In this chapter the racism is turned around, as Jem and Scout became the unusual and were out of place rather than the black people. They go to this church with their housekeeper ‘Calpurnia’. He shows this at many points throughout the book but, one, which particularly sticks in my mind, is when Scout and Jem are taken to a church that only black people attend. One of the main points that Harper Lee brings across in the novel is the massive impact that racial prejudice had on people’s lives. ‘To kill a Mocking bird’ should be considered a reliable and un-exaggerated portrait of America in the 1930’s as the Author Harper Lee tries to recreate the prejudice and depression that was spread throughout America in this era. The White people of the missionary circle are coming this assumption arrogantly. By reading the book we realise that this is obviously not true as the Black people of Maycomb are just as good Christians as they are. The majority of the circle assumes that all of the Black community in their town live in sin and squalor. Which isn’t really the way Christians should feel as they supposedly are meant to love everyone equally. They believe they are charitable but, they pity Black’s and they clearly don’t see them as equals, they see them as second-class citizens. The Maycomb missionary circle is patronising and hypocritical. The black people and the White people have separate churches even though they are of the same religion and beliefs. Hypocrisy is seen in Maycomb among religious groups who are supposedly meant to be promoting a ‘ love for fellow man’ The so called ‘Foot washing Baptists’ seem to exclude Miss Maudie even though she is of their own religious book. ![]() Many of the Residents in Maycomb consider themselves to be Christians but they all seem to have separate rules. This corresponds to America in the 1930’s as this kind of conflict was commonly know in those days. This shows that even within the same religion people are disagreeing over beliefs. I’m just a Baptist… Foot washers believe that anything that’s pleasure is a sin… told me my flowers were going to hell.” ![]() Miss Maudie, a very fair woman within the novel says to Scout (main character in novel) “My shell’s not that hard, child. Another way that Maycomb reflects America in the 1930’s is the people of Maycomb have many conflicts within the same religion. In the 1930’s the majority of American people felt and behaved in this manner. For example: in the novel, the people of Maycomb are racist against black people because, of their skin colour. This statement is true because, throughout the book the people of Maycomb show views and beliefs, which the majority of people in America believed in that period of time. By definition, microcosm means ‘a community or other unity that is an epitome of another unity.’ Epitome means ‘brief or miniature form.’ Therefore, if one said Maycomb (town that the novel is based in) was a microcosm of America in the 1930’s, this would mean that Maycomb was a miniature form of America. In the novel, ‘To kill a Mocking Bird’, the Author describes the town in which the novel is set, to be a microcosm of America’s society in the 1930’s.
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