After viewing the film, To Kill A Mocking Bird, it was very interesting and an informative piece of work. To see how people lived in the years during the Great depression and how society was structured was enlightening. The Finch family lived a modest lifestyle, as compared to other families during that time. The movie centers on the Finch family and their day to day life. From the beginning, it was obvious that the children in the family, Scout and Jim, were very courteous toward all adults, unlike what appears to be the norm in today's society. Since the mother died during childbirth, there was no mother figure in the children's lives; therefore, their father, Atticus, raised Scout and Jim. Though only one parent raised them, they were well adjusted.
All too often when a child commits a crime or does something that disagrees with the standards of today's society, we are quick to blame it on the fact that the child was raised in a single parent home. I do acknowledge that many things have changed in our lives from the time of the Depression to the present, but I believe other factors may be involved. .
The film also shows how other people managed to make ends meet during this time. Money was hard to come by during the Depression, so people would sometimes substitute work or foods for money to pay off debts they owed. This form of payment, a bartering system, is still used to this day, but is not as prevalent as then. .
Racism is also portrayed during this time period. When Scout and Jim are shown at school, there are no black children playing in the schoolyard or attending school. Back then, schools were segregated; white children and black children did not attend school together! As matter of fact, it was not uncommon that black children did not receive any formal education due to segregation. There were schools for black children, but they were very few and quite distant making it almost impossible to attend.
