Analysis Of Harper Lee 's ' Kill A Mockingbird '

To kill a mockingbird can mean many things. It’s the title of a book that has been bought 40 million times. But, it also has a definition. To kill a mockingbird means to destroy innocence. The theme of my literary analysis is mockingbirds. Mockingbirds in TKAM are innocent things tainted by the skewed society of Maycomb. Some of these mockingbirds are Boo Radley, Tom Robinson, and the children. To Kill a Mockingbird is a book set in a small Alabama town in the 1930’s. The main character and narrator is Jean Louise Finch, but is almost always called by her nickname, Scout. Scout, her brother, and her summer friend Dill get into all kinds of mischief while living in the racist society of a 1930’s Alabama town. Scout’s dad, Atticus, is a prominent lawyer in Maycomb and is appointed to a controversial case, and is defending a black man. Scout and her brother, Jem go through many troubles and learn many lessons from the days leading up to, and during the trial. The trail makes their family some friends and a lot of enemies. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is a story of courage and despair. Throughout TKAM, mockingbirds are used as an example of something innocent being tainted by the skewed society of TKAM. Some great examples of these are Boo Radley, Tom Robinson, and the children.

Jem and Scout, throughout “To Kill A Mockingbird,” learn to consider things from other people’s perspectives. Atticus, Jem and Scout’s father, says “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” (Lee 39). They learn this through experiences with their neighbor Boo Radley as they mature beyond their years. At the beginning of the novel, Jem and Scout make fun of Boo and assume that all of the rumors going around about him are true. However, later on in the story the children grow an admiration for Boo and learn to understand him. As they matured, Jem and Scout naturally learned many life lessons of appreciation, respect, and courage

Scout, Jem, and Dill work many summers to try to get Boo to come out of the Radley house for the first time in many years. Jem had been told many things about Boo in his short years in Maycomb, and he tells his sister Scout about the ‘monster’, saying, “Boo was about six-and-a-half feet tall, judging from his tracks; he dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch, that’s why his hands were bloodstained—if you ate an animal raw, you could never wash the blood off. There was a long jagged scar that ran across his face; what teeth he had were yellow and rotten; his eyes popped, and he drooled most of the time” (chap. 1). Jem’s ideas about Boo are very biased toward rumors that can be heard around Maycomb. This shows how Maycomb’s people often judge before they know, seeing as no one has seen Boo Radley in over twenty years and people are prejudiced to believing the unknown is always bad. Prejudice and rumors can often not be trusted and Boo Radley is no exception. After Miss Maudie’s house catches fire and half the town rushes outside to watch it burn, Atticus tells Scout, “someday you should thank him for covering you up” then Scout asks, “Thank Who?” And gets a response from Atticus, “Boo Radley. You were too busy looking at the fire, you didn’t even notice when he put the blanket around you” (chap. 8). Boo Radley is not really a bad person, he

Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” is set in a small Southern United States community called Maycomb during the Great Depression era. The whole book primarily revolves around segregation and racism and how it relates to Maycomb’s history. It eventually leads to the trial of Tom Robinson where he is accused of beating up and raping Mayella Ewell. Even though it was clear that Tom Robinson did not do anything wrong he was convicted by an all white jury simply because he was black. The trial of Tom Robinson and its verdict shows an example of how segregation in the court system prevents fair trials from occurring.

In the first few chapters of the book, Jem and Scout kept on discovering different objects inside a knothole of a tree placed in the Radley’s lot. At first, they were clueless of who put it in there, but finally in Chapter 31, Scout realizes that Boo Radley had given them gifts, even if Jem, Dill or she did not really do anything for him. Not only did Arthur Radley give them presents as a token of affection, but he also wrapped a blanket around Scout during the time that she and Jem were out in the cold, due to the raging fire on Miss Maudie’s house (Ch. 8). Moreover, he also sewed Jem’s pants, and folded them neatly for Jem to find across the fence of the Radley property, after Jem, Dill, and Scout trespassed the their house. Depicting Boo Radley as a monstrous person, the folks of Maycomb County had the wrong thought of Boo. In fact, he proved their opinions of him wrong by the goodness he demonstrated towards Scout and

Harper Lee’s renowned book To Kill a Mockingbird is highly praised for the lessons it teaches, it’s persuasive humor and how it tells a story of growth. It tells the story of Scout Finch as she learns and and grows in the small town of Maycomb, Alabama in the 1930’s. Scout has a brother, Jem, who leads scout on adventures and through trials as they are taught about racism, empathy and courage. Scout's perspective allows a look into how growing up in her circumstances has affected her personally. (need another sentence here to lead to thesis) Harper Lee uses the characterization of Jem to show an alternate insight to growing up through the way he strays from being moral, how he tries to be more independent, and by when he reaches his breaking point.

