September begins and Dill leaves Maycomb to go back to the town of Meridian. Scout feels sad but is excited to go to school for the first time. She has been longing to go to school and in the past would spy on the school children through a telescope. However, on her first day of school she gets assigned to Miss Caroline Fisher who is unaware of the Maycomb customs because she is from north Alabama. Miss Caroline Fisher is not very pleasant with the children and becomes extremely upset with Scout when she learns that Atticus has taught Scout to read. She makes Scout feel guilty for having learn to read before school started. Scout complains to her older brother Jem but he tells her that Miss Caroline is just trying a new method of teaching.
“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.
Boo Radley, a character who never comes out of his house and sounds as scary as his name portrays an important theme in Harper Lee’s classic To Kill A Mockingbird. The classic is rich with themes and inspires many people to learn from these themes. One of the main themes is developed by Tim Johnson, the pet of Maycomb, Tom Robinson, a black man convicted of rape, and Boo Radley. The theme these characters are developing is that it is a sin to hurt or kill something that is not harmful.
Jem and Scout go to the school fair and play games before getting ready for the Halloween pageant. Scout dresses as a ham for the pageant but falls asleep. She winds up missing her part, and coming out on stage late. She attempts to catch up to where the other students. She is told that the crowd laughed at her and that she ruined the pageant. “but she caught me backstage, and told me I had ruined her pageant. She made me feel awful’’ (Lee 258). Scout feels so bad, that she waits until everyone is gone before leaving the school. “not even Jem could make me go through that crowd, and he consented to wait backstage with me until the audience left’’ (Lee 258). Jem and Scout walk home in the dark, Scout still wearing her ham costume. Jem
In the passage Jem and Scout walk home during the dark hours,giving Bob Ewell an opportunity to stage an attack. As Bob Ewell attacks them Boo Radley rushes in to rescue Jem and Scout. After this Scout now understands what Atticus meant it is a sin to kill a mockingbird. The killing of a mockingbird is much like killing the innocent. It is beyond a crime and worse than the most heinous atrocities. Scout recognizes the Boo Radley as the mockingbird because he doesn't bother anyone. Scout also recalls the time when Atticus said, " you never really understand a person's point of view until you climb into their skin and crawl around in it." She interprets this as something to always keep in mind and to consider through her journey to womanhood.
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is a masterful novel that dives into the life of Scout as a child. In the novel, Lee goes into much depth about Scout’s life so that the reader can always keep up with what is happening. When a book is converted into a movie, many things often change no matter what book it is. This remains true for To Kill a Mockingbird between the book and the film. The film is a wonderful work but there were still many things cut out that were in the book. Overall, the film and book share many similarities but there are also many differences between the two
Suspense is what makes a book become an outstanding book. This is why Harper Lee, author of To Kill a Mockingbird, heaped suspense into the book. Interestingly, suspense is defined as a state or feeling of excited or anxious uncertainty about what may happen. Lee uses numerous literary techniques to develop suspense in the story. Two that she uses to employ suspense is cliffhangers and imagery. The author applies cliffhangers and imagery to create suspense.
Throughout To Kill A MockingBird, by Harper Lee there are many acts of courage. This is shown in Atticus Finch, Jem Finch, and Boo Radley. Atticus shows the most courage in the book but all three of these characters show true courage in some way, shape, or form. Boo Radley showed a lot of courage, but he was not in the storyline as much as Atticus. Throughout To Kill A Mockingbird, courage is defined as standing up for people and doing what’s right.
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.
How is the racial problem of the southern states of USA in the 1930s portrayed in To Kill a Mockingbird?
Harper Lee and Tate Taylor contend that those who do not fit into society are misunderstood and often have different realities. To Kill a Mockingbird is set in 1935 in Maycomb, a Southern American town where everyone attends church and socialises with people within their social hierarchy. However, the Radleys isolate themselves from Maycomb by not going to church and worshipping at home. Furthermore, the Radley’s house doors and shutters are always closed, which is “another thing alien to Maycomb’s ways.” As a result, the Radley’s do not fit into Maycomb societal standards. Boo Radley who “was not seen again for fifteen years”, is the most misunderstood person in Maycomb. His childhood mistakes marginalise him from society by a “form of intimidation Mr Radley employed to keep Boo out of sight.” To elaborate, Boo did not intend to separate himself and be perceived as a “malevolent phantom.” In truth, Boo is intensely lonely and wants to befriend the children in which he saves their lives. Similarly, in The
In Chapter 12 of Harper Lee’s, To Kill a Mockingbird, there are many events and situations in which irony is used to support the theme of the chapter. An example of this is in the very beginning of the chapter, when Scout is concerned about how distant and moody Jem is acting, and asks Atticus, “’Reckon he’s got a tapeworm?’” (Lee 153), to which Atticus replies no, and that Jem is growing. This is dramatic irony because the readers understand that Jem is acting oddly because he’s growing, but Scout doesn’t know this until she asks Atticus about it. This quote supports the theme of Chapter 12 by showing when Jem started to grow distance from Scout, getting aggravated with her and telling her to stop bothering him, and shows how the children
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.
Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, explores concepts such as social inequality, racism, morals and values, coming of age, and perspective. The story follows two children, Jem and Scout, as they experience being raised in Maycomb County, Alabama. So why did Lee choose the title: To Kill a Mockingbird?
“Courage doesn 't always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying ‘I’ll try again tomorrow’” - Mary Anne Radmacher. Through this quote one can see the advantages of real courage. One can really understand the true meaning of courage by reading the books To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. The book by Harper Lee is written by a 9 year old’s perspective named Scout. Throughout the book she discovers many mockingbirds in her society and the trouble they have to live through. This helps the reader identify many subtopics in the book like prejudice vs tolerance, compassion vs ignorance and more importantly courage vs cowardice. She deciphers the true meaning of courage vs cowardice when she meets the mystery character, Boo Radley. The book by Sherman Alexie too has similar themes and settings. It’s based on the struggles Indian’s face in America due to their race. The book uses a teenagers perspective to exhibit these struggles. This helps teenagers connect to the book as even they might have perspectives similar to of Junior’s (main character). Both the authors use similar literary devices like external conflict, internal conflict and characterization to keep the reader interested in the text. In both the texts one can see that the thematic idea conveyed is that courageous people don’t roar about their strength, but they use it to benefit the community as a whole.