In the book To Kill A Mocking Bird, set during the racist times of the 1930’s in a fictional town called Maycomb in Alabama, USA based on Monroeville, the place where the author, Harper Lee lived in. The time that the book is set in is evident when Atticus talks about the town being hit from the depression.
In the book the racism is portrayed in the eyes of Scout, who is a young girl, based of the author. She is based on the author, as the town is based on Monroeville and in the book Scout is 7-9 and the time is set in the 1930’s which is evident from Atticus in the book when scout asks Atticus if they are as poor as the Cunningham’s and Atticus’s response is ” Not exactly. The Cunninghams are country folks and the depression hit them the hardest” The depression happened around the 1930’s suggesting that Scout is based on Harper Lee. As well as this Harper lees father, Francis Cunningham Finch Lee was also a lawyer, such as how Atticus is in ‘To Kill A Mocking Bird’.
In the book, Harper Lee’s moral views are from the eyes of Scout in the book, a young, age 7-9 girl with not many views on society and black people, unlike most other character set in the book.
In the book, Scout witnesses the racism in the fictional town of Maycomb, as her father Atticus is a lawyer for a black male, Tom Robinson, and many characters in the book oppose Atticus’s action of helping a black person, Scout does not question it, or have any opinions on it, leaving it to the reader to develop their opinion on the racism in Maycomb, instead of a biased opinion of another character.
An example of this is when Scout’s aunt says that Calpurnia, is not a role model of a lady for Scout, even though she has all the characteristics of a good role model. Scout has no opinion over this, but from the context of the book it suggests that it is because she is a black lady, the aunt believes she cannot be a good person.
Overall in the book, Harper Lee does show Scout has any moral opinions of black people in the book, and leaves it to the reader to develop their own opinions, based upon what they read.
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