Harper Lees To Kill a Mockingbird Essay -- Harper Lee Kill Mockingbir

Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird "To Kill a Mocking Bird" by Harper Lee was published in 1960 and was adapted into a play by Christopher Sergal and published in 1980. It tells the story of a court case when a black man gets accused of raping a white woman. The black man, Tom Robinson is defended by the a lawyer called Atticus Finch. Atticus is one of the few people in Maycome who have a bit of money an can read and write very well. The inevitable outcome of the case was that the Black man was sentenced to death. The play is set in 1935 during the Great Depression and in times of Poverty and Unemployment. Maycome is a rural farming community and the Great Depression has hit them hard. The law is very unfair to Blacks because they issue different sentences to White people then to Black people. For example in a court case that court would be made up of all white men. The community is divided as well because all Black services are separate from White services. E.G. Education, money, churches, funerals, graveyards, medical services. However poor a White person is, a Black person would always be lower than the poor white person in the social scale. In the Deep South a man was expected to do manly jobs like Hunting, Carpentry, Farrier and a Blacksmith. Atticus is seamed to different than the other men because he is a lawyer and reads books, unlike most of the other men who do the jobs described above. The Deep South came to be like this because of the slavery White people enforced on the Blacks. In 1619 the first black people were brought to America and then in 1661, Virginia legalised slavery, along with lots of other Deep South states. 35-40 million Blacks were brought to be slaves over 300 years, o... ... up, knowing what Atticus has proved and said damn you ta..." because and every one else knows that it was Bob who hit Mayella because he is left handed. To prove this even more Atticus reminds the court that Bob signed that piece of paper with his left and that Tom took his oath with his only good hand - his right. The next part of Atticus' summing up says about the views of the people in the Deep South, saying about people thinking that all Negroes are bad and all Negroes lie but they all don't and all races lie and are bad sometimes and not just the blacks. "To kill a mockingbird" is a prime example of what life was like during the Great Depression in the Deep South, full of discrimination and social scales determining what people were like and how they would act. I think the story is a very good because of how it describes life during that period.

Observations on the Conditions of the Working Class During the Industrial Revolution

