...28/6/2011 In what ways does Harper Lee engage your sympathies for Tom Robinson during the trial? During the trial, Harper Lee makes the reader become sympathetic towards Tom Robinson due to many techniques, for example she paints a picture of him as being incapable of doing such a crime due to him being handicapped. Lee illustrates that Tom Robinson is not capable of committing a crime that could cost him his life when we first meet him. This is at the beginning of the trial when Tom takes the oath and tries to place his ‘rubber-like left hand’ on the bible but it slips off. Tom tries again but the same thing happens. The reader’s sympathy is engaged here as they can clearly see that Tom is incapable of taking Mayella Ewell around the neck and raping her. As well as being physically handicapped, Tom has a handicap that he has no control over, his skin colour. Harper Lee Makes the reader feel sorry for Tom Robinson before he has even given his testimony so that the readers see the rest of the trial through sympathetic eyes towards Tom. The reader feels that Tom Robinson is being accused by a bunch of rough people, the Ewells. The examples of the Ewells being rough compared to Tom is shown through their speech. Tom’s dialogue is very respectful towards Atticus and Mayella, this is shown when he testifies and says ‘Miss Mayella, Sir’. The exact opposite can be said for the Ewells, when Mayella loses her temper and describes Atticus and the other...
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...A mockingbird is a harmless bird that makes the world more pleasant. In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the mockingbird symbolizes Boo Radley, Atticus Finch and Tom Robinson, who were peaceful people who never did any harm. To kill or harm them would be a sin. Scout's father, Atticus, tells Scout and Jem, “Shoot all the blue jays you want, if you can hit'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird." Atticus is portraying that they are innocent and to harm them would be a sin. The mockingbird symbolizes these three characters because it does not have its own song, the mockingbird only sings other birds' songs and is seen through the other bird’s voices. The people of Maycomb only knew Boo, Atticus and Tom by what others said about them. These characters do not really have their own voice or song, they are only known for what others say about them. Atticus is a lawyer in Maycomb, a typical southern town where racial discrimination is the normal behavior. When he decides to defend Tom Robinson a black man, the people in the town were threatening him for doing so. Though Atticus never showed any sign that he doubted what he was doing. Atticus saw the evil in his world and was only trying to protect his children from it. He simply denied the natural behavior to colored people and fought against it. Atticus took the hatred, pushed it aside, kept his head high and stayed true to himself. He never hurt a soul and was just as innocent as a mockingbird. Boo Radley went through...
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...of To Kill a Mockingbird takes place during three years of the Great Depression in the fictional "tired old town" of Maycomb, Alabama. The narrator, six-year-old named Scout Finch, lives with her older brother Jem and their widowed father Atticus, a middle-aged lawyer. Jem and Scout become friends with a boy named Dill who visits Maycomb to stay with his aunt for the summer. The three children are afraid of their neighbor "Boo" Radley. The adults of Maycomb don’t like to talk about Boo and for many years, few have seen him. The children feed each other's imaginations with rumors about his appearance and reasons for remaining hidden, and they fantasize about how to get him out of his house. After two summers of being friends with Dill, Scout and Jem find out someone is leaving them small gifts in a tree outside the Radley house. Boo makes gestures to the children but is never seen in person. Atticus is assigned to defend a black man named Tom Robinson, who has been accused of raping Mayella Ewell, a white woman. Although many of Maycomb's citizens disapprove, Atticus agrees to defend Tom. Atticus discovers that the accusers—Mayella and her father, Bob Ewell, the town drunk—are lying. It also becomes clear that the friendless Mayella was making sexual advances towards Tom and her father caught her in the act. Even with convincing evidence of Tom's innocence, the jury convicts him. Tom is soon shot and killed while trying to escape from prison. Harper Lee wrote To Kill a MockingBird...
