How does an eight year old learn about the unknowns of life? In the book To Kill A Mockingbird written by Harper Lee the main character Scout is shown growing up. Scout's personality changes in many ways throughout the book.…
In the novel, to Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, Atticus is portrayed as a virtuous man with lots of integrity. Atticus always had good moral values that he wishes everyone else could have. He was also always a good parent, telling Jem and Scout about a strong sense of morality. He even told them that they couldn’t use the word “nigger” or “nigger-lover” even though everyone else does, “”Scout,” said Atticus, “nigger-lover is just one of those terms that don’t mean anything--like snot-nose. It’s hard to explain--ignorant, trashy people use it when they think somebody’s favoring Negroes over and above themselves.” (Lee 144). Atticus believes in equality for all of men so he defends African American from prejudice, and even Tom Robinson in court. This story reveals Atticus’s courage and dedication for defending Tom Robinson but Atticus demonstrates his virtue and good moral values through his quiet everyday actions and teaching his children to judge only after looking at the world through other points of view.…
The role of the setting in To Kill a Mockingbird is to set the mood or tone for the novel. In To Kill a Mockingbird the setting is Maycomb, Alabama in the early 1930s, during the years of the Great Depression. The whole story grows out of this particular background. From the description of the setting, the reader can gain a sense of what is going on and where it is occurring. Since the novel takes place during the Great Depression, readers can assume that many in the town are poor or struggling financially. Also, since the story is occurring during the early 1930s, readers can tell that segregation is still present along with racism. In the novel, the different places that Harper Lee describes, helps establish the atmosphere of that specific…
In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill A Mockingbird, Maycomb county inevitably has a specific social structure. The people of Maycomb county each have different statuses and places in society. There is a top to every social hierarchy, and starting at the top in Maycomb county are the wealthy white families. Included in this social class are the Finches. Atticus Finch is a white lawyer; therefore he makes a good income and is a highly respected figure which places him and his family in this specific social class. Many of the Finches’ neighbors who live on the same street are also in the same social class. A step below in the ‘social ladder’ is the middle class. These people are white and are the average inhabitants. For example, Heck Tate , one of the characters in…
In the novel To Kill A Mocking Bird it shows prejudice actions all threw out the book. In the novel it shows prejudice because people from the book are judging other people from the book before they even know them. They treat people differently because of where they're from, they treat people differently because of their education, and they don’t see things thru. In this essay i will give examples how they treat people different. Either about where their from, their education, or not seeing things thru . The ways the novel shows prejudice is that they treat people differently because where they're from, they treat people differently because of their education, they treat a place differently because they think that it's not important. I think…
As most people have read the novel “To Kill A Mockingbird” by Harper Lee, many have wondered, what contributes most to the story’s themes? Well, throughout the novel, there are three main literary elements that come into play. In the passage “‘It ain’t right, Atticus…”’(pg.284) to “I looked up, and his face was vehement”(pg.296), Harper Lee uses the literary element character, setting, and tone to develop the theme that recognizing perspectives contributes to coming of age. As many other themes in the novel, the theme will show a change in how Jem starts to view the world, and the major roles included in it, such as racism. But his perspective comes mostly from the kind of character he is.…
Scout overhears Atticus saying “I hope and pray I can get Jem and Scout through it without bitterness...without catching Maycomb’s usual disease. Why reasonable people go stark raving mad when anything involving a Negro comes up…”(117). The “usual disease” is that Maycomb residence are extremely racist and prejudiced towards negroes. He knows that even if he had all of the evidence in the world, Maycomb would not side with a black man. Atticus only hopes that his children will not turn out like this, and that they will think about others and not be full of prejudice, unlike the town that they live in. He even says that the reasonable people go mad when a negro is involved/ Another example is when Scout overheard people talking about the case. After hearing them talk about knowing that Atticus was appointed to the job, she thought “But did this explain the town’s attitude? The court appointed Atticus to defend him. Atticus aimed to defend him. That’s what they didn’t like about it.” (218). This quote means that the people of Maycomb do not think about the situations of others. Atticus did not volunteer for the position of Tom’s lawyer, but was appointed to it. Despite this, he is treated horribly by the once reasonable people of Maycomb. They look past his situation and just think about him defending a black man, which is doing his job. Atticus is a…
