Analysis of The Social Conflicts in Harper Lee's 'To Kill A Mockingbird'.

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Maranatha Christian University

ABSTRACT

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APPENDIX

Synopsis of To Kill a Mockingbird

To Kill a Mockingbird tells about the Finches, who consist of Scout, her brother Jem and their father Atticus, around 1930’s in Alabama. Atticus is a respected lawyer in Maycomb County. He takes on a case of an African-American named Tom Robinson, against two dishonest white people. The case is the biggest thing to hit Maycomb County in years and it turns the whole town against Atticus, causing several people including Atticus’ sister Alexandra, Alexandra’s grandson Francis, Bob Ewell and Mayella Ewell, to be involved in conflicts with Atticus and his children. Scout and Jem are forced to bear the slurs against their father and watch with shock and disillusionment as their fellow townspeople convict an obviously innocent man because of his race. The only real enemy that Atticus makes during the case was Bob Ewell, the white man who has accused Tom Robinson of raping his daughter.

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23 Biography of Harper Lee

Nelle Harper Lee was born in Monroeville Alabama on April 28, 1926. Her parents’ names are Amasa Coleman Lee and Frances Cunningham Finch Lee. She is an American author well-known for her 1960 Pulitzer-Prize-winning novel To Kill a Mockingbird, which deals with the issues of racism. In 2007, this book brought Lee to get an award from President George W. Bush, which is the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Lee wrote To Kill a Mockingbird as she was inspired by her childhood memories. Her father was a lawyer and he became the inspiration of the character Atticus in her book. Her neighbour and childhood friend Truman Capote inspired the character Charles Baker Harris in her book.

After graduating in 1944 Harper Lee went to the Huntingdon in Montgomery. She joined literary honor society and the glee club. Transferring herself to the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa, Lee was known for being a loner and an individualist. She also went to Oxford University in England as an exchange student, but she dropped out after the first semester. She soon moved to New York City to follow her dreams to become a writer. She never got married, and she never said why.

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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

The 1930s was a turbulent and desperate period for race relation in the United States. The whites had prejudices toward African-Americans in this time (“Issues of Racism in the 1930’s”). In connection to race relation is racism, which is defined as “a belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human races determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one’s own race is superior and has the right to rule others” (“Racism”). At its worst, racism prevented African-American people from having no civil rights; they could not own lands, could not receive formal education and could not expect to have a fair trial in the courtroom.

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Maranatha Christian University based on her observations of her own family and neighbours, as well as on an event that occurred near her hometown, Alabama, in 1936 when she was 10 years old. Maycomb County, Alabama, is a fictional town based on Lee’s home town of Monroeville, Alabama. Alabama was chosen as the setting of To Kill a Mockingbird because racism toward African-Americans happened here, especially around 1930s. She observed the Scottsboro Boys interracial rape case in 1931 and the incident inspired her to write To Kill a Mockingbird. After writing To Kill a Mockingbird, Lee wrote her second novel The Long Goodbye, but eventually filed it away unfinished. In 1980, she started writing a factual book about an Alabama serial murderer, but she put it aside because she was not satisfied with her work. Thus, To Kill a Mockingbird is her only book which is published. It turned out to be a best-selling novel with more than 30 million copies. In 1999, To Kill a Mockingbird was voted as Best Novel of the Century in a poll by the Library Journal. It was also awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George W. Bush in 2007. This is the highest civilian award in the United States that recognizes individuals who have made an especially commendable contribution to the national interests of the United States, world peace, and culture.

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Maranatha Christian University conflicts. According to Harry Shaw, “conflict is an important element of plot; they are the material from which a plot is constructed” (91). Shaw also categories conflicts into three types:

First type is physical conflicts, a struggle between man and the physical world. It represented man versus forces of nature. Second type is social conflicts, a struggle between man and man. Third type is inner conflict, a struggle between desires within a person. (91-92)

I choose to focus only on the social conflicts that happen between the Finches and the people around them because social conflicts are most frequently found.

