...“To Kill a Mockingbird” Analysis Harper Lee published “To Kill a Mockingbird “ in 1960, a time buzzing with racial segregation and irrational injustice. She based the book on various events that were all to real, only fifty years ago. Throughout the book, the author captures these horrendous inequalities and is able to explore these subjects through various situations and characters. However, it is not always just the color of one’s skin as to the reason of why they are treated differently. Lee is able to display examples of prejudice based on class and status of a person, rather than race alone, through the use of abstract symbols through the use of characters. Harper Lee use birds to symbolize traits in various characters throughout the book. Although it is not just mockingbirds used as the only bird example. When Jem and Scout receive guns to shoot for fun, Atticus warns them against shooting mockingbirds. However, he states that they may shoot all the blue jays they desire. Blue jays are the nuance bird; this connects to Bob Ewell due to the fact that he is the perfect display of a blue jay. The blue jays represent the prejudiced citizens of Maycomb; they are ever present and continue to taunt others. Atticus goes on to tell the kids that it is a sin to kill a mockingbird. The mockingbird is the innocent bird and therefore sums up Tom Robinson the most clearly. As being an innocent man that is only being tried due to his race, he embodies the mockingbird perfectly. Throughout...
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... Miss Paugh English 9 February 18, 2010 Three different fathers How does Atticus Finch, Mr. Walter Cunningham and Bob Ewell’s parenting differ? How are Jem and Scout Finch, Mayella Ewell and Walter Cunnungham treated by their fathers? Are the actions made by their fathers reflected on the children? Atticus Finch is kind to Jem and Scout. Mr. Walter Cunningham treats Walter well and teaches him to never take anyrhing that he cannot give back. Bob Ewell is a heavy drinker and beats Mayella. Sout and her brother Jem go through many different experiences as they become older. Their father Atticus is defending a black man which was unacceptable in their time period. They are ridiculed, threatened and even attacked because of it. Their neighbor and friend Miss Maudie’s house burns down. Atticus Finch, Mr. Walter Cunningham and Bob Ewell parent differently in the novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Atticus Finch treats his children, Jem and Scout very well. Jem is growing and is very moody at the age of 12. Scout asks Atticus if he reckons Jem has a tapeworm. Atticus says, “No, Jem [is] growing. [You] must be patient with him and disturb him as little as possible(153).” Atticus shows slight annoyance during the stressful trial period. His voice shows how stressed out the trial is making him. Scout runs Jem’s comb up and down the edhe of his dresser. Atticus says, “Stop that noise(178).”Atticus is kind to his children and only shows unhappiness after a stressful day...
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...around in it.”(30) This is a lesson that Atticus Finch, from Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, emphasized to his children, teaching them to view the world from another’s perspective before judging them. Atticus displays this quality of human tolerance towards his neighbors although he could have strong reasons to dislike them. He also familiarizes his children with this lesson through their own difficult situations. Atticus Finch proves to be a superlative example of human tolerance through his empathetic attitudes towards narrow-minded people including Mrs. Dubose, Bob Ewell, and the Cunninghams. Through these moments, his daughter, Scout, is ultimately able to understand this lesson taught by her father through a climatic moment with Boo Radley at the end of the novel. Illustrated through difficult situations with Bob Ewell and Mrs. Dubose, Atticus demonstrates his understanding attitude. First, when Atticus hears from Scout that Mrs. Dubose is calling him a “nigger-lover,” he understands that she is an acrimonious woman because she is a morphine addict. Later, when Jem and Scout hear that Mrs. Dubose is dead and learn about her addiction, they realize they had judged her without knowing her circumstances and see how courageous she truly was. Atticus’s tolerant attitude was also displayed when Bob Ewell spit in Atticus’s face after the trial. Atticus understood that Mr. Ewell was from a poor, untrustworthy family and Atticus had taken away all of his integrity. He...
