Journal Entry #7

Choice C: So far, is this a novel about race? Class? Gender? Coming of Age? Place? Select and defend your answer
Chapters: 18-23

I believe this book is about all these things. The racial distinction in Maycomb is obvious. In Maycomb whites are better than blacks and that's how most people accept it. Whites have more money than blacks the one exception being the Ewells. We hear the n word flung around all the time. The class distinction is also pretty clear. As Jem put it in Maycomb there are 4 types of people. The ordinary people, the woodfolk, the Ewells, and the blacks. The ordinary people are middle to upper class and include the Finches. The Woodfolk are middle to lower class and include the Cunninhams, the Ewells are the lowest of the low class and include the Ewells, and the black people are lower class and include people like Tom Robinson. Based on your wealth and race you are looked upon and treated differently. Atticus doesn't distinguish people by race or wealth and passes this on to Scout and Jem. Aunt Alexandra however seems to counteract this. When Scout asks if she can hang out with Walter Cunningham Aunt Alexandra says no because they were the wrong type of people. Gender is less obvious but appears in the book. Jem repeatedly calls Scout a girl as an insult. Also as he matures he plays and does things with Scout less and less. Calpurnia told Scout it was something all boys his age did. They would want to be alone but I believe he stopped playing with her to avoid ridicule from his friends. The main thing concerning gender is the relationship between Aunt Alexandra and Scout. Aunt Alexandra consistently tries to make Scout wear dresses, stop wandering around, and act more civil. All these are things Aunt Alexandra does to try to make Scout into a lady. At first Scout refuses so I was surprised in chapter 24 when Scout went to Aunt Alexandra's ladys' meeting. She mingled around and talked with the ladys. It showed that she was starting to conform to the way of life she originally wanted no part in. Place and setting also have a big role in the book. The book is set in a small town in Alabama. Alabama being part of the Confederacy during the civil war was a proponent of slavery and with it a sense of discrimination towards blacks. In the book that racism is still there and still with the potential of violence. Example being when Mr. Cunningham and friends attempt to lynch Tom but are stopped by Scout. If this book were set in the North there would definitely be less racism towards blacks.