One lesson in the book that I feel Jem learns as a part of growing up is moral courage. Atticus once told Jem that “courage is [not] a man with a gun in his hand. It 's when you know you 're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what.” Jem had always seen bravery as important and often tried to show the courage in him but only learnt about what moral courage really was through a series events that took place in the book.
Humans live in a world where moral values are very clearly set determining what is good and what is bad. We know what scares us and how racism should be treated. Nevertheless, this was not the case back in Alabama during the 1950s. In the famous novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee narrates the lives of the people of Maycomb, Alabama, focusing on the story of Scout and Jem Finch, and the case of a said to be rape. In this emotion filled narrative, readers learn how life was back then not only in general, but for the separate social statuses that there was. As the book goes on and the characters change, ethical dilemmas about fear, and racism are seen. Additionally, what the book has to say about moral values and how things are done is mentioned in this essay. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee depicts the crude reality of Ethical Dilemmas in Maycomb, Alabama during the 1950s.
To children like Jem and Scout Finch, being courageous is completing a daredevil like task to impress others; however, as they grow up they learn what true courage is as they face situations where their courage is tested. They also witness an obstacle Atticus Finch overcomes that enhances their definition of courage. In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee distinguishes foolishness from real acts of courage through the experiences of Jem, Scout, and Atticus Finch.
To Kill a Mockingbird is famous for its controversy. In fact, it has been banned from being read at many schools for its use of racial, sexual, and political content, all of these aiding the book’s “big ideas”. To Kill a Mockingbird has many themes. For example, one is about racial injustice. You would think a jury would establish their final decision based upon the facts, but in this book, the jury had already made up its mind once it heard that the case was a white man versus a black man. Tom Robinson had no chance of freedom just because his skin was of a different color than what the jury preferred even though he was innocent, as Atticus Finch proved. Tom Robinson ended up getting killed in prison, leaving his wife and children to
In To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, Jem grows from a little boy to an intelligent young man. Throughout the book, he discerns many things that shape his personality. As Jem grows, he learns how bad society is and that not everyone is perfect. Fortunately for Jem, this ends up helping him and he finds out that Atticus is a hero and that he should look up to Atticus. Through Atticus and the trial, Jem loses his innocence by learning about prejudice, bravery, and that the justice system is crippled.
A mockingbird is a harmless songbird that offers only its beautiful voice. To Kill a Mockingbird is a coming of age novel written by Harper Lee. This story took place in a small rural town called Maycomb County, in the 1930’s where everyone knew each other and all the townspeople were infected by a disease called gossip. This gossip harmed the “mockingbirds”, because all of them were “shot down” physically and metaphorically. Harper Lee implied that there were distinct characteristics that parallel mockingbirds. Arthur Radley, Tom Robinson, and Atticus Finch each represent mockingbirds in their own ways.
Which, then shows how children know right from wrong, even when most do not. Harper Lee wrote on pages 116-117, “‘The only thing we’ve got is a black man’s word against the Ewell’s...The jury couldn’t possibly be expected to take Tom Robinson’s word against the Ewells.’” To Kill A Mockingbird also states, “Jem smiled. ‘He’s not supposed to lean, Reverend, but don’t fret, we’ve won it...Don’t see how any jury could convict on what we heard-’...’Now don’t be so confident, Mr. Jem, I ain’t ever seen any jury decide in favor of a colored man over a white man,”’ on page 279 paragraphs 6-7. Harper Lee then continues on page 282 paragraphs 2-3 to write, “A jury never looks at a defendant it has convicted, and when this jury came in, not one of them looked at Tom Robinson…’Guilty...guilty...guilty...guilty.’” Then, on page 285 paragraph10 it says, “‘They’ve done it before and they did it tonight and they’ll do it again and when they do it-seems that only children weep.’” This all comes together to prove that the children, Jem especially, saw how the verdict should have been and then goes on to suggest that if the jury had been made up of kids the verdict would have been much faster and would have been right because the children would not have been blinded by public opinion. So, the irony of Jem believing Tom Robinson would be free and the belief everyone else had including Atticus that the jury would convict Tom Robinson, shows that adults have come to believe that justice no longer matters, while hypocritically teaching their children that it
