To Kill A Mockingbird Lit Analysis
To Kill a Mockingbird Lit-Analysis
The Celtic civilizations were hardy, to say the least. Withstanding the strength of Rome, they lived in some of the harshest environments in Europe, and managing to somehow prosper at the same time. As with any civilization, they told myths to explain natural phenomena, like storms and the seasons. One of the more recognizable Celtic god is Lugh, who originated in Ireland, and the Outer Hebride islands, off the coast of Scotland. Lugh is said to have hosted a contest on Ireland, and anyone who had the mettle to go up against a god could join. However, Lugh did not anticipate that Belor, the king of a race of giants known as Fomorians would accept the challenge. Through trial after trial, taxing events that
involved great feats of physical strength and mental acuity, Belor emerged victorious, and was offered by Lugh a place in the throne room of the gods. However, Lugh’s father Dagda held a deep disdain for all Fomorians, and refused to allow Belor access to his realm. Long story short, after much argument and a fist fight with his son, Dagda allowed Belor to enter his realm, a mere 200 years later. By this point, Belor was a tired, grizzled giant, and wanted nothing more than the comforts of the Irish countryside. He had grown up, and realized the reality of the hate Dagda held for him.
At some point, we all grow up, like Belor, both physically and mentally. The changes that occur within our bodies, and more importantly, our psyche, are products of the conditions in which an individual was raised. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, one can, through characterization, of raising a child in the pre-Civil Rights south, and the loss of innocence that being raised in this type of environment can incur.
Most people tend to think that, by the time an individual is an adult, they have no innocence left to lose. However, once in awhile, a character like Arthur “Boo” Radley comes along to break that preconception. When Jem, the main character Scout's’ older brother discovers a knothole in a tree, the soon find that someone is leaving gifts for them inside. Naturally, checking the knothole after school becomes a regular and exciting occurrence in their day. That is until Jem discovers the knothole is filled with cement. Upset, he asks Boos’ brother, Nathan about it, to which he replies “The tree’s dying. When they’re sick, you plug ‘em with cement. You ought’a know that, Jem.” (Lee 83) In cementing the tree, Nathan Radley essentially cuts off the children’s connection to Boo Radley, and their child-like wonder as to the gifts inside the knothole, as well a Boo’s one and only link to the outside world.
Boo’s misfortune, however, is not the first example of a murdered childhood in the novel, as Scout’s first day of school is her first “lesson” on the real world. As Scout states, she “never looked forward more to anything in [her] life” than her first day of school (Lee 20). However, the teacher, (who is new in town,) is inconsiderate of Scout, and even claims that “ your father does not know how to teach” upon learning that Atticus has instructed Scout in the art of reading. The failure of school to live up to her expectations, in addition to hear Atticus, (whom she looks up to as the epitome of parenthood,) belittled disrupts her “fantasy world” that children so often live in.
The Celtic civilizations were hardy, to say the least. Withstanding the strength of Rome, they lived in some of the harshest environments in Europe, and managing to somehow prosper at the same time. As with any civilization, they told myths to explain natural phenomena, like storms and the seasons. One of the more recognizable Celtic god is Lugh, who originated in Ireland, and the Outer Hebride islands, off the coast of Scotland. Lugh is said to have hosted a contest on Ireland, and anyone who had the mettle to go up against a god could join. However, Lugh did not anticipate that Belor, the king of a race of giants known as Fomorians would accept the challenge. Through trial after trial, taxing events that
involved great feats of physical strength and mental acuity, Belor emerged victorious, and was offered by Lugh a place in the throne room of the gods. However, Lugh’s father Dagda held a deep disdain for all Fomorians, and refused to allow Belor access to his realm. Long story short, after much argument and a fist fight with his son, Dagda allowed Belor to enter his realm, a mere 200 years later. By this point, Belor was a tired, grizzled giant, and wanted nothing more than the comforts of the Irish countryside. He had grown up, and realized the reality of the hate Dagda held for him.
At some point, we all grow up, like Belor, both physically and mentally. The changes that occur within our bodies, and more importantly, our psyche, are products of the conditions in which an individual was raised. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, one can, through characterization, of raising a child in the pre-Civil Rights south, and the loss of innocence that being raised in this type of environment can incur.
Most people tend to think that, by the time an individual is an adult, they have no innocence left to lose. However, once in awhile, a character like Arthur “Boo” Radley comes along to break that preconception. When Jem, the main character Scout's’ older brother discovers a knothole in a tree, the soon find that someone is leaving gifts for them inside. Naturally, checking the knothole after school becomes a regular and exciting occurrence in their day. That is until Jem discovers the knothole is filled with cement. Upset, he asks Boos’ brother, Nathan about it, to which he replies “The tree’s dying. When they’re sick, you plug ‘em with cement. You ought’a know that, Jem.” (Lee 83) In cementing the tree, Nathan Radley essentially cuts off the children’s connection to Boo Radley, and their child-like wonder as to the gifts inside the knothole, as well a Boo’s one and only link to the outside world.
Boo’s misfortune, however, is not the first example of a murdered childhood in the novel, as Scout’s first day of school is her first “lesson” on the real world. As Scout states, she “never looked forward more to anything in [her] life” than her first day of school (Lee 20). However, the teacher, (who is new in town,) is inconsiderate of Scout, and even claims that “ your father does not know how to teach” upon learning that Atticus has instructed Scout in the art of reading. The failure of school to live up to her expectations, in addition to hear Atticus, (whom she looks up to as the epitome of parenthood,) belittled disrupts her “fantasy world” that children so often live in.