A Comparison Of The Societies Portrayed In T Essay, Research Paper

The settings of the two novels are very different. Pride and Prejudice is set from 1800 onwards and is in a primarily rural and royalist society. On the other spectrum is To Kill a Mockingbird which is set from 1933 to 1935 in a town called Maycomb, a tired old town in the Southern State of Alabama An island in a patchwork sea of cotton fields and timber land, with a democratic society equal rights for all, special privileges for none. This is ironic, as the statement is obviously untrue. This is proved when Tom Robinson is proven guilty although it is known that he was not and would have never harmed a white woman. It weren t safe for any Nigger to be in a fix like that. The story makes Maycomb seem very tiny and secluded in the middle of the United States of America. Similarly, Pemberly is a very small and compact town with all the main amenities nearby.Longbourne is the house in England and is comprised of the house, a farm and associated buildings. Due to this, an agent looks after and runs the estate. The Bennets have a cook and Mrs. Bennet explains to Mr. Collins that They were very well able to keep a good cook, and that her daughters had nothing to do in the kitchen. Pemberly is a community in its own right and many of the town s people are dependent upon it for their livelihood. The divisions in society into upper, mid and lower classes did not emerge until well into the nineteenth century. Jane Austen partitioned society into aristocracy, the gentry who did not work for a living but inherited wealth, usually in the form of land and finally the common people who gave to the community but were not recognized. To Kill A Mockingbird had a more democratic country although the society was not. The professional families formed a small intimate informal community. The Blacks lived in their own community on the outskirts of town and worshipped in their church which was the only one on Maycomb with a steeple and bell, which meant they were better worshippers of G-d than some of the whites. The quarters where they live in neat, snug cabins are a contrast to the squalid mess of the Ewells cabin behind the town garbage dump. By the dump and past the Ewell residence, it was described like the playhouse of an insane child. This shows what ignorance some of the town possessed. The people like the Finches are at the top of their social hierarchy and far below them are the Cunninhams who are respectable but poor people. Then, as Jem tells Scout, the Cunninghams are above the Ewells and at the bottom are the coloured folk, whom the Ewells hated and despised. In Jem s assessment, everyone but the lowest on the scale, the coloured folk, has someone to look down on. The social placement of black or white, Finch or Cunningham, largely, was just the way things had always been, and in order to maintain their sense of security, it is the way that all people wanted things to stay. Above all, in Maycomb there was definitely an anti Black feeling in the southern states. Even mixing the races was not permitted in the society, unless one was either eccentric like Mr. Dolphus Raymond therefore nobody cared. Mayella was not permitted to mix with Tom although she was the lowest of the white. The Blacks were always classed as the lowest. This was a rigid and time-honoured code of society that while white people could employ and exploit the Blacks, there could be no personal relationship between them and no recognition that Blacks had the same feelings as white people. Mr. Dolphus Raymond discusses The hell the white people give coloured folks, even without stopping to think that they re people too. There was also an evil assumption that that all Blacks lie, that all Blacks are basically immoral beings. There was clearly a division between the Blacks, this can be distinctly seen where Calpurnia takes the children to her Church and she speaks her Nigger talk but fits into both of the worlds that exist. The common people were treated similarly in Pride and Prejudice when they must enter and exit the homes of the gentry through special back entrances, which must have made them feel extremely low and treated like property; worthless.Another group that is treated poorly in society, based on bigotry in To Kill a Mockingbird, are the people who have chosen to be different. One who chose to be different is Dolphus Raymond. He pretended to be drunk so no one gave him any trouble on the way that he lived his life. He said, Some folks don t like the way I live. Now I could say the hell with em, I don t care if they don t like it. I do say I don t care if they don t like it, right enough but I don t say the hell with em, see? The way people live should be their own personal business. He had the right to live differently from others if he felt that is the way he wanted to live. Another person that lives differently is Boo Radley, who stayed inside his house for a number of years without ever coming out to interact with others. He did not want attention that