Observations on the Conditions of the Working Class During the Industrial Revolution The British Industrial Revolution of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries brought about a much needed change in the economic structure of the country. The old fashioned, agricultural based economy that Britain had assumed for centuries had become obsolete, and in the spirit of mercantilism and neighborly competition with the French, the English made the drastic change to a manufacturing based economy (Owen, p. 50). This transformation allowed for the emergence of large, manufacturing based cities, an abundance of English manufactured goods, and made Britain, overall, a very wealthy nation. These byproducts of the Industrial Revolution allowed Britain to make great economic strides, but those that put in the hours at the factories that made such a revolution possible gained almost nothing for their treacherous work. The working class of the Industrial Revolution lived hard, laborious liv es.The majority of their time was spent in the factories, which were very often unsanitary, overcrowded, and hazardous, and when they were able to leave the factory and spend time at home, they were met with equally horrid conditions. Although these people and their work were undoubtedly one of the largest factors towards the successfulness of the Industrial Revolution, they themselves suffered greatly, and reaped nearly no benefits for their work. The overall quality of their lives was incredibly poor. Every arena of their lives, from working conditions and home life, to nutrition and cleanliness, was effected by overwhelming poverty.The urban environment that was thought to be a way out of poverty became a mechanism in which poverty was able to flourish. The life of a working class family during the Industrial Revolution was very much dictated by the factory in which they worked. Employees would spend nearly all day in these horrid environments; most would start their day around f ive o’clock in the morning, and with the exception of two short breaks for meals, would remain in the factory until eight o’clock at night or later (Kay, p. 155). The factories were dingy, brightly lit buildings that housed far too many people at a time.They were consumed with dust and filaments of cotton, and contaminated the surrounding areas with smoke. They were were filled with heat and filth, and contained large, dangerous machines that were often operated by children (Aikin, p. 148). Seven and eight year old children were often sent by their parents to work in the factories, and while there they were treated as adults. Robert Owen noted that the manner in which the young employees were dealt with was responsible for an uneducated and emotionally unstable generation of children. He referred to the children as â€Å"weak in bodily and mental faculties. † (Owen, p. 50-1).The young employees were indeed as horribly unfortunate as Owen described, but upon real izing the conditions they were working in, one can easily see why. The machines in which the children operated were massive and intimidating apparatuses. Cotton mills used spinning machines that were able to hold thousands of spindles at a time, and moved rapidly and forcefully (Aikin, p. 148). Adolescent employees were required to work unreasonably long hours with these machines, for few cared how truly ill-suited the work was for children. The home life of working class families was equally as horrible as their occupations.James Kay wrote in his essay on â€Å"The Moral and Physical Condition of the Working Classes in Manchester† that these families lived in â€Å"ill-furnished, uncleanly, often ill-ventilated, perhaps damp† homes that were consumed in â€Å"absolute filth. † (Kay, p. 156). These dwellings were lumped together in communities, only perpetuating uncleanliness and disease, and were representative of the mindsets and attitudes of the people living in them. Kay noted that entire families would often sleep in a single bed and use â€Å"a heap of filthy straw and covering of old sacking† as bedding. He observed that the â€Å"houses of the poor . . are too generally built back to back, having therefore only one outlet, no yard, no privy, and no receptacle for refuse. † (Kay, p. 156-7). Essentially, what Kay observed about the working class of Manchester was the overwhelming level of poverty that consumed it. The people that lived in these types of dwellings were incredibly poor, and had no way of relieving themselves from the crushing poverty all around them.The lives of the working class peoples were reduced to that of animals; they were practically owned by their employers, who never gave them the freedom to better their lives. These people were not nherently ignorant or sub-human, their living conditions were direct products of cruel treatment and outright disregard for them as human beings. Through processes s uch as workplace advancement, education, or even cleaner living arrangements, the working class would have had a much more plentiful and human-like existence, but they were never given the opportunity to do so. This phenomenon of belittlement was not restricted to the living arrangements; it perpetuated into every area of people’s lives. The typical diet consisted of one true meal a day, which was neither healthy nor substantial.Breakfast usually consisted of a simple cup of tea that was â€Å"most always of a bad, and sometimes of a deleterious quality† (Kay, p. 155). Dinner was the only meal of any true substance, and even it only consisted of boiled potatoes and bacon with melted lard and butter (Kay, p. 155). People with this type of diet were understandably malnourished, and with the combination of poor living and working conditions, they very seldom were in good health. Children often felt the brute force of such an extreme poverty more so than adults, and were à ¢â‚¬Å"ill-fed, dirty, ill-clothed, exposed to cold and neglect. So much so in fact, that over fifty percent of children living in these conditions died before the age of five (Kay, p. 157).Crushing poverty often affects people on an emotional level, and this was very much the case during the Industrial Revolution. Frederick Engels compared the mindset of the workers to slaves, by asserting that the only difference between the two is that the old-fashioned slave was openly recognized as a slave, while the urban factory worker was disguised as a free man (Engels, p. 63). Monotonous labor and a life similar to that of a slave drained the emotions of the working class. Urban life created stone cold and despair ridden replicas of once proud men, loving wives, and innocent children. Factory workers participated in â€Å"habits generally destructive to their own comforts, [and] of the well-being of those around them† out of pure necessity, but perhaps without full knowledge of the c onsequences (Owen, p. 151).Kay compares the toil of the people to King Sisyphus, suggesting that the difficult labor that the factory workers frequently performed was just as in vain as Sisyphus’ endless struggle with his boulder (Kay, p. 155). The tasks required of the poor seemed just as endless to them as it did for Sisyphus, for neither could see an end in sight. The areas in which these people lived became places of crime, caused by the emotional distress of poverty, and were â€Å"inhabited by a turbulent population† (Kay, p. 157).The people became slothful and benevolent, hateful towards outsiders and immigrants from Ireland, and allowed the unpleasantness around them consume them (Kay, p. 154,7). The working class of the Industrial Revolution lived in absolutely horrid conditions. They lived in poverty and filth, they spent their â€Å"superfluous gains on debauchery,† and were treated by the upper classes as if they were animals (Kay, p. 155). They live d short lives filled with work, disease and sorrow, with no way out except for death.

