Analysis of The Social Conflicts in Harper Lee's 'To Kill A Mockingbird'.
ABSTRACT
Tugas Akhir ini dibuat dalam rangka memenuhi persyaratan untuk meraih
gelar sarjana. Secara khusus, Tugas Akhir ini mendiskusikan konflik sosial dalam
novel To Kill a Mockingbird, karangan Harper Lee. Penulis menganalisis konflikkonflik sosial di dalam novel yang berhubungan dengan tema utama yang
didiskusikan dalam Tugas Akhir ini, yaitu rasisme yang dihadapi kaum kulit
hitam di Amerika Serikat. Penulis lalu menganalisis konflik-konflik tersebut
untuk menemukan penyebab dan resolusi dari setiap konflik. Hasil dari seluruh
analisis konflik-konflik tersebut membawa penulis pada kesimpulan bahwa
Harper Lee ingin menyampaikan sulitnya situasi yang dihadapi orang kulit putih
yang membela kulit hitam dan situasi orang kulit hitam di Amerika Serikat di
tahun 1930an, akibat tindakan rasisme oleh kelompok mayoritas, yaitu orang kulit
putih.
iii
Maranatha Christian University
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS................................................................................... i
TABLE OF CONTENTS...................................................................................... ii
ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................... iii
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study ............................................................................. 1
Statement of the Problem ............................................................................ 3
Purpose of the Study ................................................................................... 3
Method of Research .................................................................................... 4
Organization of the Thesis .......................................................................... 4
CHAPTER TWO: ANALYSIS OF SOCIAL CONFLICTS IN HARPER
LEE'S TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD........................................................ 5
CHAPTER THREE: CONCLUSION ............................................................... 17
BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................... 21
APPENDIX
Synopsis of To Kill a Mockingbird ........................................................... 22
Biography of Harper Lee........................................................................... 23
ii
Maranatha Christian University
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.
Before Atticus can get Tom Robinson to court again, Tom is shot for
trying to escape the prison and dies. It seems that the case is finally over and life
will be back to normal until Halloween night. On the way home from a pageant,
Bob Ewell attacks Jem and Scout. Boo Radley, their neighbour, rescues Scout and
her brother.
22
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.
Sources: Maslin, Sauer.
23
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.
The information about To Kill a Mockingbird in this paragraph has been
borrowed from Janet Maslin. Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, which was
published in 1960, is one of the literary works focusing on Racism. Lee is a
contemporary American author who is praised for being intelligent. She gives
advice and life lessons in her only novel. Interestingly, the plot and characters are
1
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.
To Kill a Mockingbird describes discrimination in many cases, such as
discrimination in the field of education, job opportunity, religion and justice. It
tells about Atticus Finch, a white respected lawyer who takes on a case of an
innocent African-American convicted of rape. This case becomes controversial
because the lawyer assists an African-American so that the racist white people
mock at the lawyer and his children. This controversy brings the family to a lot of
2
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:
1.
To analyze the social conflicts in the novel
2.
To analyze the causes of the social conflicts
3.
To analyze the resolution of the social conflicts
3
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
This thesis consists of three chapters. Chapter One is the Introduction,
which consists of the Background of the Study, Statement of the Problem,
Purpose of the Study, Method of Research, and Organization of the Thesis.
Chapter Two contains the analysis of the social conflicts in Harper Lee’s To Kill a
Mockingbird. Chapter Three is the Conclusion; it is followed by the Bibliography
and the Appendices, which contain the Summary of the Novel and the Biography
of the Author.
4
Maranatha Christian University
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.
There are four conflicts which I discuss in Chapter Two. The first social
conflict is between Atticus Finch and his sister, Alexandra Finch. They have a
conflict because Atticus wants to help an African-American named Tom
Robinson, who is accused of raping a white woman. Alexandra does not want
Atticus to help Tom Robinson because she thinks that Atticus will be disgracing
their family. The second social conflict is between Atticus and Bob Ewell, a white
man who has accused Tom Robinson of raping his daughter. The trigger of this
conflict is the truth about Tom Robinson’s case. Atticus believes that Tom
Robinson is not guilty whereas Bob Ewell accuses that Tom Robinson is guilty.
The third social conflict is the conflict between Atticus and Mayella Ewell, the
daughter of Bob Ewell, who claims that she is raped by Tom Robinson. This
conflict is about the truth. Mayella claims that Tom has seduced and raped her.
17
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.
Secondly, I argue that in the novel there are probably white people who
actually do not accept the unfair idea, but since there are only few of them, there
is nothing they can do about it. The racist white people at that time would not
18
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.
Having reached a conclusion, I am of the opinion that Harper Lee has
conveyed his purpose successfully. Personally, I think the social conflicts in this
19
Maranatha Christian University
novel belong to the most appropriate literary element to convey the purpose of the
author in the novel, because social conflict is an element which, in my opinion,
best illustrates a controversial issue such as racism. Finally, I can say that To Kill
a Mockingbird has made myself understand how terrible the situations of the
African-American people in 1930s. In such situations, even if some white people
had attempted to defend humanity, they would have failed, which is disappointing
for the people who are against racism at the present time. Therefore, I would like
to suggest that the most important thing for all the people in the world now is they
should try and give their best to change those unfavourable situations in order to
have a better life.
20
Maranatha Christian University
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
Company, 1976. Print.