would come from the rumours that were said about him. Stories were made up about him and he felt it was best for him to stay inside. According to Miss Stephanie, Boo was sitting in the living room cutting up some items from the Maycomb Tribune to paste in his scrapbook. His father entered the room. As Mr. Radley passed by, Boo drove the scissors into his parent s leg, pulled them out, wiped them on his pants, and resumed his activities. The people who chose to be different took a risk of being made outcasts from the majority of society. Most of the characters in Pride and Prejudice are the gentry, a landowning class which also included the Anglican clergy like Mr. Collins, who was really quite poor but did as he was told. The townspeople are excluded, as they did not own anything although they were under the same laws as everybody else. In Maycomb, there is also a remembrance of the Ku Klux Klan, who seem never to be forgotten, The Ku Klux s gone, It ll never come back. Again, there are other fundamental religious sects, Mesonites, and foot-washing Baptists. The contrast is that in To Kill a Mockingbird the Blacks do not have the supposed impartiality of the law. This is shown when Reverend Sykes himself proclaimed he Ain t ever seen any jury decide in favour of a coloured man over a white man. The Blacks had been discriminated by a biased community. The jury finds Tom guilty in his case against the Ewells In the name of G-d do your duty. The guilty verdict is a direct result of the racist community. Tom was never given a fair chance in the trail, although the evidence proved him innocent. The divisions in England within the gentry and city trades people had become blurred, many country proprietors were investing in trade and the growing financial institutions, due to the Industrial Revolution. It shows how the societies changed due to money. There were also divisions within the gentry, Darcy, in contrast to Mr. Bennet, comes from an ancient family and although not titled, commanded status above that of many of the nobility. Elizabeth did not like this, she proclaimed herself Mr. Darcy s equal because He is a gentleman, and she is a gentleman s daughter, despite the huge difference in their incomes. Darcy is so proud of his own social standing that he refuses to mix with those lower than himself. Even when he falls in love with Elizabeth, he cannot forget she is lower in society than himself.

The story of Pride and Prejudice ends with Elizabeth and Darcy each overcoming their anger against each other, and falling in love. However, this touching scene is ruined because of the appearance of Lady Catherine. She demands Elizabeth not to marry Darcy, and tells Darcy that it would look very bad within his family if he were to marry someone as “low class” as Elizabeth. So even one’s family is willing to break up “true love” in order to maintain rank. This could be compared to Aunt Alexandra, who only cared about the superiority of her family. This is especially true when Aunt Alexandra would not let Scout go with Calpurina to her house, and when Walter Cunningham was not allowed over for dinner. Because he is trash, that s why you can t play with him. In To Kill a Mockingbird there are references to the events and people connected with the Civil War, as many of the prejudices aroused then, remain. This was because Alabama was one of the slave states, which formed themselves into the Southern Confederation. In England, there was no war, but soldiers ready to take on war. One of the characters was a soldier, Wickham, who was thought to be a gentleman as he had that job. It is also evident from every point of the story that all the people care about is marrying into a higher social rank, even for those who are comfortable with their current status, it is imperative that they only marry someone of at least equivalent rank as The business of her life was to get her daughters married; its solace was visiting and news. This idea possesses every character in the story and seems to motivate every action that is taken. When Mr. Darcy is proposing to Elizabeth, and is informing her of the inferiority of her family and connections this is significant. This is because it is one of the few times where the characters openly acknowledge that the sole purpose of a person’s life is to achieve a high income and a high social position. This idea possesses every character in the story and seems to motivate every action that is taken. The superficiality of this idea goes so far as to break the bonds of love. Darcy is willing to insult a girl as he is proposing to her, just to inform her of what he has to go through in order to stoop to someone of her level. Regardless of what Darcy thought his chances were at acceptance, he was still addressing a girl that barely knows him, and actually dislikes him. This point is compounded because Elizabeth only gets slightly insulted by this comment. Her initial refusal of Darcy was based almost totally on his actions towards Jane and Bingley’s relationship, and his treatment