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To Kill A Mockingbird: Its Relation To American History

To Kill a Mockingbird: Its relation to American History

The Finch family was a lot like three important people in American history; for the reasons of being brought up with values, conquering fear, and for influencing people around them.
Some say Franklin D. Roosevelt was one of the best presidents this country has ever known. He was honorable, virtuous, and above all, courageous. He contracted polio in 1921which might have ended his dream of reelection, but his strong will helped him through recovery (millercenter.org, pg 1). At one point his wife said, “I know that he had real fear when he was first taken ill, but he learned to surmount it. After that I never heard him say he was afraid of anything” (millercenter.org, pg.1).   In the very first chapter of To Kill a Mockingbird, the book opened up with the following statement, “When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow. When it healed, and Jem’s fears of never being able to play football again were assuaged, he was seldom self-conscious about his injury” (Harper Lee, pg. 1). Like the great president, Jem got through a physical obstacle which allowed him to overcome fear. After all, they had “nothing to fear but fear itself” (Franklin D. Roosevelt).
About twelve years after the death of FDR, Eisenhower, then, the current president of the United States, tried to desegregate schools across the nation. This especially affected the town of Little Rock, Arkansas. Nine African American students were to attend Central High School. Mobs of white students prevented them from even entering. Arkansas National Guard troops were sent to calm crowds but fear among the black students stopped them from trying to go to school. One soldier reassured a mother by telling to let her daughter go to school with the promise of protection (Nichols, pg. 51). On September 25, “30 soldiers accompanied the nine students up the wide steps into the school” (Nichols, pg. 51). Eisenhower accomplished...