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...Andrew Holloman ENG 1101 11/13/12 Compare and Contrast Essay Similarities between Harper Lee’s Childhood Life and Scout Finch’s Childhood Life The To Kill a Mockingbird novel written by Harper Lee is commonly considered one of the twentieth century's most widely read American novels. The vast majority of people that have read the novel are of the belief that the events contained within the novel are based on Harper Lee’s childhood experiences growing up in the South. However, absent of Harper Lee actually confirming the inspirational source for her novel; it’s still an assumption made by the masses. Nonetheless, we all have to agree that there are some very distinct similarities between Harper Lee’s childhood life and the childhood life of Scout Finch’s in the novel. Similarities that exist between Harper Lee’s childhood life and that of Scout Finch in the To Kill a Mockingbird novel were the facts that they were both raised in small rural towns, both of them were tomboys during their childhood years, and they both lived through times of racial prejudice. The first similarity between Harper Lee’s childhood life and Scout Finch’s childhood life is that they were both raised in small rural towns in Alabama. Harper Lee grew up in the small rural town of Monroeville, Alabama that. The town has a small closely knit population where everyone knew their neighbors and knew their neighbor’s business. Aside from this the town of Monroeville is riddled with poverty and racial...
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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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...To Kill a Mockingbird: Essay Explore the growth to maturity of Scout in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird. Maturation is one of the most important themes in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, and one of the characters to whom this theme applies the most is Scout Finch, the narrator. Starting out as a young, tomboy character who is naïve and immature, over the years in which the novel is set a change in her behaviour becomes prominent, as she acquires more grown up behaviours and beliefs. Arguably the most important change in Scout’s character is her learning to understand other people and their desires and needs, rather than just her own. A notable example of this is her treatment of Boo Radley. At the beginning of the novel, the children’s games concerning his lifestyle and family history demonstrated childish and immature fantasies and, ultimately, a selfish obsession with him, revealing no thought of Boo’s feelings or point of view. Atticus advises them against this habit, telling the children to “stop tormenting that man”. The Radley games is also the one of the first times in the novel when Atticus uses one of his commonest pieces of advice: to “climb into his skin and walk around in it”. However, as the novel progresses, it is obvious that Scout and Jem do become more thoughtful of Boo Radley, stopping their constant annoyance of him, and starting to realise Boo’s sentiments as well. This is shown when Jem has an epiphany that the reason “Boo Radley’s stayed shut...
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...“To Kill A Mockingbird” “ There is no greater heresy than to do the right thing for the wrong reason or moreover the wrong thing for the right reason” this quote by Victor Hugo runs parallel to Harper Lee’s gripping tale of right and wrong, good and evil. “To Kill A Mockingbird” is a intricate and symbolic masterpiece of the intertwining elements of positive and negative, and how when they occupy the same space no becomes hardly recognizable from the other In this story, a well to do family is faced with very compromising scenarios that causes them and the reader alike to question certain core principles that are supposedly innate, and guides them through a journey of racism, pride, deceit, judgment, and finally reconciling all of these. All characters in the novel perpetually orbit around sentiments of morals and social acceptance and to deal with these themes in a realistic manner. The very title of the story “To Kill A Mockingbird” speaks the nuance of wrong invading or violating what is right. Atticus Finch, the patriarch of the family, has the most explicit encounter with moral injustice and the ordeal of fighting against it. As a lawyer in a small, southern town, Finch is endowed, voluntarily no doubt, with the dubious responsibility of representing an African American man in a criminal case of rape. The small town of Maycomb, Alabama is very racist and Atticus’s decision does not go over well with most of the citizens there. In order to appease the majority Finch...
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...In the Pulitzer Prize winning novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee, the novel commences by introducing the three main characters Charles Baker “Dill” Harris, Jean Louise “Scout” Finch, and Jeremy Atticus “Jem” Finch. These three children are the focus of the revolutionary piece, which is settled in the farmers city of Maycomb, Alabama in the early years of The Great Depression. Why does the author include the third character Dill, why didn’t Lee focus only on the two Finch siblings? Possibly Lee meant to establish Boo within the plot to emphasize the children’s friendship. Perhaps this can be explained with; the Greek philosophy of Pythagoreanism, the Bible, and the compatible characters of the children. The story of how these children met was arbitrary; however, these were the years that will never be forgotten due to the mystery of Boo, the youngest within the Radley family. Arthur “Boo” Radley is a character in the novel that keeps Dill, Jem, and Scout together by arousing their curiosity. Boo could possibly be a psychotic ex-con and this only drives the kids deeper into the rumors about him. Boo is a mysterious recluse that leaves the entire neighborhood filled with questions. The mystery of Boo Radley is what initially brings the children together as a group and continues to be the glue that holds them together. Lee perhaps incorporated the Pythagoreanism a philosophy established by Pythagoras. This philosophy involves the theory of the perfection of...
