...The Great Depression: A time of substantial poverty, homelessness, and unemployment (McCabe 12). The stock market crash of 1929 triggered the Great Depression, which did not come to an end until 1941 (McCabe 12). The Great Depression and other various events in the 1930’s inspired Harper Lee’s world renown novel, To Kill A Mockingbird. Three events that profoundly correspond to the novel are the Jim Crow laws, mob mentality, and the Scottsboro trials. The first influence on Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird are the Jim Crow laws. The Jim Crow laws are a set of anti-Black laws in order to keep whites on the top of the racial caste system (Pilgrim). The Jim Crow laws vary from ordering Blacks to let White motorists go first at intersections...
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...1930’s where poverty had reached an all time high after the stock market crash in 1929 (McCabe). The novel To Kill a Mockingbird takes place during this time, and faces many challenges related to The Great Depression. Harper Lee, author of To Kill a Mockingbird, used inspiration from these real-life historical events to hook into her novel. Some of these significant historical events include the Jim Crow laws, mob mentality, and the Scottsboro trials in conjunction with racism. One of the first known influence on Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird are the Jim Crow laws. The Jim Crow laws were a collection of unrelenting anti-black laws (Pilgrim). These laws weren’t just simply a set list of rules,...
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...Paragraph 1: Introduction (Introductory statement)Throughout the ages, the theme of metaphorical blindness has been evident in real life and many different works of fiction. Whether metaphorical blindness is interpreted as hubris, ignorance or naivety, it is a trait that many different characters possess which has a huge impact on many stories. (Thesis) In the book “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee, metaphorical blindness is very evident in many characters which causes many people around them to suffer, including themselves.(Outline of supporting arguments )Some of the many characters in “To Kill a Mockingbird” that show metaphorical blindness are Bob Ewell, Miss Stephanie Crawford, and Miss Caroline Fisher. Paragraph Two: Argument...
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...Entry 2 I’ve now read about 70 % of ”To Kill a Mockingbird, all the way to the end of the 21st chapter. One particular event, the Tom Robinson case where he gets falsely accused of rape, reminded me of one of my own experiences. I was in the fourth grade and we were playing on the playground when a teacher suddenly called me in and accused me of kicking a ball at a girl. I was of course innocent but since the teacher was a relative to the girl, I got detention! My case was obviously not as serious and didn’t involve rape, but the fact that an innocent man gets punished of something he didn’t do is bad enough to me. The main plot of the book reminded me of a movie I saw a couple of years ago, called ”A Time to Kill”. The movie is based on John Grisham’s debut novel with the same name and stars famous actors like Samuel L. Jackson, Sandra Bullock and Matthew McConaughey. The title isn’t the only thing similar to Harper Lee’s novel. The plot is really similar to the trial in ”To Kill a Mockingbird”, where a white lawyer defends a black man and gets treated badly just because his client is black. For example, Atticus gets called nigger-lover by several villagers just because he defends a black man. Jake, the defendant lawyer in the movie, is...
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...To Kill a Mockingbird was a great and unique novel about two children that were the main character and this essay is to explain why the point of view and the characters of To Kill a Mockingbird would affect the plot and overall structure of the novel. The point of view affects the characters in To Kill a Mockingbird because the characters are all different, they are of all ages, and the people of Maycomb all have different aspects of the Tom Robinson case. These two literary terms really effect the novel and the plot of the whole story especially because of how a lot of the people of Maycomb are intriguingly different. Children in the novel and adults are of all ages and that would really effect the plot of the novel. Many reasons would effect the novel and it could’ve had many outcomes but the people of Maycomb’s aspects on the Tom Robinson case was a big one....
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..."To kill a mockingbird is to destroy innocence". In Harper Lee's novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout narrates the story in first person point of view. The novel shows how growing up in times of depression, racism, and poverty can change an individual or even a society. The story takes places in Maycomb County. The time is set in the early 1930s where poverty and racism plays a major roll in the United States. The tone of the story is very serious and shows the reader a piece of reality. The mood is very sympathetic but the reader may also feel humor from Dill, Scout, and Jim, three of the main characters. The setting plays a major roll in the plot because the racism during that time contributes to the conflicting opinions of...
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...So done With This SHit During the 1930s, also know as the Great Depression, poverty and racial segregation are issues. Many cities in the South, in the 1930s, are reluctant to give up old beliefs of prejudice. Harper Lee shows prejudice in her book To Kill a Mockingbird set during the Great Depression. To Kill a Mockingbird follows the narrator, Scout, who is a girl learning about how the South works. Scout learns that prejudice is very present in her everyday life. Lee uses the actions of others to illuminate the issues of prejudice against the Cunninghams, Atticus Finch, and Dolphus Raymond. Prejudice is evident in the book through how people treat the Cunninghams. During the novel the Cunninghams are told to be a poor family who are considered “trash” by the townspeople. Those who believe...
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...Analysis of “To kill a mockingbird” Saryuna Rinchino, gr. 02193 The story under analysis is an extract from a novel “To kill a mockingbird”. The book was written by Harper Lee in 1960. Harper Lee was born in 1926 in the state of Alabama. In 1945-1949 she studied law at the University of Alabama. “To kill a mockingbird” is her first novel and after being published it was highly acclaimed and even was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1961, one of the most important awards in literature. The book became an international bestseller and was adapted into screen in 1962. The events of the novel “To kill a mockingbird” take place during a difficult time in the South. At that time black people were treated as people of lower level than white ones. Racial Discrimination was running high in the South as a whole, especially in Alabama. Many details of “To kill a mockingbird”are apparently autobiographical but Harper Lee insisted that the novel is fully a work of fiction. The events of the extract take place in the court of Maycomb County. Two small children secretly came to the trial and was sitting there the whole trial. A Negro, Tom Robison by name, was falsely accused in rapping a white woman. But Atticus, a defender and the two children’s father, was absolutely sure in his innocence and tried to give all necessary facts to persuade the jury. Actually it was the white woman’s father, Bob Ewell, who had bitten her as he had seen her kissing Tom Robinson. And also it was Mayella Ewell who...