Prejudice and intolerance towards people because they are of a different race has been notorious in America since the early 1900’s. In Harper Lee’s “ To Kill a Mockingbird”, in a town called Maycomb, intolerance is superabundant against black people and any affiliation with them. In the story Tom Robinson is being indicted of rape and Atticus Finch steps up to defend him. With this situation lingering in Maycomb,of course the town’s people express the intolerance they have towards an innocent black man and a white man helping him. Of course, when it’s revealed that Atticus is going to defend Tom for the rape of Mayella Ewell, the townspeople become infuriated.…
I believe in judging someone by their actions and character rather than by the color of their skin and sexuality. This I believe because there is good and bad in all of us. The color of our skin does not depict the flaws we have. In the second amendment it states that all men are created equal, but we still do not treat each other equally. Defending Tom Robinson was not easy because I knew that from the minute Mayella opened her mouth Tom was a dead man. But everyone including a black man deserves a second chance. How could I ever tell my own children “You never really understand a person until you consider things from their point of view - until you climb into his skin and walk around in it” if I didn’t pick up Tom’s case because I was afraid of what people would think of me. When people say things about me like “Atticus Finch is the same in his house as he is on the public streets” why would I prove them wrong? You are only as good as you portray yourself to be. But when you are a black man in the town of Maycomb, Alabama you were never dealt the good hand to begin with. Sadly Tom never got a second chance. Tom was a good man but because of the color of his skin he was not treated as fairly as the rest of us.…
“The opposite for courage is not cowardice, it is conformity. Even a dead fish can go with the flow.” - Jim Hightower. Lack of originality has been a problem for a very long time. It is shown in movies, television programs, books, history, and present day.…
Jodi Picoult said, “Kids think with their brains cracked wide open; becoming an adult, I've decided, is only a slow sewing shut.” In the town of Maycomb, Alabama, in the middle of the Great Depression, six-year-old Scout Finch lives with her older brother Jem, and her father Atticus who is a lawyer. One year a boy named Dill spends the summer with his aunt. The three children become friends and soon become obsessed with a nearby house. The next year, Atticus is appointed by the court to defend a black man, Tom Robinson, who is accused of raping Mayella Ewell, the daughter of a poor, notoriously vicious white man named Bob Ewell. Atticus presents a powerful defense of Tom and makes it clear that Ewell is lying. Jem is convinced Atticus will win the case, but the all-white jury still convicts Tom. Jem…
In Harper Lees’, To Kill A Mockingbird, the community of Maycomb County is full of varied religious perspectives. Lee uses religion as framework for everything that happens in the community with examples that are both harmonious and conflicting. In doing so, religion has both a positive and negative impact. On one hand it can be interpreted as happiness, unity and charitable goodwill. On the other, it can be seen as the cause of hatred, violence and segregation. Atticus sets the moral standard for the town of Maycomb in a positive way. He shows conviction in doing what is right in the eyes of God, and stands up for what he believes in. He explains his reasons to defend Tom Robison to Scout with a religious message saying, “This case,…
This exemplifies, the townsfolk racist opinions and thoughts on the trial and the backlash he faces as well. After this occurs, Scout tells Atticus about this and asks “Do you defend n******, Atticus replies; Of course I do, don’t say n***** Scout that's common”(Lee 105) Common meaning ignorant. This shows, that Atticus is not racist, simply due to the fact that he is willing to withstand the backlash received from the racist townsfolk and defend Tom Robinson because through his indiscriminate eyes, Atticus feels he’s innocent enough to defend him.…
Aunt Alexandra is definitely a control freak and she wants things to go her way and the Finchs’ movements to be under her control. As stated in the book, she thinks that Scout should be ladylike and proper. Are these lessons of conformity she is teaching correct or was this just the way she was raised and, acting like her snobby self, thinks her niece and nephew should act too?…
As an illustration, in the text on page 83, it states, “He’s nothin’ but a n****r lover”, says Scout’s cousin- Francis- when he begins insulting Atticus for taking the case of Tom Robinson- a Black man accused of rape. Francis’s use of the n-word leads us to conclude that the use of derogatory language in Maycomb is heavily normalized because the fact that children- like Francis- openly use this type of language, it shows us that the community and adults he lives with use these words enough that the children begin to think it’s okay to use disrespectful language towards others. To further demonstrate this idea, another example of the Finch family being intolerant to African-Americans appears when Scout’s aunt, Alexandra, does not allow her and Jem to go with Calpurnia to her church. “You may not” (136).In making this comment, we can infer that Aunt Alexandra does not want her family being associated with African-Americans. Aunt Alexandra’s comment may be suggesting that because white people treat black people in such unfriendly ways, & because they would often link black people with being mannerless & uneducated, two things that Aunt Alexandra despises, many families would avoid interacting with black people because they feared that it would bring dishonor to their family…