Marie Antoinette Negative Aspects Of The French Monarchy

Marie Antoinette embodied the negative aspects of the French monarchy because from the start of her reign she was a traitor. She had Austria’s interests at heart by putting the country she ruled last and putting others first even if it coincided with the those of France, the country she supposedly ruled. She was born princess of Austria, Maria Antonia Josepha Joanna to her mother, Maria Theresa, empress of Austria, and father, Holy Roman Emperor Francis I, both head of the Hapsburg dynasty. In 1770 at the young age of 15, she married a French prince who would soon come to be King Louis XVI of France, in order to help build a stronger alliance between Austria and France, making her the Queen of France in 1774 as a teenager. Marie Antoinette gradually failed to fulfill her duty to the people as Queen of France, the most important duty of the Queen was to provide the nation with an heir to the throne, but she could not fulfill that right away due to the stress of the people of her country and how they accused her of everything. King Louis’s shyness also contributed to this because he would barely even touch her after they got married which made it harder for them to conceive an heir. The king had a condition known as phimosis in which the foreskin of the penis is tighter than normal which made sex for him really painful which explains why the king would not touch his bride. The French People began to think if he couldn’t perform in the bedroom then he certainly couldn’tShow MoreRelatedFrench Baroque Art As An Expression Of Absolutism872 Words   |  4 PagesFrench baroque art is sometimes regarded as an expression of absolutism because Louis XIV used his power and control over art an d the artistic freedom of the people to use for his own personal gains. â€Å"Louis XIV especially manipulated art to serve as propaganda for his absolutist policies†(738). Art was obviously popular at the time and he knew art would be the best way to â€Å"convey the majesty and strength of the monarchy†(738). An example of the control he was trying to enforce is shown in Le Brun’sRead MoreThe Three Phases of the French Revolution Essay1329 Words   |  6 Pagesout time has maintained a cause-and-effect pattern with almost all major events; the French Revolution being no different. The philosophes influenced the French society by giving all the estates a chance to be educated by their works. Some of these works also made it to the colonies in American and influenced them enough to bring out an uprising against England in 1775. During America’s battle for independence, French aid was sent, including the leadership of Lafayette, who brought positive idea s ofRead MoreHistory of France2324 Words   |  9 PagesProcess of Findings Before Marie Antoinette married Dauphin Louis XVI in 1770, the situation in France was already beginning to become disordered. The peasants, which made up about 90% of the population at the time, were treated unfairly and began to feel frustrated and upset with the Monarchy. At the time, Marie Antoinette was distrusted because of her foreign birth and many of the peasants saw her as the source of their problems and disliked her. She was often seen in the past as a bad Queen dueRead MoreThe French Revolution : The Most Momentous Upheaval Of The Revolutionary Age That Replaced Modern Society2335 Words   |  10 PagesThe French Revolution was known to be the most momentous upheaval of the revolutionary age that replaced modern society. In 1799 it was hard to see the influential changes that were to come. One of these changes was when the bourgeois/landowning classes emerged as the dominate power over all of society. Social order along with contractual relations was consolidated by the Code Napoleon. The urban lower middle class attempted to secure economic and political gains to foreshadow the class conflictsRead MoreTo Know About France, and Its History, Culture, French People and Democracy in France5199 Words   |  21 Pagesknow about France and its history, culture, French people and democracy in France ? Introduction France is a powerful democratic country in the world. Every French citizen in France over 18 years old has the right to vote. Freedom of expression is enshrined in law, people are free to gather for any reasons. the French people do strikes very often for their rights and freedom, the strikes in France are common and popular among the world, and French people are free to join any political partyRead MoreLes Miserables : A French Masterpiece3985 Words   |  16 Pages Les Miserables: A French Masterpiece Introduction Victor-Marie Hugo, is possibly the most renowned French author in history. Born on February 26, 1802 in Besancon, France, Hugo was the youngest of three sons of Count Leopold Sigisbert and Sophie Hugo. Hugo proved himself as a capable writer at a young age gaining Recognition from the French Academy for a poem he wrote when he was only fifteen. At the age of twenty, he published his first book of poetry titled Miscellaneous Odes and VersesRead MoreOne Significant Change That Has Occurred in the World Between 1900 and 2005. Explain the Impact This Change Has Made on Our Lives and Why It Is an Important Change.163893 Words   |  656 PagesEqually impressive in terms of the global range of questions they include, Hecht and Edwards look at the impact of the nuclear nations’ quest for viable, stable sources of uranium and sites for testing nuclear devices in locales as disparate as French Polynesia, Niger, Gabon, and the Belgian Congo. Having had the good fortune to escape the global nuclear holocaust that was once widely accepted as inevitable if not imminent, humanity came to recognize, albeit more gradually, a second threat