Civil Rights and Civil Wrongs in To Kill a Mockingbird

In Harper Lee's novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, the author uses the small town of Maycomb, Alabama as a forum for different views on civil rights. On a smaller scale, Lee uses the relationship between Scout, her aunt, her father, and her housekeeper, to show how racism affects everything. The question of civil rights plays out not only through the trial of Tom Robinson, but also through the everyday interaction between the Finch family and …

…actions near the end of the novel. Scout sits in the colored balcony and bursts out in tears when Aunt Alexandra says she canít be friends with Walter Cunningham, a schoolmate of Scout's, because the Cunninghams are not ìour kind of folks(Lee 224). Lee begins the story with the innocent perspective of Scout and ends the story with a Scout that has changed greatly, but a Scout who still retains her non prejudiced thoughts.