
coincided with the rise of the civil rights movement. At this time in history,
racism played a very important role in society. There was a lot of
racial hatred between black and white people. It is set in the 1930s a small town called Maycomb, in Alabama, one of the Southern States. Although Maycomb is a fictitious place, real places and towns such as Montgomery are referred to in the novel. There are a lot of factors, which explain the attitudes of the people towards each other throughout the book. Harper Lee wrote this book in order to expose the racial suffering that black people were exposed to.
The way in which Harper Lee presents the black community is that they are law abiding, hard working people, who respect white people. This is illustrated in Chapter 12, when Scout and Jem are in church with Calpurnia, the black housekeeper for the Finch family. Scout says:" When they saw Jem and me with Calpurnia, the men stepped back and took off their hats; the women crossed their arms at their waists, week day gestures of respectful attention". In contrast to this show of respect, during chapter 12, where the Finch children go to church with Calpurnia, we are introduced to Lula, a black churchgoer who does not want white people in her church. She is the only black character in the book, who openly expresses her hatred for white people. She says: " You ain't got no business bringin' white chillun here they go their church, we got our'n". Fortunately, though, the rest of the congregation rally around the group.
Calpurnia is presented very positively in the book, and as a strong mother figure towards Jem and Scout. The reader can also see that Calpurnia sees Jem and Scout as her own children, as it says in chapter 12: " I don't want anybody sayin' I don't look after my children'. She is also one...
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