The word “fire” is used in this chapter multiple times. The first time it pops up is when Miss. Maudie’s house catches fire and burns down. During this, Scout and Jem become increasingly worried. After this tragedy, they come outside and see Ms. Maudie standing there. When they ask her about how she feels, she responds strangely by saying that it’s the best thing that ever happened, and she can finally start over. One can become reminded of pine cones for instance. During a fire, the seeds in the pine cones come out, almost like popcorn. So in this wave of sadness from things burning down, something new is created, a pine cone, or in Ms. Maudie’s case, a new chapter in her life. We can also see a “fire” in Scout’s temperament and actions. When

Many times, can read the tittle of the book and able to know what to expect from the story but ‘to kill a mockingbird’ is different. It is little confusing to indicate which characters are indicating the tittle of the book. At one point, Ms. Maudie explains, “Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don’t eat up people’s gardens, don’t nest in corncribs, they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird” (Lee,98). The title refers to innocent people like Tom Robinson and Boo Radley. But the tittle especially refers on Atticus who, is like the mockingbird. His characters of strong believing in justice, compassion and forgiveness toward others, and how he raised his children by his example has shown that Atticus only wish to bring a little happiness into a harsh world.

In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, one of the main characters, Scout, goes through multiple coming of age experiences that help her develop an understanding of equality and the importance of fighting for what is right. Each event Scout experiences allows her to live in a mindset free of prejudice and racism, which is common in her society. Scouts coming of age process ties into the overall message of the novel to develop a strong conflict and resolution.

Throughout the years women have always been seen as a lesser value on comparison to men. Women are always shaped and molded a certain way to society’s liking. They have been told to act and behave a certain way because that is what is expected of them. Of course there is also the view of certain women that like to fit those expectations. Yet for men, they are influenced and respected when they act as they please and stand out from other men. It is extremely unfair to discriminate women and push them into being a certain way when women have so much potential to offer. Women back then and even now are being limited to a life that is already chosen for them. They are given an ideal as to how a women should behave and

According to the Alabama Academy of Honor Archives, Nelle Harper Lee was born on April 28, 1926 in Monroeville, Alabama to Amasa Coleman and Frances Finch Lee. In the south, it is customary to be called by your middle name. Therefore, throughout the rest of this paper, Nelle Harper Lee will be referred to as Harper Lee.

“Or didn’t you scream until you saw your father in the window? You didn’t think to scream until then, did you?”

Tom robinson said “I felt sorry for mayella”. When tom was on trial they asked him if she ever gave him money and he said no “I felt sorry for her. Tkam teaches us that everything is not fair and that you can’t lose hope.

To Kill a Mockingbird Essay (2) “Never stop learning because life never stops teaching.” (anonymous) To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is a classic fictional story about life in Maycomb, Alabama during the Great Depression in which the narrator, Scout, shares her life experiences. Atticus Finch, a lawyer in Maycomb, does his best to teach Jem and Scout, his children, how to go their way on the path of life. Arthur (Boo) Radley, the creepy and mysterious neighbor, who, unbeknownst to Scout, will teach her valuable lessons.

In the town Scout and her family live in, she and the people around her experience more about each other, resulting in Scout seeing different perspectives. Take the case of when Uncle Jack was talking with Atticus, he says, “I didn’t understand children much and told me why… how I should’ve treated her”(Lee 99). During this time, the perspective originally came from Scout which was the perspective of being angry. But when it switched over to Uncle Jack’s perspective, it showed remorse and how he can’t comprehend the mindset of children, helping Scout encounter contrastive points of view aside from her own. On a different occasion, Jem read to Mrs. Dubose, “that’s why you were there. Most of the time you were reading to her I doubt if she heard