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...In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Atticus teaches his children many lessons about life. Atticus teaches his children the importance of acceptance, how to avoid stereotyping, and lastly how racism shows the people of Maycomb’s true colours. To conclude Atticus makes it clear to his children that they should never judge a person before getting to know them. Firstly,stereotyping is the main thing in To Kill a Mockingbird.Scout and Jem learn from their mistakes or they learn from the people themselves. For example, Scout judged Mr.Dolphus Raymond because she thought he was a drunk and he had mulatto children from a black woman. She thought that it was wrong to speak to a drunkard and to even deal with someone that loves and lives with black people. But he confronts her and Dill, as a result he makes a simple point that he prefers blacks over his kind because they are uptight and are hypocrites. The white people have their views and judgemental ways against the black community. Mr.Dolphus Raymond tells them this so they can change their views on how they see people. "I try to give 'em a reason, you see. It helps folks if they can latch onto a reason... folks can say Dolphus Raymond's in the clutches of whiskeythat's why he won't change his ways... that's why he lives the way he does." (Chapter 20)... I shouldn't be here listening to this sinful man who had mixed children and didn't care who knew it, but he was fascinating. (Chapter 20). People stereotype ...
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...Final Analysis on “To Kill A Mockingbird” by Harper Lee Jackie Berry Colorado Technical University LITR 240 Prof. Peggy Huey May 9, 2011 Abstract When an author writes novels, short stories, or poems, most of their ideas come from life experiences. The author is trying to send a message that may mirror what the reader can understand. Many writings address conflicts, themes and symbolism. Harper Lee (2006) introduced many of these elements into her novel “To Kill a Mockingbird”. Harper Lee gives accounts of the story as if she was a young child and learns many life lessons that change her life forever. “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (2006), takes place a small populated town in Maycomb, Alabama. The author has taken us back when hatred and prejudice is very common in the 1930s. Atticus, Scout, and Jem Finch are frowned upon because Atticus is defending a black man of allegedly raping a white woman. Atticus uses this opportunity to teach Scout and Jem morals that we teach our children today. Atticus teaches Scout and Jem to not to be judgmental towards anyone, not be afraid to stand up for what is right, and violence does not solve anything. Jem and Scout will also learn the true symbolizing of why it is a sin to kill a mockingbird. Harper Lee described the town of Maycomb as being a very poor and run down. The community is very small and everyone knew each other. The blacks and whites are divided and some that...
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...To Kill A Mockingbird A summary of the novel by Harper Lee Doris Griffin Colorado Technical University Online June 23, 2012 Author Note This paper was prepared for LITR240-1202B-09, Phase 5 IP, taught by Professor Daniel Lambert. Abstract Harper Lee wrote only one novel in her life. To Kill A Mockingbird, in a research done by the Book-Of-The-Month Club in 1991 ranked second to the Bible. The novel still draws a million new readers each year. The novel contains two stores, the innocence of childhood as told by Scout and the story of her father who was asked to defend a Negro who was accused of raping a white woman. (Shields, C., 2006) Two of the themes of the novel are justice and tolerance. The two are joined together when Atticus explains to Scout how to understand all kinds of people by walking around in their skin. (Shields, C., 2006) To Kill A Mockingbird is a story to learn a life’s lesson from. The innocence of a child is genuine and they are taught racism and hate by their elders. Children at a young age do not see black or white, rich or poor, or understand what racism means. They are just children who believe that everyone is good and they trust with all their hearts. To Kill a Mockingbird The story is set in and old town in Alabama, Maycomb. The town is described as a quiet and dull town in the 1930’s. Scout is one of the main characters in the story. She is naïve and innocent as children are. She has an older brother, Jem, that...
