Harper Lee’s novel To Kill A Mockingbird and Eugenia Coolliers short story “Marigolds” evoke the most empathy by showing the growth of morals like empathy and compassion in the characters. The dynamic characters are used to emphasize how a person can change while symbolism is used to show a deeper meaning in an object both are used by the authors to evoke empathy. To Kill A Mockingbird, a novel published in 1960 about innocence, compassion and hatred. A story about children living in a racist time period trying to get through living there childhood without being influenced by the bad customs. “Marigolds” by Eugenia Cooliers is a short story also written in the 1960’s about a learning compassion and turning into a woman. Lee and Cooliers both inform the reader about the kindness towards humanity that was formed in Scout and Lizabeth. Both authors use a similar style of writing to evoke empathy in the reader.
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.
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?
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
I can tell To Kill A Mockingbird takes place during the 1930’s because of the allusions made in it. In the book, they also use words that we do not normally use in our average daily vocabulary; Some examples would be on page 36 when they use words such as “fer”, “reckon”, and “ain’t”. Back in the twentieth century, they used multiple words that we do not use as much nowadays. Furthermore, I can tell the book takes place during the 1930’s is because of an allusion made on page 46 when Jem refers to Indian-heads. Indian-heads were pennies before the Lincoln penny came about. In addition, on page 53 Scout refers to One Man’s Family. One Man’s Family was a soap opera, which began in 1932 and lasted for many years later. Furthermore, back in the
In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee the term mockingbird symbolizes innocence in a person. In the novel it focuses on the fact that innocence, represented by the mockingbird, can be wrongfully harmed. There are two characters: Tom Robinson and Arthur “Boo” Radley that are supposed to represent the mockingbird. In the novel, Tom Robinson is the best example of a mockingbird because he is prosecuted for a crime he did not commit. Also, he was judged unfairly based on the color of his skin in his trial. Although some may believe Boo is a better choice for a mockingbird, there is a greater amount of evidence that supports Tom is a mockingbird.
The root of any discrimination is dehumanization, no large group of people can sincerely hate or cause pain to a group of people based off of race, color, sexuality, gender, religion or any other separating factor without dehumanizing them. Every single time in history where people in power have taken advantage of a specific group of people, they have had to dehumanize them. There is no debate about that. Harper Lee not only uses To Kill a Mockingbird as a direct protest against the Jim Crow Laws, but she also protests the reason people allowed themselves to sleep at night.
In the book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, there are many similarities between the narrator, Scout, and the author, Harper Lee. For instance, both grew up in the time of the great depression with little money to do extra things; therefore, they relied on their imaginations to entertain them for hours (Haggerty) . Comparatively, both were tomboys in their youths and grew up in small towns where girls were expected to wear dresses and act like a lady. Also, both Harper Lee and Scout both grew up with their fathers being lawyers for their town and would often hear of cases that they worked on (“Harper Lee”) . Similarly, when writing her book a “mad dog warning” was released, no doubt giving the idea for the episode of the mad dog Tim Robinson.
Atticus Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird famously said in his closing arguments: "You know the truth, and the truth is this: some Negroes lie, some Negroes are immoral, some negro men are not to be trusted around women- black or white. But this is a truth that applies to the human race and no particular race of men." (pg 232) What Atticus is trying to convey is a foreign concept to most people in Maycomb county. Atticus is trying to convey a point of equality and no prejudice in a world of social inequality which, as one can imagine, didn 't go over so well. To kill a mockingbird tells a story of a county whose morals are masked by the great depression, a county whose judgment is masked by racism and social stigma. In to kill a mockingbird,
In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the mockingbird is a metaphor for Tom Robinson. While mockingbirds are discussed in the novel as literal birds that harmlessly sing and entertain, Lee clearly uses the mockingbird to symbolize Tom Robinson. One reason that supports this idea is a Robinson is a innocent man who tried to help someone but then was convicted of rape. Another reason that supports the metaphor is Tom, the innocent songbird, was put on trial for his life and was convicted guilty. This inhuman action of murdering an innocent and harmless man who wanted to help is like the killing of a harmless songbird.both are innocent, and both murders are wrong.
Jem, a young and smart boy develops and matures through many unique situations in the novel. Jem is exposed to the harsh belief, judgement and circumstances of the court at a very young age. Following his father, Jem involves himself in the trial between Tom Robinson and Mayella Ewell yet takes Tom’s side due to his father's involvement. Jem slowly loses faith in the justice system and is faced with a loss of innocence as explained by Scout“It was Jem’s turn to cry. His face was streaked with angry tears as we made our way through the cheerful crowd. ‘It ain’t right’ he muttered” (212). Jem begins to take his anger out on Scout and uses what he deems maturity against Scout’s lack of as “He slapped me and I tried another left, but a punch in the stomach sent me sprawling on the floor” (138). Jem is a mockingbird because in his attempt to civilize situations and maturely fight for justice, he loses his
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.
To Kill a Mockingbird is a book mainly about the coexistence of good and evil. The book stresses and emphasizes on the exploration of moral nature in humans. There are many themes in this novel including courage, innocence, racism, femininity, etc. However the most prevalent theme in the book is innocence. Not just innocence in itself but the danger and harm evil poses to the innocent. You can see in the book as Jem and Scout go from a childish perspective, one that only sees good in people because they’ve never faced evil. To a more adult perspective who have confronted evil and learn to integrate it into their world.
“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.
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