by Thomas Yoo

Created on: June 04, 2009

Since almost the beginning of civilization, class distinctions have served as a benchmark in society. May it be in ancient societies, with their clear-cut social groups that one is born into, or in more recent times, social classes based on income levels or how big one's television is, social classes have always clearly defined the structure of a community. This is especially true in the world of To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Lee has created a world that truly illustrates the class structure of the time period after the Depression, and with a child's voice has shown how absurd it is.

Ever since ancient cultures like Rome, people were divided up into social classes. In this time period, once one was born into a social class, it was pretty much impossible to get out. The basic structure was a pyramid, with the richest few men at the top and the slaves and commoners at the bottom. This structure holds true for almost all societies that are built on a class system. This can especially be seen in India, where the rigid system of four castes are kept that way, and it is fully impossible to move up or down. If one was not a part of the community, one was considered an untouchable, who were given degrading jobs. This system has been kept for many years, and although it is much more flexible today, it is still here. In sleepy old Maycomb, the social classes are as rigid as the caste system in India. Once in a class, it is virtually impossible to change others' outlook on your life. At the bottom of the tower sat the small black community of Maycomb. A little above that, but not much, sat the ignorant and poor whites, generally unliked and abused. Above that were the blue-collar workers and farmers. And of course, at the top, sat the rich, or more accurately, those that were considered rich, like Atticus.

The difference of the top of the tower was visibly different to the other members of the community. As Lisa Doherty states in her essay, Ladies like Mrs. DuBose, Maudie Atkinson, and even Aunt Alexandra are studies in white aristocracy. [These ladies] dress, carry themselves, and behave differently than women like Mayella Ewell and all the women know and can feel the differences. The chasm that separates them is as real and vast as the one that separates the races in the book.1 This mindset of the community has stood true for decades of life in the town, and this ideal simply cannot be changed. Most of the members of this oligarchical elite sector of society

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