Character Analysis : To Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee

​In Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout Finch, and her brother Jem, learn the importance of seeing things through other people's eyes. At the beginning of the story, the people living in Maycomb County, can be considered "mockingbirds" because they are innocent. Their father, Atticus, leads as a strong example while defending Tom Robinson, a black man convicted for rape. The residents of Maycomb (besides the Finches) fail to see situations through other people's eyes. For example, when the trial takes place, most people do not have empathy toward Tom Robinson, resulting in some of those "mockingbirds" becoming killed. Trying to see situations through other people's eyes can keep someone from hurting somebody who is innocent.

Atticus was a very kind person to everyone.He treated you with the same respect if you were white or black and that wasn't common during that time period.Like when he says “"As you grow older, you'll see white men cheat black men every day of your life, but let me tell you something and don't you forget it-whenever a white man does that to a black man, no matter who he is, how rich he is, or how fine a family he comes from”.(Lee 220)Taking on Tom Robinson's case was a very kind gesture he did.No one would have taken it because Tom was black,and atticus gave it his best go but unfortunately he lost because Tom was black.He also helped Jem, his son, when he was attacked.He stepped up and help his son by calling the police and taking good, close care to him.Lastly he treats you with the same respect no matter the age or color.When Scout and Jem were “annoying” Mrs.Dubose he respectfully went and talked to

Atticus Finch is a hero in Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird. The novel covers a span of three years, during which the main characters endure substantial changes. Atticus lives with his son Jem and his daughter Scout in the the small town of Maycomb, Alabama. Atticus raises his children by himself, with the help of some kind neighbors and a housekeeper named Calpurnia. Scout and Jem understand the complexities and differences amongst their neighborhood and town. Unlike most of the citizens in Maycomb, Atticus is different. ​Although he wasn't seen as a hero during the time the novel took place, his actions are of true heroism. ​He is a person who is known for certain beliefs and qualities and he is a good-hearted man of strong morals.

Have you ever been judged for who your family is and not who you are? Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird takes place in the small town of Maycomb County, and countless families in this community have been given a certain title or characteristic that they are now known by. Since Maycomb is such a small place and not many newcomers have moved in over the years, the people began to think they could tell what a certain person would be like just by who their family was. The environment in which one is placed determines one’s success more than one’s genetic makeup and born ability. Aunt Alexandra gives Scout a speech that proves this is not the mindset in Maycomb.

People who do nothing but good are often tainted with rumors and harmed by other people. Harper Lee explores this idea in her novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. To Kill a Mockingbird is a story about a seven-year-old girl named Scout growing up in the nineteen-thirties, her ten-year-old brother Jem and her friend named Dill who is the same age as she is. She lives in a very tight knit county called Maycomb in Alabama where everybody knows and hangs out with each other. However, there is one house where the inhabitants never come out of, the Radley house, where an old couple lives with their two adult sons.

“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,

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

Once you climb into someone’s skin, you cannot judge them based on their cover. Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird is a story about three little kids and their mysterious neighbor, Boo Radley. Scout Finch and Jem Finch live with their widowed father, Atticus, in the sleepy old town of Maycomb. One summer, they met Dill, who will live with Miss Rachel every summer from now on, and Scout and Jem told Dill about the spooky house down the street. Eventually, Dill becomes curious about the mysterious house, and the three of them started a new adventure. Boo Radley and Nathan Radley are the owners of the spooky house. Boo Radley never ventures outside for many years because he is locked up inside for what he did back in his youth. After the summer

Jean Louise Finch (a.k.a Scout) is a 6-year-old little girl who is full of love and joy. She isn’t the most feminine girl in all of Maycomb County, but she has a heart that’s as large as the world. That is why I choose to include a heart in my illustration. Scout is also a kid, which is why I added the “3 Little Pigs and the Big Bad Wolf”, and the toy. To show that Scout is a little girl. Yet, she changes throughout the book. That’s why I added a butterfly. Butterflies transform from a caterpillar into themselves. Just like how Scout became more sophisticated across the book. Finally, to show even more change, I included a background of white transitioning to black. To display that Scout has permuted into a young lady in the duration of “To

Scout, in Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird,” is surrounded by danger that can influence her badly. Scout’s friends make her feel awful by making fun of her since Atticus is supporting Tom Robinson. Tom Robinson is an an African American man who is accused of raping a white women. Why would Scout want to go to back to school after being made fun of? Scout is not willing to go back to school, so she tries experimenting by acting differently during Christmas in the hopes that Atticus would stop making her go to school.

Particularly how Scout described Maycomb made me feel that the people residing there had no purpose. For example the phrases she uses such as “for there was nowhere to go” or “ nothing to see outside the boundaries of Maycomb County.”, depicted that the town was the only place to be at, that nothing was important outside of Maycomb.

“Why do you identify as Ethiopian-American?” my 10th grade English teacher asked me, a valid question I would not forget anytime soon. Our class was discussing how the protagonist in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout, struggled to find her identity. To engage the class, our teacher asked what we identify ourselves as and why we labeled ourselves as such. Never the one to miss the chance to boast my east African heritage, my right hand soared up. After I told him, the usual set of questions followed: “Were you born there...but you were raised here?” And then he asked the million-dollar question.

“Do not give up the beginning is always the hardest... keep moving forward !!!” - Riza Budiman. I want to inspire people. I want people to look at me and say, “Because of YOU, I didn't give up.” So no. I am not giving up, not for anything. It is not okay to give up even though you're going to lose.

“Maturity is learning to walk away from people and situations that threaten your peace of mind, self-respect, values, morals or self-worth”, Anonymous. This quote describes perfectly one of the most important characters in the well-known book, To Kill a Mockingbird. The book, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, is a story about a young girl named Scout, her brother Jem, and their single father Atticus. The book tells a story about the rough life living in southern Alabama in the early 1930’s tackling serious topics such as racism and rape, which makes to book even more important to our present day society. The considerate, well-rounded, and wise Atticus Finch has served as a role model to many readers since the publishing of To Kill a Mockingbird.

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