The Great Depression In To Kill A Mockingbird

The Great Depression In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill A Mockingbird, the characters face many challenging problems. They face racism, learning about courage, and The Great Depression. In the opening chapter Scout states, “Maycomb was an old town, but it was a tired old town when I first knew it… There was no hurry for there was no where to go, nothing to buy and no money to it with, nothing to see outside the boundaries of Maycomb County. But it was a time of vague optimism for some of the people. Maycomb County had recently been told that it had nothing to fear but fear itself” (Lee 5). It sets the scene in Maycomb, Alabama, a poor town during The Great Depression. The Great Depression happened in the October of 1929 and lasted until 1939.
Bob Ewell lives behind the county dump where he raises his children. They live a terrible life of dirt and hunger. His kids hardly ever go to school because he makes them stay and help him get things done at home. After Mr.Ewell took the WPA job he soon lost it due to laziness. Now he has to get relief checks so he can pay for things he needs like food and clothes. But Mr.Ewell ends up spending all of his money on whiskey. Maycomb County also allows Bob to hunt and trap out of season because he doesn’t have enough money to buy food. Scout finds out and tells Atticus “... Another thing, Mr.Bob Ewell, Burris’s father, was permitted to hunt and trap out of season. Atticus, that’s bad.... In Maycomb County, hunting out of season was a misdemeanor at law, a capital felony in the eyes of the populace.” (Lee 34). Atticus has to explain to Scout that he is aloud to because he spends all of his money on whiskey and can’t afford to buy food. In the novel the author says that the economy has no bearing for people like Bob Ewell. Most people believed that because he took money and spent it on something that he didn’t need and he simply doesn’t care. He also doesn’t care about his children’s education and keeps them from going to school. Bob also runs away from his problems or blames them on someone else. One day he comes home and finds Mayella trying to kiss Tom Robinson. Tom gets chased away and Bob Ewell hurts
During The Great Depression people still believed that African Americans were in a lower class of people and the white people were higher class people. At the trial they proved that Tom was innocent but the jury said he was guilty. In the trial Tom told the entire truth. During the trial he was asked, “ You’re a good fellow, it seems you did all this for not one penny?” (Lee 218).Even though Tom was poor, he still helped Mayella with her chores. He didn’t ask for a single penny because he knew that money was hard to come by. Black people could never win a trial against a white man. The Great Depression made it hard for Tom Robinson to live an easy life. The characters in To Kill A Mockingbird the problems of The Great Depression. They learn how to live in tough situations and make the best out of what you have. People now also have a hard time making money. Even though they need help they learn a new way to live. The characters find a new way to live and learn how to push through their