Statement of the Problem

The problems I am going to discuss are: 1. What social conflicts happen in the novel? 2. What are the causes of the social conflicts? 3. What are the resolutions of the social conflicts?

Purpose of the Study

The purposes of the study are:

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Maranatha Christian University Method of Research

I used library research in writing my thesis. First, I read To Kill a Mockingbird as my primary text. Second, I found the most important elements to be analyzed, which were social conflicts in the novel. Third, I searched for the theories to support the analysis. After that, I analyzed the social conflicts and drew some conclusions from my analysis. Finally, I wrote the thesis.

Organization of the Thesis

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CHAPTER THREE

CONCLUSION

After analyzing the social conflicts of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, I found some issues in relation to racism. In this chapter, I would like to draw some conclusions.

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Maranatha Christian University However, Atticus believes that it is Mayella who has seduced Tom. The last social conflict is between Scout, Atticus’ daughter, and Francis Hancock, Alexandra’s grandson. This conflict starts when Francis mocks Atticus as a “nigger lover.” As a child, Francis actually does not understand the meaning of “nigger-lover” but he still says it because he just imitates the elder generation. Scout as Atticus’ daughter, who really loves her father, does not agree that Francis mocks her father as a “nigger-lover” even though Scout does not understand the meaning of “nigger-lover.” She just does not like the way Francis utters the words.

Firstly, it is clear that the social conflicts experienced by Atticus is caused by the prejudice of the majority of racist white people at that time towards African-American people. Moreover, they think that African-Americans are lower than white people. Thus, their actions of racism will be considered normal and acceptable. The majority of white people are racist mostly because they feel superior. With that feeling, they treat African-Americans in such unfair ways so that African-American people experience unfairness in law and also in many other aspects. They are often accused of doing bad things, blamed for something they never do, and they also have to deal with so many kinds of prejudice. Unfortunately, the racist white society does not regard their action as inappropriate or inhuman. For example, African-Americans are not regarded as human when a white person can blame an African-American for a crime that the white person has committed.

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Maranatha Christian University accept anyone who assists African-American people even if that person is white. A white person who assists African-American people is considered to be someone who disgraces his or her family. Atticus and Scout are examples of a few people who try to stand up for the truth and to defend humanity, but as a result, they are mocked and treated as outcasts by the society.

Thirdly, I also notice that children of the white society become the victims of the racist people around them. I think the white children at that time imitate the racist behaviour of the older people, even though they do not actually understand the issue of racism. They just do what the elder generation has done. As a result, they are influenced to act like a racist.

In conclusion, the purpose of Harper Lee in writing the novel and describing the social conflicts experienced by Atticus Finch and Scout when fighting against the racist white society at that time was to show the racist situation in 1930s. I can relate this idea to the fact that Harper Lee herself has had a personal experience toward a racist situation at that time. The plot and characters in this novel were based on her observations of her own family and neighbours. She was also inspired by an event that occurred near her hometown, Alabama, in 1936 when she was 10 years old. She chose Alabama as the setting of To Kill a Mockingbird because a lot of racist actions toward African-American people happened here, especially around 1930s. Moreover, Scottsboro Boys interracial rape case in 1931 also became her observation and became an inspiration for her novel.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Primary Text:

Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird.New York; Grand Central. 1960. Print. References:

“Issues of Racism in the 1930’s.” Xroad Virginia. 2005. Web. 18 Sept 2013. Maslin, Janet. “A Biography of Harper Lee, Author of to Kill a Mockingbird.”

The New York Time. 8 June, 2006. Web. 20 Mar 2012. “Racism.”Wikipedia. 2010. Web. 1 June 2012

Sauer, Laura. “Nelle Harper Lee: American Novelist and Social Advocate.”Yahoo! Contributor Network. 11 Jan, 2012. Web. 20 Mar 2012. Shaw, Harry. Dictionary of Literary Terms. New York: McGraw-Hill Book