To Kill a Mockingbird and American History :: To Kill a Mockingbird Essays

To Kill a Mockingbird and American History The book, To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, has many different relations to American history. The book shows good examples of racism, working life, church, and many other things. The book takes place sometime in the 1930's. It's about two children named Jem and Scout. They are very imaginative kids always making up new games and other things to pass the time. In the beginning of the book they are obsessed with one of their neighbors, Boo Radley. They think that Boo is a crazy man that killed his parents. Jem, Scout, and their cousin, Dill, decide to go up and see if they can see what is going on inside the Radley house. Once they get up to the house they hear a noise and run off, but Jem loses his pants of a fence wire. The entire first part of the book is all about the kids trying to find out all about the Radley's. The second part of the book is about Atticus (Scout and Jem's father) defending a black man named Tom Robinson in court. Tom was accused of beating and raping a nineteen year old girl named Mayella. This is the section of the book with the most examples of American history. Everybody in the town of Maycomb looks down on Atticus because he is defending a black man in court. All evidence in the case shows Tom Robinson innocent, but he is still charged guilty because of the all white jury. The actual rapist was Mayella's father. In the end of the book, Tom is shot so that he wouldn't be found innocent. The part of the book that involves the most American history is the court case where Tom Robinson is found guilty just because he is black. There have been many similar cases to the Tom Robinson trial during this time in history. Most black men would have a very slim chance of being found innocent just because of their race, and the white majority. Another good example of American history in To Kill a Mockingbird, is the way the churches were run. The white people would go to their church every Sunday and worship much like the people do today. The real American history is in the black church.