Modern literature has a great number of works that describe different burning problems of life. They touch upon areas of life, describing its dark and light sides. Those books that describe certain periods in history are of great interest among the readers, as they give complete imagination of the period that is known only from history. Films that are screened on the basis of the books are very popular. This paper deals with the movie To Kill a Mockingbird that was shot according to the book by Harper Lee. The central problem described in the book and then in the movie is race discrimination problems during the 1930-s in America. Racial attitudes and the dominance of white men over the black ones in the USA are the central ideas of the movie and the novel.
The actions of the film To Kill a Mockingbird take place in Maycomb, a small town in Alabama, in the 1930-s. This period of the history of the USA is famous for the deepest depression that the country has ever experienced. There is no precise date of the events, but the description of the racially divided city and life of lower and upper classes helps the reader and audience imagine and visualize life in South America at the time when the blacks were depressed and the whites were considered privileged. The blacks were constantly blamed for different crimes. They could be sentenced for longer periods of punishment; especially it concerns the cases when the whites became the victims of their crimes. Moreover, the blacks were sentenced to the death penalty more often than the black ones. (J. Davidio, p.132).
The white population of America had privileges not only in courts.” The daily exercise of white personal power over black individuals had become a cherished aspect of Southern culture” (Davidson Buck, p.34).
They had a strong belief that they were some kind of elite and were able to control the economic, political, and juridical system and protected the benefits of belonging to a white race. Black men in their turn were prohibited to have any positions in the government, higher political bodies. Such discrimination was seen not only in the areas of government but in all spheres of social life as well. White women had complete control of their black slaves. White women took control over black slaves and were entitled to substitute slave labor for their labor in the fields (Mathews, p. 124)
All these demonstrations of discrimination found the reflection in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird.
Atticus Finch is a successful attorney, who is forced to raise two children (Scout and Jem) without a wife. The main action of the film takes place in the court, where Atticus should deal with the case of raping of the white woman by one black man. In contradiction to all bias and attitudes to the black men, Atticus defends the man, being fully convinced of his innocence. Despite the fact that Atticus was pressured by his colleagues and lost all his friends during the period of the trial, he was able to gain the respect and delight of his small children and representatives of the black population of the city. The readers should pay attention to the fact that the story is witnessed through the eyes of small children. It gives this story a certain shade of dramatics. The intimidation, the discrimination, the soreness, the fears, the hopes – all these feelings are regarded somewhat differently as they are seen by the eyes of small children, Scout and Jem. The racial prejudices and the deliberate foolishness of those times are described through the natural fairness and purity of children. This is a very important aspect of the novel, as demonstrates the comparison between children and adult points of view.
There are a lot of other things except discrimination that the author tried to involve the readers in. Another theme that should be discussed is prejudice. The story entirely revolved around some prejudiced views which were predominant in the Southern community. The reason for the trial is people’s views towards blacks and their position in the South. Because of the prejudiced view towards the blacks, the father of the supposed victim is absolutely sure that his daughter was raped by this black man. To combat it, he incorrectly blames Mr. Robinson for rape. This was not the single fact of such prejudice and injustice.
The theme of prejudice can also be found in the title of the novel. In Chapter 10, when Scout and Jem get air rifles for Christmas, Atticus tells his children that it is a sin to kill a mockingbird, as these birds do nothing except enjoying people and sing. So, the mockingbird is an image of Mr. Robinson. He is a very good man and could not bring harm to anyone, especially women. Due to the cruel attitude of society, he becomes a victim of prejudice and injustice. He was sentenced to death by juries, but not because he did something wrong or illegal, but because of prejudice.
The second main point of the book is the so-called coming of age. It mostly entails a character who acquires a new step of self awareness due to life experience. The example of Scout’s coming of age can be seen on the example of her meeting with her friend Dill. The differences between quality of their lives made girl to come to a conclusion that there is another life beyond Alabama and beyond the world where she lives. This event helped the girl review her vision of life, made her more tolerant and learned how to “walk into another person’s shoes” (Giddens-Whie, p. 65). The girl also learned that the good person can suffer from injustice. In the end of the movie and the book, we can see already mature Scout, with her own attitude to life, who after all discoveries and through her experience realizes that she will not follow all those prejudice views of her society.
To Kill A Mockingbird is the memorable novel that was created during the rush hour of Civil Rights movement, it aims the attention of the readers to spend the time and to justly see what is the human race, what it should be, realize the real nature of equality and justice, follow the pathway of genuine honesty and morality.
The author of the book tries to show the readers that people are all equal in their rights. It does not matter what differences or peculiarities they have, what color of skin they have, what religion they belong to, what cloths they wear and what kind of work they do, people of the whole world all the same. There are no worse or better people, we all live on the same planet and breath the same air.
Works Cited
Bryon Giddens-White. The Story Behind Harper Lee’s to Kill a Mockingbird. Heinemann Library, 2006
D’Ovidio, Gaertner, and Pearson. On the Nature of Contemporary Prejudice. Social and Personality Psychology Compass 3, 2009
Flemming et al. Indian Tribes. A Continuing Quest for Survival. Washington DC: GPO, 1981.
Pem Davidson Buck. Constructing Race, Creating White Privilege, 2001. p.33