To Kill A Mockingbird Close Reading Analysis

Option 2 Literary Analysis 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

In chapter 6, Jem, Dill, and Scout go over to the Radley house on Dill’s last night to try and see Boo Radley through a window. Instead, they see a shadowy figure in the yard and a gunshot goes off, scaring them and forcing them to run away from the property. While they are running away, Jem loses his pants and leaves them behind. Once they get back home, they join the group outside huddled near the Radley house. Jem is questioned about where his pants are and responds with how he lost them in a game of strip poker.

Atticus states that “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.” How is this idea explored in Chapters 2 and 3? Atticus makes a statement which resonates through a vast majority of the novel. It can be clearly represented in chapters 2 and 3, when Scout first goes to school and Walter Cunningham comes to dinner with the Finches. Scout shows a lack of understanding for some characters, as does her teacher, Miss Caroline.

Harper Lee’s book, “To Kill A Mockingbird” portrays Scout (Jean Louis) Finch as a tomboy who prefers attacking opponents, over using her mental acumen. However, several instances in the book show her gradually flourishing into a mature young lady. Scout displays acts of courage and empathy as will be delineated in this essay. It is said that courage is the ability to do something that frightens one.

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. Tim Johnson is a marvelous dog that brings joy to the town of Maycomb, but Atticus kills Tim.

To Kill a Mockingbird On a rainy day, a man at the bus stop asks for change. The two choices are walking past him avoiding eye contact, or giving him the change with a smile. Before even talking to this man, one may have already made the assumption that he is homeless or a drug addict wanting to buy his next high. But assumptions cannot accurately explain who he is or why he needs money.

“Boo was our neighbor. He gave us two soap dolls, a broken watch and chain, a pair of good-luck pennies, and our lives. But neighbors give in return. We never put back into the tree what we took out of it: we had given him nothing, and it made me sad” (Lee 373). To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is a story about the sleepy town of Maycomb.

Boo has helped Scout change her viewpoint from thinking that he’s a scary person who always stays inside to finding out that he actually cares about her and chooses to live inside because he prefers to stay where he can observe what’s going on in the town and protect people when needed, which helps teach Scout that you can’t assume things without knowing the facts. Scout starts out believing that Boo is a mean person who is out to her her and she quickly learns that Boo’s intentions aren’t to hurt her, but rather help her when she needs it most. For example, in the beginning of the book Scout was scared of Boo Radley and the Radley house as shown, “I ran by the Radley house as fast as I could, not stopping till I reached our porch”(Lee 44).

Atticus Finch, is a respected lawyer and single father of Scout and Jem. He is a well educated man, and is admires by his children and people from Macomb because of who inspirational and brave he was. He has great qualities and educates his children with moral advices they can take with them. Atticus was inspired by many from his actions and great quotes he showed throughout the novel. For example when Scout came home in a bad mood, she and Atticus were having a conversation on what happened in school .

Jean Louise Finch, or Scout, is portrayed throughout the novel as a young, immature girl who loves her father and her not too much older brother (Shackelford 115). Even with her immature side, Scout faces experiences to force adolescent years upon her to understand what is taking place around her. The story is shown through the little girls eyes as a protagonist. During the beginning of the novel, Scout has no experience with the evils of the world. The exceedingly limited viewpoints she has are from occurrences she gathered at home from her family (Roden 2597).

To Kill A Mockingbird: Realities can be Masked by Rumors In the novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, one of the major themes resides in the fact that while people come and go, rumors last forever. Dill, one of the characters in this novel, has a sudden and profound realization which embodies this idea: "I think I'm beginning to understand something. I think I'm beginning to understand why Boo Radley's stayed shut up in the house all this time... It's because he wants to stay inside" (227).

Character & Blended Quote w/ page number Context/Situation Significance As Calpurnia tries to have Scout justify her assumptions, when it comes to looking at things from someone else’s perspective “There’s some folks who don’t eat like us, “she whispered fiercely, “but you ain’t called on to contradict ‘em at the table when they don’t. […] “Yo’ folks might be better’n the Cunninghams but it don’t count for nothin’ the way you disgracin’ ‘em”. (32) Calpurnia tries getting Scout to look at a situation from someone else’s perspective, to learn to justify their actions.

In the novel to To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee has shows us how Scout how matures throughout the novel by giving events that has happened in the book and shows a specific detail on how it impact her to be mature An idea come from the novel To Kill A Mockingbird in the chapters it provide us that Scout also matures from the time she spends with the people who live around her and with talk with her. At the end of novel she has lost much of her innocence due mostly to the events surrounding her. In my opinion the event that had a big impact on Scout was the court that took place it has changed Scout because she learns about prejudice and intolerance when she witnesses the trial of