“To Kill a Mockingbird” written by Harper Lee is an award winning novel published in the 1960’s it explores the main theme of racial differences in the early 1930’s and the many struggles, acceptance challenges and problems that black people faced during this time period. Set in the country town of Maycomb County, Southern Alabama it follows the story of a family, a lawyer named Atticus Finch and his two children Scout and Jem. As the two children, Scout and Jem grow up their father teaches them life lessons which in that time and in their community were said to be different and unlike everyones else’s ideas which were therefore redeemed as un normal. Proceeding through the story it uncovers the harsh ways of growing up and being introduced
To Kill a Mockingbird Essay Harper Lee’s Book To Kill a Mockingbird has had a lot of controversies over the years. This is because of the many different themes it covers in the book. The novel is narrated by a little girl named Jean Louise Finch, also known as Scout. Scout is driven, mature, and wise for her age. There is a lot of changes that happen throughout the book for the community and also the children in the book because of what their father is doing.
This was really important during this time because of all the racism and judgment going on. Scouts intelligence, innocence, and friendliness shaped her view of the events in To Kill a Mockingbird. Just because someone is intelligent doesn’t mean that they will always be respected. Scout was often put down for her intelligence.
For African-American men and women, being innocent is often not an option. This is exactly the situation Tom Robinson is put into in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, set in the 1930s in Maycomb, Alabama. This story is about an African American man named Tom Robinson who is being accused of raping a white female named Mayella Ewell. Mayella is a member of one of the trashiest families in Maycomb but still has higher social standing than Tom. This shows that racial injustice during this time was extreme.
To Kill a Mockingbird is a story about a young white, inquisitive girl, Scout Finch, and her family, who live in the quaint town of Maycomb, Alabama. This story takes place in the early 1930’s, the years of the Great Depression and Jim crow era when poverty and unemployment were spread through the United States. Scout learns about the racist world she lives in when her dad, a lawyer, defends Tom Robinson, an innocent, black man, who was charged with the rape of a white woman, Mayella Ewell. Although Harper Lee, the arthur of To Kill a Mockingbird, intended Atticus to be the hero of the novel, the true hero is Tom Robinson because he was victim to the antagonist of racism during the Jim Crow era. Harper Lee intended Atticus to be the hero
To Kill a Mockingbird is a story that takes place during the Great Depression in a small town located in southern Georgia in the 1930s. The book focuses on Jean Louise “Scout” and Jeremy Atticus “Jem” and their coming of age and the major events that made the two grow up. One of the events was the trial of the Mockingbird, Tom Robinson, in which their father, Atticus Finch, was defending Tom, a man of color. Mockingbirds are used throughout the book to represent people that were harmed by the society even though they were innocent. There is a common misinterpretation of the meaning behind the Mockingbird leading many to believe that Scout is the Mockingbird in the story.
In the novel, ‘To kill a mockingbird, Harper Lee demonstrates the small, imaginary town, the Maycomb County, as a place where racism and social inequality happens in the background of 1930s America. Not only the segregation between whites and blacks, but also the poor lived in a harsh state of living. As Scout, the young narrator, tells the story, Lee introduces and highlights the effects of racism and social inequality on the citizens of Maycomb County by using various characters such as Boo Radley, Tom Robinson, and Mayella Ewell. Firstly, Harper Lee portrays Boo Radley as a victim of social inequality through adjectives and metaphor in the phrase, “There was a long jagged scar that ran across his face; what teeth he had were yellow and rotten;” ‘Long jagged scar that ran across his face’ tells us that Boo Radley has stereotype about his appearance, which forces to imagine Boo as a scary and threatening person. The phrase, ‘yellow and rotten’ make the readers think as if Boo Radley is poor and low in a social hierarchy, as he cannot afford to brush his teeth.
Working Title In her novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee exemplifies the theme of racism and how it impaired and blemished the citizens of Maycomb County. One figure that Lee uses to represent racism is the “mad dog,” Tim Johnson. When Tim went out of control and became absurd and perilous to Maycomb County, every character in the novel knew that something had to be done about it. Like Tim, racism can and will eventually get out of control.
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, is a story about inequality, injustice and racism seen through the eyes of two innocent children, Jem and Scout. Jem and Scout live in Maycomb, Alabama and learn these sad lessons through their relationships with their father Atticus, their maid Calpurnia, their mysterious neighbor Boo Radley, and Tom Robinson, a black man who is accused of a terrible crime. Through their relationship with Boo and Tom, Jem and Scout learn about racism and inequality that changes how they see the world. Boo Radley and Tom Robinson are two different people who share similar struggles with inequality throughout this story. Boo and Tom experience a form of racism and discrimination.
In To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee teaches us about the town of Maycomb County during the late 1930s, where the characters live in isolation and victimization. Through the perspective of a young Jean Louise “Scout” Finch, readers will witness the prejudice that Maycomb produces during times where people face judgement through age, gender, skin colour, and class, their whole lives. Different types of prejudice are present throughout the story and each contribute to how events play out in the small town of Maycomb. Consequently, socially disabling the people who fall victim from living their life comfortably in peace. Boo Radley and his isolation from Maycomb County, the racial aspects of Tom Robinson, and the decision Atticus Finch makes as a lawyer, to defend a black man has all made them fall in the hands of Maycomb’s prejudice ways.
Scout’s father, Atticus Finch, must defend the man in court and from the town that wants to outright kill him. I believe that the book is very important because it talks about how the man is facing unfair discrimination because of his race and how the people of the town need to listen to his side of the story. The book is considered one of the most popular and taught American written book of all time and has been apart of many school curriculums because of it’s important themes (“Grimes, William,” 2016). Recently, however, many parents are trying to pull the book from school reading lists because of the material it
Think back to when you were little kid around 7 or so and you had no worries about life or anything. All you would think about is candy and toys and nothing about the world of adults. No worries of the weather or what the grown ups would talk about. Scout’s childhood innocence takes a turn from her care free days to the real world of racism and bad people. In To Kill a Mockingbird Scout witnesses the trial of Tom Robinson and how racism is taught to her unknowingly from it.
To Kill A Mockingbird Behind every great story there is the coexistence of good and evil that is materialized into the essence of themes. These resulting themes are scattered throughout Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. The novel revolves around the Finch siblings, Jem and Scout, as they grow up in the southern 1930s and start to discover the truth about their society with their father who is also a talented lawyer, Atticus Finch, and the people of Maycomb County. Atticus faces the dilemma of sticking to his virtues by defending Tom Robinson, a black man wrongly accused of raping a white woman: Mayella Ewell.
One of the main themes of the novel is Racism. During the time of depression, racism and poverty were a common issue. People with a dark skin tone, i.e the African- Americans were seen as derogatory and treated like dirt. Harper Lee depicts it in a very realistic way.
26. Jem and Scout are facing many social consequences because Atticus is representing Tom Robinson. Other children at school and sometimes even their own neighbors are calling their father offensive names and speaking poorly of him. As a result, Jem and Scout sometimes go to extreme lengths to defend Atticus and his name. Scout got into multiple fights with her classmates because they taunted her father, which allows the readers to assume that Scout does not react to the taunting and teasing really well.