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...To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee is a story of racial prejudice and social class set in a time when such narrow-mindedness was considered acceptable and apart of every day life in the small town of Maycomb, Alabama. Narrated and based around Scout (Jean Louise) Finch and the many ordeals she and her brother (Jem) face in the years of their growing up; out of the childhood innocence they once possessed to realise the true evils of their community and shed false pretences surrounding the innocence of two such characters as Boo Radley and Tom Robinson for which the community of Maycomb had long labelled and ridiculed for either their colour or peculiar behavioural patterns. Lee incorporates several different symbols within the text that assist in developing the ideas and beliefs held by both Scout and Jem such as; the Mockingbird, Mrs Dubose’ Camellias and Mayella Ewell’s red Geraniums all of which pl... ... middle of paper ... ... weather that be the counties resident Mockingbirds Boo Radley and Tom Robinson who continue to sing their songs of purity and innocence even in death (in Tom’s case), Mrs Dubose who’s underlying courage was able to shine through her Camellias and rub of on Jem or Mayella Ewell who’s backyard is proven to be populated by beautiful Geraniums; symbolism has played huge role on their ideas and beliefs and those of the people around them most notably the narrator Scout Finch who’s entire outlook on life is changed through the use of such...
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...To Kill A Mockingbird Essay “Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a harder battle.” Being compassionate is understanding someone and their needs, and being sensitive is more about yourself personally . Scout is a really smart girl who we learn is joyful and caring in the beginning, but as the book goes on, she sees the tough life of growing up in a racist community and the problems that come along with it. In the book To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Scout demonstrates sensitivity and compassion towards other people. she feels like everyone should be treated equally which she learned from her father Atticus, and she puts others first. Scout wants to give to others even if sometimes she can't. Scout shows compassion and sensitivity because she wants everyone to be treated equally. Scout wanted to play with Walter but Aunt Alexandra didn’t let her. “‘But I want to play with Walter, Aunty, why can’t I?’ She took off her glasses and stared at me. ‘I’ll tell you why,’ she said, ‘Because- he – is – trash, that’s why you can’t play with him. I’ll not have you around him, picking up his habits and learning Lord-knows-what. You’re enough of a problem to your father as it is.” (Lee 227) Aunt Alexandra obviously doesn't want scout associating herself with Walter, she thinks Walter is below everyone else because his family is poor. Scout doesn't care about his social class .Scout knows the only reason she can’t hang out with Walter is because of his social class; She wished that...
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...will introduce you to the two main characters in Harper Lee's book "To kill a mockingbird", comparing them in their attitudes and actions. Atticus Finch is a single father raising two children in the small town of Maycomb, Alabama. Atticus works as a lawyer believing in equal justice for all Americans regardless of race or religion. Bob Ewell is also a single father raising eight children who also lives in Maycomb. Bob is unemployed collecting welfare who believes in racial segregation. He believes in different modes of justice for blacks and whites. Atticus is very compassionate while talking to his thirteen-year-old son Jem. Atticus was explaining to him that he would do anything just for Bob to stop beating his kids. As he said, "So if spitting in my face and threatening me saved Mayella one extra beating, that's something I'll gladly take. He had to take it out on somebody and I'd rather it be me than that houseful of children out there."(Pg. 221) In addition Atticus explains to Jem that he had to do what he had to do because he destroyed Bob's last shred of credibility, whereas Bob is a coward who doesn't deal with the matter but makes things worse. Bob proves himself to be very cowardly. He doesn't think before making his actions. As a result of this he tried to kill Atticus' children, Jem and Scout. As they were walking home from the Halloween pageant, Bob came out and tried to kill them. Bob got what he deserved when Boo Radley, a neighbor who hides his...
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...JC Miranda & Shant Bekarian Mrs. Lambert English Honors II The book To kill a mockingbird is a microcosm of the Judicial Branch and the American law system. Microcosm has a multitude of definitions that vary from a little world to a greatly diminished size. The definition being examined in this essay is something that makes up another entity of a larger size. Juror Eleven makes a connection between these two by stating his love for this country due to the differences between where he immigrated from and the United States. He also explains a side of democracy where everyone should play their part: “ We have a responsibility. This is a remarkable thing about democracy…., We have nothing to gain or lose by our verdict. This is why we are strong” (pg 50). Robinson creates this microcosm of the Judicial Branch through 3 characters which are Jurors 3, 8, and the foreman. These characters make up the microcosm by becoming sides of the justice system and representations of where the young man is guilty or not. Juror 3 is the side that believes the young man is guilty and opposes him which can mean that the he is more like the plaintiff or prosecutor in the justice system. On the contrary Juror 8 believes the young man is innocent which means that he is more like the defendant’s side in the justice system. The foreman is the one who calms the situation and stops a conversation from becoming too heated. He is most like the judge or bailiff that consoles both...
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