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Zach Soer
Literature Capstone
Dr. VanLaningham
27 September 2016
TITLE:?
INTRO AND THESIS
You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of
view...until you climb into his skin and walk around in it. (indicte its from the book)
The Golden Rule of To Kill a Mockingbird. Of harper lees tkm Dont judge others until
you understand where they come from. There are many issues that could be solved around the
world if we all were to adopt this ideal. Unfortunately, we are a very long way from this
becoming a reality. We live in a world controlled by isms: Sexism, Racism, Capitalism and so
on. Each one of those -isms are tools of oppression, designed to keep maraginalized groups of
people pushed to the curb and ensuring that the majority succeeds in every facet. In a world
surrounded by oppression, there is little hope of escaping the vicious cycle that we call society.
Get rid of Harper Lee recognizes this and addresses it in her work, To Kill a Mockingbird and
in it, criticizes issues of race, class and gender, particularly in terms of the most marginalized
group in the story: African Americans. In that criticism, Lee empowers the African Americans
who are represented through the character of Calpurnia by having her in a liminal state
ironical through a maternal role where she has power within a white household and being a
black women in the south during the 1930s. This notion is particularity interesting given the

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social and historical context in which this book is set. Get rid of RESEARCH BLACK
MOTHERNESS/maternal-racial dynamic
SOCIAL AND HISTORICAL CONTEXT (authors background)
To Kill a Mockingbird or for the sake of this draft TKM (call it the whole thing or the
novel), is based in the 1930s in the southern United States during the Great Depression. During
this time, racial tensions are running high and not even 65 years earlier, Slavery had existed.
African Americans, during this time, had very few, if any, rights within our nation and racial
prejudices were rampant. Also during the 1930s, specifically in 1931, there was a significant
case that occurred in the south. Coined The Scottsboro Boys, this case was a prime example of
racial prejudices that occurred and still do occur in our nation. The case involved 9 African
American teenage boys who were falsely accused of raping 2 white females. The 9 youth, were
set up by white police and a majority of the teenage boys where given the death penalty for a
crime they did not commit. (Quotes from historians, how does it help to understand Calpurnias
role) This is the sort of injustice and situation that is cast in the background of TKM. Not only is
that in the background of TKM, but Harper Lees own life is used as a template to set up the
story. Lees own upbringing help to influence the story. Born in 1926 in southern Alabama
(which is where TKM is set). There are many parallels that can be drawn from her life to the
main character, Scouts life as well. Not only that but the racial prejudices that are present in the
story can also be drawn from the prejudices that were present in real life and can be depicted by
the essential conflict of the story: Atticus Finch, a white lawyer in Macomb county, takes on the
case of Tom Robinson, who has been accused of raping a white female.

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Definition of Key Terms

Define the definition of marginalized characters for literature in convo w other critics
not feminism (look at racial theory leading racial critics Henry Louis Gates Bell hooks and
race and women )For the purpose of my paper, the term(s) marginalized figures/characters etc.
refers exclusively to African Americans

. The word is going to be used in such a way as to

describe the oppression that African Americans face within the novel and within my argument. I
will also be coining the term feminism and that will also relate to African Americans within the
story and argument and relates more to the empowerment of African American women instead of
encompassing all females. The term feminism will also primarily relate to the subject of my
focus: the character of Calpurnia.
INTRO OF CHARACTERS
Calpurnia or Cal for short, is a African American women who transcends normal racial
boundaries that have been set during the time in which TKM is set. She is a free African
American women whose occupation is that of a housekeeper in Atticus Finches house. Her role
is much greater than that. She is also a surrogate mother for the Finch children and acts as such.
She disciplines the children, they mind her and her commands and she holds a lot of power in the
household.

CREATIVE AGREEMENT WITH SOURCES (Patrica Hill Collins and bell hooks)
Patrica Hill Collins, Author of Black Feminist Thought is one of the critics who I am
using in order to set the stage for my argument that Harper Lee is empowering maraginalized

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figures in TKM. Her argument is going to allow me to set up my argument and help to give
validity towards it. Collins states that
the political dimension of oppression has denied African-American women the rights
and privileges routinely extended to White male citizens (Burnham 1987; Scales-Trent
1989; Berry 1994). Forbidding Black women to vote, excluding African-Americans and
women from public office, and withholding equitable treatment in the criminal justice
system all substantiate the political subordination of Black women. (Collins 21)
Collins discusses the different ways that African American women are oppressed and how in that
oppression they are given no voice and essentially are the lowest members of society. While it is
universally known that African American women are the most maraginalized group (during the
1930s), I suggest that it is in this acknowledgement of this oppression, that Harper Lee makes
her case. Because of this oppression, the character of Calpurnia, moves from marginality to
liminality state, and that allows us to work against that political subordination. making her
transcend the normality of society and through that, is empowered and lifted from the socially
acknowledged roles that are in place during the time.
This builds on commonality Collins and I have some commonality in our arguments. Collins
describes her concept of Black Feminist Thought as a way of empowering Black women. Collins
explains:
I aim to further Black feminist thoughts contributions to empowering African-American
women. Empowerment remains an illusive construct and developing a Black feminist
politics of empowerment requires specifying the domains of power that constrain Black
women, as well as how such domination can be resisted. (Collins 36)

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Both Collins and Lee are attempting to empower the most marginalized members of society.
There can be a specific connection between these two authors as well. Both are recognizing that
oppression can be resisted. For Lee, Cals role in the white house and her ability to transport
between the black and white worlds is an example of resisting the oppression. This movement
between the white world and the African American world violates common social expectations.
Bell Hooks, author of Black Looks: Race and Representation, offers a different
perspective than Collins. She takes the perspective of how African Americans are struggling to
be represented as we move forward in society. Hooks states
If we compare the relative progress African Americans have made in education and
employment to the struggle to gain control over how we are represented, particularly in
the mass media, we see that there has been little change in the area of representation.
Opening a magazine or book, turning on the television set, watching a film, or looking at
photographs in public spaces, we are most likely to see images of black people that
reinforce and reinscribe white supremacy. (Hooks 1)

Now in the case of TKM, I would disagree with Hooks (not disagreeing but challenges. As the
book progresses, we see how African Americans are empowered especially through characters
such as Calpurnia. Hooks may make the argument, and there is a strong possibility she read the
book, that they are not empowered and the book is just another example of white supremacy,
which is a very strong argument to make, given that the stories main characters are white. But
given the time frame the story was written and the historical context of the story the way African
Americans are portrayed is in fact more empowering and more representative than really any text

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written. (Show that there are examples that complicate the idea of white supremacy and in
particular given the early 20th century)
Not only in liminal role, but maternal role as well for thesis (moving class and role, transgressing
a lot of boundaries) Look at other mothers in American lit (20th century)
1st main point cal in the white house
2nd children in the black church

Alice walker In search of our mothers gardens, civil rights stuff

Address the 1960s and the 1930s for historical context