of Mr. Wickham. However, she is barely perturbed by this comment of Darcy regarding her family. This is strange because one would expect Elizabeth to at least be equally mad for personal insults as well as for what was done to others. It can be seen in both novels that people that are born differently often are mistreated and are discriminated against. This is seen through the common people and the Bennets in Pride and Prejudice and Dolphus Raymond, Arthur Radley, and the Black community in To Kill a Mockingbird. In Maycomb the period of the story covered the time of the New Deal, the name given to the social and economic policies by president Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933 after the economic Wall Street Crash in 1929. Due to this, the county of Maycomb a farming county was hit hard and There was nowhere to go, nothing to buy and no money to buy it with. The manners and values in both novels are very different in many ways. The titled gentleman in Pride and Prejudice are given a social privileged but assumed certain standards of behaviour, which were very formal. There were also strict codes of conduct which affected visiting, travelling, rules for dress, introductions, forms of address, dancing, social conversation, order of procedure and the formal relationship between the sexes. Elizabeth s walk to Netherfield to see Jane when she is unwell is not ladylike . They gossip that To walk three miles, or four miles, or five miles, or whatever it is, above her ankles in dirt, and alone, quite alone! What could she mean by it? It can be seen that Elizabeth disagrees with Darcy and Miss Bingley about what a lady should be like. The art of conversation was seen as a very important social role and the outward formalities and civilities reflected inner values and moral standards. In reality though they fell short of the idea and Jane Austen exposes the mismatch between the social and moral codes. This can be seen in To Kill a Mockingbird when Harper Lee shows the complete hypocracy of Miss Merriweather with the Mrunas You live in a Christian home with Christian folks in a Christian town. Out there in J. Grimes Everett s land there s nothing but sin and squalor, in addition, Miss Gates with Hitler. Over here we don t believe in persecuting anybody. Persecution comes from people who are prejudiced. To Kill a Mockingbird in comparison is far more informal. The residents are accustomed to sit on their front porches in summer where Closed doors meant illness and cold weather only. Everyone s business is known quickly and gossip thrives in the small town which is a similarity to Pride and Prejudice as is seen by the gossips to be nothing better to be done. They simply gossip all day long and spread malicious rumors. One of these gossips is Miss Stephanie Crawford who misleads the children; Boo was sitting in the living room cutting up some items from the Maycomb Tribune to paste in his scrapbook. His father entered the room. As Mr. Radley passed by, Boo drove the scissors into his parent s leg, pulled them out, wiped them on his pants, and resumed his activities. The telephonist Miss Eula May also knows everybody s voice and is entrusted with issuing public announcements, wedding invitations, setting off the fire sirens, and giving first aid instructions when Mr. Reynolds is absent. In Pride and Prejudice Mrs. Bennet is a gossip and needs to know every detail about everybody. She does this not only to her family but also to her close by friends in the village. This is shown on the first page of the novel where she needs to obtain every detail What is his name? Is he married or single? Life is very quiet in Maycomb and very unhurried and people take their time with everything and had Nothing to fear but fear itself. The settled and traditional caste system is rarely disturbed by new people settling in Maycomb and life proceeds in a very even way as In Maycomb grown men stood outside in the front yard for only two reasons: death and politics. Largely, it is just the way things have always been and in order to maintain a sense of security; it is the way that people want things to stay.Both novels show that all people are human and what they are has nothing to do with what they own. It also shows that people that are born differently are often are mistreated and discriminated against, which is entirely wrong. Both authors and two characters in the novels, Elizabeth, and Scout noticed this. These novels are more about political statements than stories, displaying the evils of our society and the consequences of living in such a society. The standards of society are not to be broken in either novel and this is one of their major issues. In Pride and Prejudice some characters such as Collins, Lady Catherine and Miss Bingley follow these standards blindly to flatter their own social standing and show how good they are. The intelligent ones such as Elizabeth, the Gardiners and in To Kill a Mockingbird the Finches and Miss Maudie use them as the measure of good sense and propriety.

361