Racial equality and discrimination is a founding issue that has been spread throughout every part of the world, To Kill A Mockingbird was written and published by Harper Lee in 1960, this time was dominated by civil rights protests and some of the first hippie movements following the crushing reality of the Vietnam War, the 60s also saw the struggle against segregation and racial equality. It is no surprise that the extreme political conflict affecting her life and world would greatly impact her writing and influence how she perceived the world during the writing of To Kill a Mockingbird. the influence of the fight for racial inequality is shown greatly in her book as she depicts the everyday life
Scout learns the ugly truth about how a trial really works in there time period. In particular Atticus states “In our court, when it’s a white man 's word against a black men’s the white mens always wins.”(251-252). This shows that Scout is exposed to more of how racism is ugly and unfair and Atticus makes it clear to Jem and Scout that racism exists. Scout handled the results of the trail calmer than jem (304). This shows that even though Scout knows and understands what happened and what the results of the trial was she still has a lot of things to learn because by her reaction she missed something since she don’t know what rape is. Scout has forever been changed and shaped by this event. Harper Lee has such a way of showing us how ugly people can truly
In society, there are very few people who have the unwavering dedication to stand up for what they believe. In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, a black man was convicted and accused of a crime he didn 't commit, raping a white women, which is not in anyway tolerable in society. In Harper Lee 's To Kill A Mockingbird, the author used point of view and symbolism to acknowledge how the the several social divisions which make up much of the adult world are shown to be both irrational and extremely destructive.
Life is overfilled with messages, like weeds in a sea in unmaintained grass. Whether it’s warning a person, or pointing out a flaw; these little lessons are there to further grow the positive parts of that person’s personality. A simple demonstration of this is To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. An old, children’s book serving no meaningingful purpose is what it may seem, nevertheless, it actually is a novel that offers a unique outtake on all aspects of human life. In the book, two children Jem and Scout, who learn about equality, racism, and social class through court cases, tea parties and more. The story offers many ideals, whether to improve upon something that is exist, or throw a new concept into the the air with various techniques,
Every person on this planet has the ability to make choices. People have been created with minds to convince, control, and problem solve. Similarly, other people’s influence has great power to change, persuade, and spread rumors. The novel To Kill a Mockingbird written by Harper Lee, portrays many examples of people who were persuaded and changed from his or her own mind and decisions, or the effect of someone else’s. Injustice is rampant throughout the book, in Tom Robinson’s verdict, Boo Radley’s precarious situation, and with Scout’s situation at school.
Harper Lee once wrote that “Real courage is when you know you’re licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what”. Moral courage means doing the right thing despite the risk of any consequences. Anyone can have moral courage, no matter who you are. Many authors often use different literary elements to develop themes in their writings. In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee uses the literary elements mood and imagery to teach her audience about doing the right thing or moral courage.
In chapters 17-24 in To Kill A Mockingbird, Jem and Scout observe their father in court defending Tom Robinson (a black man) from the accusations of the Bob Ewell (a "low grade ' ' white man). Bob Ewell accuses Tom Robinson of sexually assaulting his daughter; Mayella Ewell. Before the fate of Tom Robinson is given in the possession of the jury, both lawyers have a final attempt at convincing the jury that Tom Robinson should/shouldn 't be prosecuted.
“To kill a Mockingbird” is a novel in which Harper Lee, the author, presents forth various themes among them the unheard theme of social molarity. Harper dramatically uses a distinctive language through Scout, who is the narrator of the story to bring out the difficulties faced by children living in the southern Alabama town of Maycomb. Harper has dramatically displayed use of bildungsroman throughout the story; this helped to give the story a unique touch of a child’s view to bring out a different type of humor and wit. It has also used to develop and thrive the theme of morality in the society. Scout, being a child, she thinks the society is free of evil and it’s pure basically because she hasn’t been in contact with evil. Just like any other child she engages in several activities oblivious of the ramifications that follows. As a child she doesn’t understand the injustice that is enshrined the society and the glimmering racism.