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...us change as things happen, and time goes on? In the novel “To Kill A Mockingbird” by Harper Lee,(Re-Word Whole Sentence) you can notice that happening throughout the novel, from beginning to end. The characters that have the most change, are the two protagonists, Scout and Jem. They get older throughout the novel, and as such they mature Do not list one of your paragraphs points in introduction. Different events that occur around them cause them to shape their views. The fact that they are still kids makes their minds more malleable, and they often side with ones close to them in conflicts. This causes them to adopt morals as they grow up, and changes how they view things in everyday life. Jem and Scout change throughout the novel, for a variety of reasons. As Scout and Jem age, they gain maturity, as humans do. When Scout attends school for the first time at 6 years old,...
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...How does Harper Lee present the theme of Prejudice in the novel? ‘To Kill a Mockingbird.’? In the novel ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ Harper Lee presents the theme of prejudice in a number of different ways. She shows that prejudice is present throughout all levels of society in Maycomb. She directs her attention to groups and individuals. ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ was set in the mid 1930’s and although slavery was abolished by the North in 1865 throughout America, the South still treated blacks as inferior, as the slaves they once were and the residents of Maycomb County typify this. The main theme of prejudice in this book is that of racial prejudice. The whole trial of Tom Robinson is full of prejudice against him. Before the trial even commences Reverend Sykes invites the children to sit in the coloured balcony – (Pg 181). Even the black and white public must sit separately! Extreme racial prejudice is shown to us by Harper Lee when she tells us of the colour segregation. In Maycomb there is segregation between black and white people. This is emphasised by the way blacks file in last and are seated in the balcony. Their politeness to the children is shown when four black people give up their front row seats for them. This shows white children also have authority over black adults. It is ironic that the children will have the same viewpoint as the black people attending the trial – in terms of where they see it from. At the time black people could not show their disapproval...
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...In To Kill a Mockingbird, I think that I have a personality similar to Mr. Walter Cunningham. Some of our personality traits are different, but I think we have some similar traits. Mr. Walter Cunningham in this novel has a role. He is not a main character, but he is brought up several times. He sounds like a good man when he denies gifts, but he also was in a mob that tried to kill Tom Robinson. Atticus Finch said, “‘Mr. Cunningham’s basically a good man,’ he said, ‘he just has his blind spots along with the rest of us’” (Lee 210). I believe we all have blind spots, and some have them more than others. In my opinion, I think that our greatest similarity is our blind spots. You always want to think the best of yourself, but sometimes...
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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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...To Kill A Mocking Bird BY HARPER LEE Novel Analysis I.BACKGROUND IN FORMATION ABOUT THE AUTHOR Nelle Harper Lee (born April 28, 1926) is an American author known for her 1960 Pulitzer-Prize-winning novel To Kill a Mockingbird, which deals with the issues of racism that were observed by the author as a child in her hometown of Monroeville, Alabama. Despite being Lee's only published book, it led to Lee being awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom of the United States for her contribution to literature in 2007.Lee has also been the recipient of numerous honorary degrees, but has always declined to make a speech. Other significant contributions of Lee include assisting her close friend, Truman Capote, in his research for the book In Cold Blood. II.INFORMATION ABOUT THE NOVEL Classification- To Kill a Mockingbird is embodied by Atticus Finch, who is virtually unique in the novel in that he has experienced and understood evil without losing his faith in the human capacity for goodness. Atticus understands that, rather than being simply creatures of good or creatures of evil, most people have both good and bad qualities. The important thing is to appreciate the good qualities and understand the bad qualities by treating others with sympathy and trying to see life from their perspective. He tries to teach this ultimate moral lesson to Jem and Scout to show them that it is possible to live with conscience without losing hope or becoming cynical. In this way, Atticus is...
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...How we live is based on our social class. The lower class live in small homes, don’t get what they need sometimes, and cannot enjoy certain luxuries. Then there’s upper class; they can do what they please with no afterthought. Then there is acting classy: being respectful, having poise, and treating everybody with equality. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee takes place in Maycomb, Alabama during the 1930s. There are many people in town who are deemed low class or upper class due to their wealth or lifestyle, and because of this they are treated differently. However, there are people who still act with respect and dignity even though they live and are treated poorly. In the novel, someone’s social class is built off of the opinions of others;...