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...An example pulled from “To Kill a Mockingbird” being when Tom Robinson (a colored man) is wrongfully accused of raping and assaulting Mayella Ewell. Even after the jury and crowd was provided enough evidence to prove Tom innocent, the jury still found him to be guilty under a bias. The white crowd also found this conscientious joyous. Today this bias is still often seen. Even in the smallest slurs or in our stereotypes presented to colored...
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...versus reality is a common mistake in society. When applied in everyday life the two words are often placed improperly. When this mistake is compared to the trial held in To Kill A Mockingbird, the reader finds this to be an archetype of the common misunderstanding. In To Kill A Mockingbird, a trial is held to find the verdict of Mayella’s case, Mayella lacks family support and a social life, and Tom Robinson is found guilty as Mayella’s raper. The verdict is true to the jury, but in reality Tom Robinson is an innocent man. A trial is held to find the person who took advantage of Mayella and caused her injuries. Both sides of the story completely contradict each other, but both sound truthful. Bob Ewell, Mayella’s father, makes his confession which essentially states that he found Tom Robinson beating on Mayella when he arrived at his home. On the other hand Atticus, Toms defense attorney, states that Tom was requested to do a chore for her and ended up being kissed by her. Atticus also adds that when...
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...Atticus. Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird takes place during 1930’s, a period known as the Great Depression. Harper Lee creates the setting in the little town of Maycomb, Alabama.One of the main conflicts that takes place revolves around a racial issue. Atticus, a father, and a lawyer, ponders the question whether he should defend a trial. The trial includes an 18 year old girl by the name of, Mayella, who comes from a family of poverty and has an abusive father. Mayella falsely states a black man by the name...
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...(Coolnsmart). Jem and Scout Finch are two children who pass their time with friends, playing games, and making mistakes, as all children do, but recognizing mistakes and learning from them is all part of growing up and becoming mature. Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird shows how Jem and Scout Finch change over the course of the novel for the better, as shown by contrast through Jem and other adults, allusion when speaking about J. Grimes Everett, and similes when Scout finally understands the meaning of not killing a mockingbird. Jem indicates that he has bettered himself when he feels sympathy for people being treated deceitfully unlike the other adults in the novel. For example, when Boo Radley, a neighbor, couldn’t leave the kids gifts in the tree any longer because the hole in the tree was concealed, Scout states “When we went in the house I saw [Jem] had been crying…I thought it odd I had...
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...Essay Theme: To kill a mockingbird Student: Slugina Irina “To kill a mockingbird” is a magnificent and powerful novel written by Harper Lee, a well-known American writer. It gives a deep insight into human society. The author highlights the theme of moral nature of the human beings – whether they are good and merciful or cruel and evil. It also deals with the problems of racial prejudices, inequality and racial discrimination. In a small Southern town in the 1930’s, it took exceptional courage for a white person to take a stand against racism. In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird, the main character - a smart experienced lawyer Atticus Finch becomes a fighter for justice and truth. He possesses such traits as being principled, determined, honest and courageous. Atticus goes beyond the racist limitations of his society. By doing so he risks becoming an outcast for the courageous stand he takes. By agreeing to defend a black man falsely accused of having raped a white woman, Atticus demonstrates he is the most courageous person in Maycomb. He not only risks being alienated from the town, he also tries his best to defend his client, Tom Robinson, though he knows his struggle for justice is ultimately doomed, regardless the strength of his character and his good intentions, Atticus is too small to win this fight for justice. As the saying goes: “One man - no man”. The story is told from memories of Atticus’s Finch daughter Scout. She and he older brother Jem become...
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...In the novel, “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee, a character that shows true courage during the trial is Atticus Finch, lawyer and loving father to Jem and Scout. True courage is being able to defend and fight for something despite the circumstances.Numerous times Atticus shows courage in the story which all relates to the theme, having to be faced with the harsh reality of the world which ruins your innocence. Atticus Finch stays strong and practical during the trial, defending Tom Robinson with his life. Atticus’s effort during the trial shows his courage because, despite it being tricky to get the judge and people of the racist South to side with Tom Robinson, compared to Mayella, who claims to be the victim. Atticus does not give up and continues to fight for Tom Robinson’s justice. Atticus shows courage through logical...
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...To kill a Mockingbird Journal entry #1 “Maycomb was an old town, but it was a tired old town when I first knew it. In rainy weather the streets turned to red slop…” Pg: 5 This quotation on chapter one is Scout’s introductory description of Maycomb. Scout emphasizes the slow pace, Alabama heat, and old fashioned values of the town. She writes of time when she “first knew” Maycomb, indicating that she embarks upon this recollection of her childhood much later in life, as an adult. It makes reference to the widespread poverty of the town, implying that Maycomb is in the midst of the great depression. As stated in the quote “There was no hurry, for there was nowhere to go, nothing to buy and no money to buy it with.” As been specified above Maycomb county was a ghost town. In the text on page six it clarifies how mysterious it was, “Maycomb County had recently been told that it had nothing to fear but fear itself.” To kill a Mockingbird Journal entry #2 “I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing.” Pg: 20 On chapter two scout talks about how she takes reading for granted. Losing it would be devastating to her. Scout compares it to not breathing anymore, reading, for little kids, is not a priority in Maycomb. Scout, however, has Atticus her father teach the incredible joy of reading to his children. This applies to the second sentence about breathing. Although she does not think to herself ‘I love breathing’ for there she does not realize...
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