To Kill A Mockingbird Wealth Analysis

Social Justice: Distribution of Wealth Ever since an early human decided to give intrinsic value to a bushel of wheat for trade, money has been a quintessential part of human culture. As time has gone on, a flaw in this system has become apparent: some people have lots of money while others have very little. Today, this very flaw is the basis of a large portion of today’s issues, like corruption or poverty.
Monetary Inequalities
Wealth is distributed unequally amongst the world’s people. This issue has been a long-standing, global problem, and applies to numerous people and numerous measurements of wealth. In terms of income, which is one of these measurements, “[…] the lowest quintile of U.S. households accounted for 3.4% of total income,
The story is set after the Great Depression, which caused millions to fall into poverty. Walter Cunningham and his family are a family affected by this, since Scout reasons that “[Walter Cunningham] had probably never seen three quarters together at the same time in his life” after witnessing him lack a school lunch and referencing his family reputation (Lee 22). Walter comes from a farming family, and they happen to be impoverished “[...because] the crash hit [farmers] hardest” (Lee 23). Walter and his family are poor enough for them not to have 75 cents (around $10 in today’s money) at once due to their extreme poverty, and this has created their penniless reputation in Maycomb. Poor farming families like the Cunninghams share their predicament with other families in Maycomb, like the Ewells. The Ewells, a large, long-standing family inhabiting the Maycomb dump, “lived as guests of the county [... but their] relief check was far from enough to feed the family.” (Lee 193, 208). The Ewells are poor enough to receive sums of money from the government, but despite the support, they still lack sufficient funds to fully care for themselves. This is caused by Bob Ewell’s alcoholic tendencies, which use up large sums of the welfare checks to buy somewhat expensive alcoholic drinks. In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, two completely different families
Over a 9-year period between 1989 and 1998, “[...] the proportion of net worth owned by the top 1 percent [...] rose from 30 percent to more than 34 percent [while...] those in the bottom 90 percent declined from 33 percent to just over 30 percent” (Ciment). Wealth is gradually shifting towards the few and affluent at the expense of the numerous poor due to the increased power of corporations and the rich. The rich and their corporations are able to influence the way money circulates, allowing more money to be diverted to them from the lower and middle classes. This creates the basis as to why the rich continue accumulating wealth while the rest of the populace loses it. Additionally, the rich earn money faster than everyone else, giving them an advantage after recessions.“93 per cent of the income gains in the first official year of economic recovery went to the top one per cent [in terms of wealth] in the US” (Jones). Despite the recent economic gains, most of the population is not benefited by them, with the rich having the largest gains. The poor and middle classes’ incomes remain stagnant or even decrease, highlighting the great disparity between the rich and everyone else. When economic gains are made, money only goes to certain groups, leaving others the same or worse