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... As children mature they typically learn about negative traits and how to develop good ones. They learn from others and create a pathway for their own individuality in order to become an adult. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee, Scout begins as an innocent child protected from the evils of society, but later matures and develops to become an understanding individual. Innocence from the world’s evils is usually interpreted as a positive trait, however, the opposite occurs in To Kill a Mockingbird because...
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...very few admit it. There are also many people out there who tell others not to lie, but they too have lied many times themselves, which makes them hypocrites. In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Scout witnesses many forms of hypocrisy in which the veil of hypocrisy is never revealed. Mrs. Merriweather, Miss Gates, Lula, and Aunt Alexandra are all blind to their prejudices, and those prejudices breed their hypocrisy. Mrs. Merriweather is the perfect example of hypocrisy in To Kill A Mockingbird. During the “missionary circle” that Aunt Alexandra hosts, Mrs. Merriweather says many absurd statements. While Scout sits at the table with all of the women, she deems it polite to ask Mrs. Merriweather what she studied this afternoon. Then Mrs....
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...During the plotline of this book, To Kill A Mockingbird, Atticus defends a colored man, Tom Robinson. This decision will not only change Tom’s life, but Atticus's life, the lives of his children, and the view of the town. However, was it a good idea for Atticus to defend Tom Robinson? Yes, it was a step in the right direction getting away from discrimination and towards equal treatment. Being a moral man it gave him the right lessons to teach his children of right and wrong. Even though the real world at that time was racist and dangerous for those that didn’t share the common view. To begin with, even in today’s society we are a far way away from a perfect non discrimination society. What Atticus did by defending Tom Robinson was one step in a journey of a thousands...
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...First of all, Mr. Cunningham has the men leave Atticus and Tom Robinson alone. “‘Let’s clear out,’ he called. ‘Let’s get going, boys.’As they had come, in ones and twos, the men shuffled back to their ramshackle cars. Doors slammed, engines coughed, and they were gone” (Lee 206). This proves that one person or group can make a change in injustice by making an action. Mr. Cunningham noticed what he has done do he decided to change his thought, for making the change of thought all the men cleared out. As a result, Tom Robinson will not be lynched. Since Mr. Cunningham decided to move out he is changing his thought on how we treats African-Americans. The injustice on Tom was less since Mr. Cunningham told the men to clear out. Secondly. Ms. Maudie explains that Atticus is making a good difference in society. “Atticus Finch won’t win, he can’t win, but he’s the only man in these parts who can keep a jury out so long in a case like that. And I thought to myself, well, we’re making a step--it’s just a baby-step, but it’s a step” (Lee 289). This shows that injustice has changes a little bit because of one person. It is not all the way, but it is more than what they have had. Since Atticus defended a black man people changed their thoughts on how to respect them, even the jury. If Atticus would not have defended Tom, then the jury would not have took two hours to think about it. If it takes this long Atticus changed the minds of the people on African-Americans...
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...in Harper Lee's novel To Kill a Mockingbird, there are many ways to act courageous. Standing by ones morals and acting against ones fears represents true courage. In To Kill a Mockingbird, true courage can be shown through moral courage, mental courage, and physical courage. In To Kill a Mockingbird, standing up for what one believes in shows moral courage. Firstly, Atticus defending Tom Robinson even when he knew he would lose shows moral courage. Atticus is a well-known and respected figure in Maycomb. Choosing to defend a...
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...“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.” These are the words that were spoken by Atticus Finch when he was talking to scout about people and perspectives. Atticus Finch is a very simplistic person in the story To Kill A MockingBird by, Harper Lee. Atticus is a very quite person and he expresses this by not being too brash and taking insults but also showing he's the bigger man by not fighting with his fists but with his own words. What i want to express is the way Atticus is calm, nice, smart, shows courage, is compassionate, and above all tolerant of other people and races. Atticus Finch is one of the protagonist in the story To Kill a Mockingbird and is a well rounded character....
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