21
Maranatha Christian University
Tugas Akhir ini dibuat dalam rangka memenuhi persyaratan untuk meraih
gelar sarjana. Secara khusus, Tugas Akhir ini mendiskusikan konflik sosial dalam
novel To Kill a Mockingbird, karangan Harper Lee. Penulis menganalisis konflikkonflik sosial di dalam novel yang berhubungan dengan tema utama yang
didiskusikan dalam Tugas Akhir ini, yaitu rasisme yang dihadapi kaum kulit
hitam di Amerika Serikat. Penulis lalu menganalisis konflik-konflik tersebut
untuk menemukan penyebab dan resolusi dari setiap konflik. Hasil dari seluruh
analisis konflik-konflik tersebut membawa penulis pada kesimpulan bahwa
Harper Lee ingin menyampaikan sulitnya situasi yang dihadapi orang kulit putih
yang membela kulit hitam dan situasi orang kulit hitam di Amerika Serikat di
tahun 1930an, akibat tindakan rasisme oleh kelompok mayoritas, yaitu orang kulit
putih.
iii
Maranatha Christian University
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS................................................................................... i
TABLE OF CONTENTS...................................................................................... ii
ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................... iii
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study ............................................................................. 1
Statement of the Problem ............................................................................ 3
Purpose of the Study ................................................................................... 3
Method of Research .................................................................................... 4
Organization of the Thesis .......................................................................... 4
CHAPTER TWO: ANALYSIS OF SOCIAL CONFLICTS IN HARPER
LEE'S TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD........................................................ 5
CHAPTER THREE: CONCLUSION ............................................................... 17
BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................... 21
APPENDIX
Synopsis of To Kill a Mockingbird ........................................................... 22
Biography of Harper Lee........................................................................... 23
ii
Maranatha Christian University
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.
Before Atticus can get Tom Robinson to court again, Tom is shot for
trying to escape the prison and dies. It seems that the case is finally over and life
will be back to normal until Halloween night. On the way home from a pageant,
Bob Ewell attacks Jem and Scout. Boo Radley, their neighbour, rescues Scout and
her brother.
22
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.
Sources: Maslin, Sauer.
23
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.
The information about To Kill a Mockingbird in this paragraph has been
borrowed from Janet Maslin. Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, which was
published in 1960, is one of the literary works focusing on Racism. Lee is a
contemporary American author who is praised for being intelligent. She gives
advice and life lessons in her only novel. Interestingly, the plot and characters are
1
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.
To Kill a Mockingbird describes discrimination in many cases, such as
discrimination in the field of education, job opportunity, religion and justice. It
tells about Atticus Finch, a white respected lawyer who takes on a case of an
innocent African-American convicted of rape. This case becomes controversial
because the lawyer assists an African-American so that the racist white people
mock at the lawyer and his children. This controversy brings the family to a lot of
2
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:
1.
To analyze the social conflicts in the novel
2.
To analyze the causes of the social conflicts
3.
To analyze the resolution of the social conflicts
3
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
This thesis consists of three chapters. Chapter One is the Introduction,
which consists of the Background of the Study, Statement of the Problem,
Purpose of the Study, Method of Research, and Organization of the Thesis.
Chapter Two contains the analysis of the social conflicts in Harper Lee’s To Kill a
Mockingbird. Chapter Three is the Conclusion; it is followed by the Bibliography
and the Appendices, which contain the Summary of the Novel and the Biography
of the Author.
4
Maranatha Christian University
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.
There are four conflicts which I discuss in Chapter Two. The first social
conflict is between Atticus Finch and his sister, Alexandra Finch. They have a
conflict because Atticus wants to help an African-American named Tom
Robinson, who is accused of raping a white woman. Alexandra does not want
Atticus to help Tom Robinson because she thinks that Atticus will be disgracing
their family. The second social conflict is between Atticus and Bob Ewell, a white
man who has accused Tom Robinson of raping his daughter. The trigger of this
conflict is the truth about Tom Robinson’s case. Atticus believes that Tom
Robinson is not guilty whereas Bob Ewell accuses that Tom Robinson is guilty.
The third social conflict is the conflict between Atticus and Mayella Ewell, the
daughter of Bob Ewell, who claims that she is raped by Tom Robinson. This
conflict is about the truth. Mayella claims that Tom has seduced and raped her.
17
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.
Secondly, I argue that in the novel there are probably white people who
actually do not accept the unfair idea, but since there are only few of them, there
is nothing they can do about it. The racist white people at that time would not
18
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.
Having reached a conclusion, I am of the opinion that Harper Lee has
conveyed his purpose successfully. Personally, I think the social conflicts in this
19
Maranatha Christian University
novel belong to the most appropriate literary element to convey the purpose of the
author in the novel, because social conflict is an element which, in my opinion,
best illustrates a controversial issue such as racism. Finally, I can say that To Kill
a Mockingbird has made myself understand how terrible the situations of the
African-American people in 1930s. In such situations, even if some white people
had attempted to defend humanity, they would have failed, which is disappointing
for the people who are against racism at the present time. Therefore, I would like
to suggest that the most important thing for all the people in the world now is they
should try and give their best to change those unfavourable situations in order to
have a better life.
20
Maranatha Christian University
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
Company, 1976. Print.
21
Maranatha Christian University