History in To Kill a Mockingbird Essay Example For Students

History in To Kill a Mockingbird Essay American History in, To Kill a Mockingbird.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 1930s. Its 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 Radleys. The second part of the book is about Atticus (Scout and Jems 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 Mayellas father. In the end of the book, Tom is shot so that he wouldnt 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. In the black church, very few of the people had the ability to read, so they didnt have any hymn books. One person would start singing a hymn and the entire church would stand up and join in, singing and clapping. The people in the black church during that time were always looking out for each other. In the book, when Tom Robinson was in jail, the black church began collecting money to help support his family while he was away. If they didnt collect enough money the first time the tray was passed around, it would keep going around till the goal was met. These are some of the big relations between Harper Lees, To Kill a Mockingbird, and real American history. It was a good book, and very accurately written to the actual American history. Bibliography: