Character Analysis: To Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee

“Maycomb was an old town, but it was a tired old town when I knew it. In rainy weather the streets turned to red slop; grass grew on the sidewalks, the courthouse sagged in the square. Somehow, it was hotter then: a black dog suffered on a summer’s day; bony mules hitched to Hoover carts flicked flies in the sweltering shade of the live oaks on the square. Men’s stiff collars wilted by nine in the morning. Ladies bathed before noon, after their three-o’clock naps, and by nightfall were like soft teacakes with frostings of sweat and sweet talcum...There was no hurry, for there was no where to go, nothing to buy and no money to buy it with, nothing to see outside the boundaries of Maycomb.” (Lee 6) In Harper Lee’s classic story To Kill a Mockingbird,

1. (56-59) Scout admires Ms. Maudie because she’s honest and kind to them, even though they are just children. On page 59, Harper Lee writes, “She had never told on us, had never played cat-and-mouse with us, she was not at all interested in out private lives. She was our friend.”

One example of the courage that Atticus shows is when he took the Tom Robinson case. Atticus knew that the odds were heavily against him, but he took the case anyways. There was no

This image of the Radleys is painted out as a mean, scary, and much different family than the rest of Maycomb, these thoughts provoke rumors of Boo and why he is locked inside. A very important character, Scout, shows us what happens when young women step out of the box of society’s rules for women. Scout faces prejudice for being out of the norm for a young woman. We are reminded of these “rules” when Scout tells a story of what Aunt Alexandra said once, “I could not possibly hope to be a lady if I wore breeches; When I said I could not do nothing in a dress, she said I wasn’t supposed to be doing things that required pants” (Lee 108). Scout is different from lots of other girls and enjoys things that require pants and according to Aunt Alexandra, wearing pants makes one not a lady.

He is a character that is imagined by the stories made from the people living in Maycomb. He is judged because of the many stories that have been made up about him. People believe that he is an evil person because of the rumours that have been said about him. Even though he has never harmed anyone people have been judging him because of the stories about him. Boo is first introduced in the novel when Jem gives a clear description about him. "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." (Lee 13) This description makes everyone think that Boo Radley is a dangerous character that creates a feeling of fright. In the entire novel, Boo is seen as an evil character however his innocence is not proven until near the end of the story. Throughout the beginning of the story Boo was only known through the rumours rather than the true stories or his actual personality. However, during the last few chapters Scout begins to realize that Boo is actually an innocent person and the reason to why he has been staying in his house was to avoid all the rumours and everything the town has to say about him. This

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

They are all fighting against society's opinion of them and they are loosing. Even though it is a sin to kill a mockingbird, the people of Maycomb still try to kill the human mockingbirds. Boo Radley, Tom Robinson and Atticus Finch are representations of mockingbirds. Boo Radley is a representation of the innocence of a mockingbird. Though Boo is innocent he is misjudged by society.

Boo Radley is a painfully shy recluse who watches over Jem and Scout during their childhood. He proves his helpfulness by leaving gifts in the knothole of an oak tree for the children and by draping a blanket over Scout

Even though he acts differently than other people, he should not have been made fun of for that. The night after Jem and Scout’s adventure to Boo Radley’s house, they realize the configuration of Jem’s pants is different. (What do I put here?) “They’d been sewed up. Not like a lady sewed ‘em, like somethin’ I’d try to do.

In the Novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, the author Harper Lee uses symbolism to express the idea of how fear can make someone make the wrong decision. Atticus warned the kids that they could shoot all the blue jays they wanted to but it was a sin to kill a mockingbird. Miss Maudie helps explains to the kids the mockingbirds don't do anything but make beautiful music for people to enjoy. The mockingbird symbolizes Boo Radley because he is an innocent person who has been destroyed through contact with evil. In conclusion, there are two main characters that the mockingbird symbolizes and they are Tom Robinson and Boo Radley.

These were the top three most important “mockingbirds” to me in the story. The reason I think a mockingbird symbolized was because he was proven to be an innocent man. In the beginning of the novel, Boo is only known as a childhood fairytale or superstition, but as the novel progresses, he proves other wise. In the beginning, Scout, Jem and Dill heard about the rumors making Boo Radley seem like such a monstrous, bone-chilling man, who has never left his house.

In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird, Atticus Finch, Tom Robinson and Boo Radley are all metaphorically portrayed as mockingbirds because every which one of these characters are judged based on what they hear and they turn out to be completely

After putting a scissor in his father’s leg he never went outside of his house. Rumors started going around and it scared the children that they were always afraid to walk pass the Radley’s house. Boo Radley is like a mockingbird. He gives gifts to Jem and Scout in a tree by his house without them knowing. He protects them and always watching out for them.

In Harper Lee’s “To Kill A Mockingbird,” Mayella Ewell, a young woman as well as the daughter of Bob Ewell, lives a life of insolence and isolation in the town of Maycomb. As a Ewell, which they are familiarized as being vulgar, uneducated, and indigent, Mayella is disrespected by the people of Maycomb as well as by her father. During the court case, Atticus shows courtesy towards Mayella by addressing her as a miss and a ma’am, which is not surprising for his values of equality. Mistaking his manners with sarcasm, she replies with, “Won’t answer a word you say as long as you keep mockin’ me” (pg.181). Harper Lee is demonstrating the amount of disregard Mayella faces in her life, so much that courtesy can’t be identified as just that. Mayella finds that Atticus is ridiculing her for what she doesn’t have, respect from others. With a reputation such as Mayella’s, people treat her like an outcast. Her lonely life can be a reason to explain why she always asked for Tom Robinson’s company, she wanted to experience friendship and perhaps love for the first time. Her loneliness was so clear to see, even Scout, who still has their childhood-innocent mind, can see through it. Scout compares Mr.Dolphus Raymond’s “mixed children” to Mayella because they both don’t know where to stand in their social class, “white people wouldn’t have anything to do with her because she lived among pigs; Negroes wouldn’t have anything to do with her

Imagine you are a lawyer tasked with an impossible case, and everybody in your community is against you, but still there is a shred of hope you cling to. What might that be you ask? That to which you cling are your morals. In To Kill a Mockingbird Atticus Finch had been given the Tom Robinson case, where a black man was convicted of raping a white woman. As a single father of two children, he continues to reinforce his values throughout the trial and during his daunting task of raising his children. In To Kill A Mockingbird what Harper Lee suggests about the nature of morals is that you should try to stand up for what you believe in even if people oppose or reject your ideals. Even when faced with an insurmountable opposition you should stand up for your morals because in the end if your don't follow your beliefs you are just contributing to the problem. We should try to create a voice for what we believe in and impress that upon the next generation so they can continue to exercise their beliefs to make the world a better place.