We live in a society today where judging others is a regular, everyday activity. Many people may blame a significant amount of this issue on the excessive amount of technology we have access too, but this problem has been around for much longer. In the book, To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, it shows the ugliness that can come from judging others, but it also teaches two young children, Scout and Jem, to listen to others, so that you can have the opportunity to learn from them. Throughout the story many characters were able to demonstrate this lesson for the kids, but three that were true examples of it were Tom Robinson, Atticus Finch and Boo Radley. With only aiming to stand up for what they believe in and not worrying what everyone
Throughout the novel “To Kill a Mockingbird,” written by Harper Lee, the readers can see how Scout changes her view about Boo Radley. Because of their nosiness, Jem, Scout, and Dill try to drag Boo out his house and to the outside world. Their innocent actions combined with Boo’s actions changed the image of Boo, in their minds, from “a malevolent phantom” (10), a person who kills cats and eats squirrels to a neighbor they can trust, who saves them from Bob Ewell. Scout says at the end, “Boo was our neighbor” (373). The readers can see a great change in their relationship. At the beginning, the children cannot even go near Boo’s place without palpitation, but at the end, Scout is comfortable enough to walk Boo up to his front porch. Throughout the novel, Scout has changed her view of Boo after a chain of Boo’s actions toward her. As Scout grows older, she becomes wiser to understand her father’s lesson, “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view – until you climb into his skin and walk around in it ” (39). Her father says this at the beginning, but till the end, thanks to the maturity combined with Boo’s actions that help Scout to understand it. She has matured enough to realize that people should not judge other people by rumor, but give them some chances to prove themselves.
To Kill A Mockingbird portrays many types of prejudice such as sexism, lifestyle and racism. Sexism is represented through respect and roles of genders. Women were considered weak, they were expected to be elegant and ladylike. It was expected that women stay home and care for the house and children. Jem would often tease Scout for being a girl. One example is when he said, “Scout, I’m tellin’ you for the last time, shut your trap or go home- I declare to the Lord, you’re gettin’ more like a girl everyday!” (Lee 119) Another type of prejudice was lifestyle. Arthur “Boo” Radley, one of the novel’s mockingbirds was often judged for his way of life. He was brought up as a Foot Washing Baptist. This meant that all things people found pleasure in were seen as a sin. Therefore, Boo remained inside his house for years and years and was seen as the town boogie man. Also, Dolphus Raymond was a white man with many “mixed” children. He never saw race as an issue and liked spending his time with the black community. Dolphus acted as a drunk so no one would question his lifestyle and interactions with colored
Have you ever had any emotional or physical struggles in your life that sometimes made you feel as if though you were caged and unable to achieve your goal? To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee is a historical fiction novel told in the eyes of a young girl named Scout as her father, Atticus Finch , a lawyer in the 1950’s in Alabama, is burdened with the task of defending a black man, Tom Robinson, of harming a white girl, Mayella Ewell. “Caged Bird”
A cover never does a book justice. It can either be very misleading to the reader or portray a differing feeling that he or she might expect. This is thoroughly present throughout Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. Actuality differs what one sees when situations are changed, hidden, or revealed in another aspect. The full understanding of this process is found in Scout Finch’s narration of the novel when events unfold into their actual form. Things are not always what they appear to be, for reality often seems to bend around certain circumstances.
From the beginning until the end of the novel Jem learns and beings to understand many different things about his community. In Jem’s life there are two main people who he learns prejudice from: Mrs. Dubose and Boo Radley. From the beginning until the end of the novel Jem learns and begins to understand many different things about his community. In Jem’s life there are two main people who he learns prejudice from: Mrs. Dubose and Boo Radley. Jem believes every rumor about Boo Radley. He thinks Boo is just a crazy person, who only comes out at night, hunts animals and peeks through people window. Jem has certain stigmas surrounding two of the fearful figures in his life, Mrs. Dubose and Boo Radley. Jem is very naive in his young age and easily becomes swayed by rumors around Boo Radley. The rumors outline Boo Radley to be a “malevolent phantom” who hides in the shadows of their town. He is thought to stalk people through windows and cut them up with scissors. He is believed to commit heinous crimes. Through these rumors, Jem and friends try to interact with Boo. By dropping notes, sneaking around his property and
In To Kill a Mockingbird prejudice in Maycomb is terrible. There are two major people in To Kill A Mockingbird that are prejudged severely. Boo Radley and Tom Robinson are the two main people who are prejudged. There is also one other man who prejudged, Atticus Finch. All three of these men are mockingbirds. Mockingbirds never bring harm to anybody. Tom Robinson, Boo Radley, and Atticus Finch resemble mockingbirds because they never bring harm to anybody.
Social prejudice is shown throughout Harper Lee’s award winning book, To Kill a Mockingbird. Harper Lee powerfully analyses the theme social prejudice, and its effect on people. Such as how the
Rumors. Actions. Looks. All of these are reasons why we judge one being, to think that only three factors decide how others view you. You don’t just see this type of judging in reality but in To Kill a MockingBird. For example when Tom is in court people assume that he is guilty because he is black, you also see judgment by rumor when Scout is told that Boo Radley eats animals at night. Readers see these types of judgement all throughout the novel, displayed in subplots. Often in society we judge before thinking about the topic however, Author Harper Lee uses subplots in her novel To Kill a Mockingbird to show how people empathize before judging others or creating opinions over topics so, society can learn how to empathize in their everyday lives before making their opinion on topics.
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 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
Even in a society that, overall, is diverse, people with similar ideas and experiences tend to congregate in small groups, where they are comfortable. It is much easier to remain in homogenous groups, among those who understand each other. When different groups combine, many different life experiences and points of view will be present and will potentially clash. Misunderstanding is bound to occur in some form when individuals of different backgrounds interact. When misunderstandings occur, people tend to respond with violence, fear, or stereotyping.
Firstly, Harper Lee portrays Boo Radley as a victim of prejudice through strong adjectives. The appearance that children imagined Boo Radley was like an inhumane monster. The phrase, ‘Long jagged scar that ran across his face’ incites a threatening and violent image of Boo Radley to the reader. The adjectives, ‘yellow and rotten’, also make the readers think as if Boo Radley is poor and low in a social hierarchy. Although Jem, who created this monstrous image of Boo Radley, did not exactly know how Boo actually looks like, he believes that Boo is inferior to them. Thus, Jem even did not feel guilty of ridiculing Boo. This
If not for the major characters, the minor characters have played an equally important role in Maycomb with their contrasting views. The novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is mainly about Jem and Scout growing up under the difficult situations created in Alabama during The Great Depression. Stereotypes and discrimination are major problems in Maycomb. Scout and Jem Finch are raised by Atticus, with the help of Calpurnia, their maid. In the first part of the book, Scout, Jem and Dill are fascinated by Boo Radley because of the rumors they hear about him, and they try everything to make him come out of his house. In the second part of the book, Scout and Jem find out that their father is going to help Tom Robinson, an African-American,
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is a novel set during the 1930s in a small town in Southern Alabama called Maycomb. The story is told through the narrator, Scout, a young girl who lives with her father, a lawyer, and her older brother Jem. As a child, Scout is portrayed as a stubborn and obnoxious little girl who loves to read, play with her brother Jem, and fantasize about her mysterious neighbor, Boo Radley. However, her life gets turned upside down when Scout’s father agrees to do something that is deemed unacceptable in the south; he agrees to defend Tom Robinson, a black man who is accused of raping a white girl. Instantly, Atticus and his family go from being respected and beloved by their town, to being