I am woman....hear me roar.....
9 years ago
Friday, March 13, 2009
Kinds of folks
At one point Jem describes four kinds of 'folks' in Maycomb County: "our kind of folks don't like the Cunninghams, the Cunninghams don't like the Ewells, and the Ewells hate and despise the colored folks". What does To Kill A Mockingbird teach us about how people cope with issues of race and class? Do you classify people in your world as different "folks"? Do you see those sort of distinctions today?
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5 comments:
I totally understand what Jem meant about kinds of folks.
I think most people are insecure and therefore elevate themselves above some one to compensate.
No one wants to be the bottom of the barrel and I think that is why we have struggled so much historically with race and class distinctions.
I try not to classify people. People are just people. Of course I am not perfect and I have caught myself thinking "I hate when people..." I am not a fan of laziness and the problems it causes in society but I have to remember that I don't know the whole story.
Again with religion, but God loves everyone equally. He does not care about our status. He is probably quite sad when we treat each other in such a manner.
Totally. I do it. I don't mean to. I think we all do to some extent.
I don't mean we walk around judging people as far as their worth the way they might have meant that in the story but I think that most of us classify. How many times have you heard the terms 'white trash' etc...
I find myself doing the classifications more since I moved out here which is something I struggle with. I see people and immediately put them into little groups of what I think they are like.. I don't think I am better than them though. I am not proud of the fact that I classify so I hope I don't offend anyone by admitting it.
I think some people in the book tried to ignore the "other folks", others had already decided that the colored folk were beneath them and disliked them and made no qualms about it,others hated them, and others looked at them as human beings just like them. I think today similar things still go on. People are different...ethnic groups, country traditions, and ways of life. I think we can look at the differences of others and hate them or look at their differences and value them as a person but chose not to be like them. We are all children of God but we are not all alike...and don't have to be.
Ok, so in my classes we talk about oppression EVERYDAY. i get a little sick of it actually. But we refer to white people thinking themselves above others as "white privilege." Because historically the white class has been "superior" we still have that same mentality today. "Anybody who is not white like me is lesser." I think that most of us when hearing that would say "not me, i don't classify non-white people as less worth than me!" But I think if we all sit down and examine ourselves, we find that we do just that. We probably dont come right out and say "i'm better than you." but it is implied in the way we classify or treat people. Anytime we tap into stereotypes or even little everyday things, we are judging and putting people on a scale of "worth" or at least how much respect we give them. This happens to me all the time, and i have to remind myself that my "white privilege is showing." I think in American we have come a long way towards trying to eliminate racism, but in many ways it is still as rampant as in Too Kill a Mockingbird, we just don't come right out and say it.
Like Callie said in one of the other posts, I think everyone thinks of our own position as being "Right" or "Normal;" we all have that frame of reference. That puts everyone into another class or group than you. It is human nature, for sure, but I think if we're also all aware that people don't have to be (& shouldn't be!) just like us in order to have our respect, and we recognize the worth in all people, that's the important thing.
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