"To Kill a Mocking Bird"

Paper Summary:

This paper attempts to illustrate how the social-economic climate of the period that Harper Lee wrote "To Kill a Mockingbird" is highly important for the understanding of the events in the novel. The paper describes one of the greatest trials in American history that was set off by an alleged crime of rape that never occurred and shows how these events are reflected in Lee's novel with the fictional trial of the character of Tom Robinson, which parallels the tensions and prejudices existent between the black and white communities and the beginning of the Southern community's awakening from racism. A brief historical timeline of the Civil Rights Movement is also provided.

From the Paper:

"Harper Lee's only novel, To Kill a Mocking Bird, takes place during an extremely tumultuous period in American history. The social economical climate of the age is highly important for the understanding of the events that are harbored by the novel. First of all, at that time, the country was shook by the Great Depression, a terrible economic crisis which accentuated the conflict between the white and the black by creating a competition for the few jobs available on the market (Johnson, 16). The aftermath of the Civil War and the segregation movements also enhanced the existent tension between the white and the blacks."

Sample of Sources Used:

• "Civil Rights Movement." http://www.infoplease.com/spot/civilrightstimeline1.html
• "Civil Rights Movement: An Introduction". http://www.watson.org/~lisa/blackhistory/civilrights-55-65/montbus.html
• Johnson, Claudia Durst. Understanding 'To Kill a Mockingbird': A Casebook to Issues, Sources and Historical Documents. Westport: Greenwood Press, 1994.
• Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird. New York: Vintage, 1983.
• Linder, Douglas O. "The Trials of the Scottsboro Boys". http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/FTrials/scottsboro/SB_acct.html

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• Comparison Essay # 49206 : "Shelley's "Frankenstein" and Lee's "To Kill a Mocking Bird"
• Book Review # 102202 : "To Kill a Mocking Bird"
• Comparison Essay # 16974 : "To Kill a Mocking Bird"
• Analytical Essay # 62416 : "To Kill A Mocking Bird"

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