Character Analysis : To Kill A Mockingbird

Strength doesn’t come from what you can do. It comes from overcoming the things you once thought you couldn’t.”

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.

Atticus teaches his children to not discriminate and to treat everyone politely which proves him to be a good parent. Along with Atticus’confession towards racist white men, he also shows more compassion. After what seems to be a rigged final decision about the Tom Robinson case, Atticus opens up about his opinion on the treatment of colored people in the courtroom. Going against the social norms at the time, Atticus communicates honestly to his children that "The one place where a man ought to get a square deal is in a courtroom, be he any color of the rainbow” meaning that people should stop taking grudges to the courtroom and make the honest and ethical decision (Lee 252). Atticus is telling his children that taking hatred to the court is unlawful and prejudice.

“To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee is an exceedingly powerful novel. It includes many significant minor themes such as racism and hatred which leave the reader to have grown more attentive to the past once they complete the book. The book takes place in Maycomb County Alabama during the great depression. During this period there was a great deal of hate and prejudice towards people of color, in addition to a great regard to social class. The novels protagonists, Atticus Finch a well-respected lawyer and his children Jeremy “Jem” Finch and Jean Louise “Scout” Finch are a few of the towns occupants who respect others regardless of social class or race. For this reason, Atticus has no objections

To begin, Lee portrays Tom Robinson and Boo Radley as the true mockingbirds of the novel, both harmless and good. Although one is black and the other is white, by juxtaposing these two characters, Lee shows that injustice and prejudice reaches beyond the boundary of skin color. Throughout the novel, Jem and Scout’s opinions on Boo change drastically. At first, Boo is merely the product of childhood superstition. However, as Boo begins to show acts of kindness, such as leaving presents in his tree and tailoring Jem’s pants, the children’s views on Boo change, and rather than a superstition, Boo becomes real. Boo Radley, a child with a reputation besmirched by the rumors of Maycomb County, reveals the true nature in his heart after saving Jem and Scout from Bob Ewell by killing him. Despite the pain Boo has suffered from continuous torment and harsh treatment from his father, he proves the ultimate symbol of a mockingbird.

“She did something that in our society is unspeakable: she kissed a black man” (page 272). It is easy to interpret this character as a villian in To Kill a Mockingbird, but is she honestly a victim? This girl has grown up in poverty, has been beaten, and has had to take care of an entire household. Unfortunately, there is nothing that can be done to change that. She lives a painful lifestyle, and that lifestyle has transformed her into the person she will always be. Mayella Violet Ewell’s important character attributes, mistreated, skeptical, and melodramatic, have forged her into the villain that most people see.

"The one thing that doesn’t abide by majority rule is a person’s conscience”(140). In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird novel, where a lawyer in the 1930’s has to defend a black man, his morals and values are what drive him to wholeheartedly defend that man. While defending a black man is going to damage the reputation and career for Atticus Finch, the lawyer, that is not his dilemma going in to the case. Atticus adores his kids more than anything and that is why he earnestly declares, “ I hope and pray I can get Jem and Scout through it without bitterness”(117). It is impossible for Atticus to protect Jem and Scout from everything that will arise from defending a black man, but he knows that his children learning to ignore hateful uttered words by their peers is better than the other outcome.

Can you recollect a person that you hate all the time? Is this person rude, not sociable, emotionally abusive, or just plain racist? In To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the novel digs deep into the roots of Social Classes. One of these classes, in particular, is “White Trash.” “White Trash” is a class that has the poor white people that don’t contribute much to society and sometimes even make the society worse. There is one character that everyone loathes in Maycomb, and he is Mr. Ewell. Harper Lee portrays Mr. Ewell and his kids as uneducated, racist, murderous pigs because of three reasons. This family disrespects other members of the community in cruel ways, abuses their power by accusing a black man of rape, and tries to kill two

“The one thing that doesn’t abide by majority rule is a person’s conscience,” (Lee 120). This quote from To Kill a Mockingbird is a good representation of the book. The book is set in the fictional town of Maycomb, Alabama during the Great Depression. Jean Louise (Scout) Finch, narrates the story of herself and her family facing the racial prejudices of the time. When her father Atticus, defends an innocent black man in a rape trial, Maycomb turns on Scout's family. Atticus, Scout, and her brother Jem stand up for what they believe in even if their neighbors disagree. By analyzing Harper Lee’s use of symbolism and tone, the reader can learn that courage isn’t physical strength, you gain morals as you grow, and prejudice kills innocence.

In the book To Kill a Mockingbird and in the movie by the same name have a scene where the character named Atticus must shoot a mad dog coming up the street. In the book, it goes into great detail of the events leading up to the mad dog incident, as stated in To Kill a Mockingbird,¨ “What’s he doing?”

In her coming-of-age novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee, portrays the main character Jean Louise “Scout” Finch to reveal to the causes and effects of lies in the small southern town, Maycomb County. In Maycomb County, Alabama, the civilians of the town make “telling lies” a helpful thing to do. Most of the people who live in the town come up with lies to protect themselves and other, affecting the lives of innocents. This harmful and selfish act harms the town and its citizens in many ways. Through the use of characterization, rising actions, and falling actions, Lee portrays gossip spreading and telling lies have a big impact on the town, Maycomb.

Commonly, everyone thinks that the age that kids start to show personality traits corresponding with their adulthood traits is between 14-20. The process of growing up and becoming an adult may be difficult, but it is also a very important part of life. Many authors use this concept as a main idea in their novels. In the book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the author expresses the responsibilities of maturing and becoming an adult by how the main characters develop throughout the story.

To Kill a MockingBird has many characters, and these characters have backgrounds and traits. Music has something to do with all of these characters. As music has the ability to show or make a listener feel the character’s, well, character. This isn’t different for any character in To Kill a MockingBird. I’ll be choosing three characters to give songs to, and I’ll be giving one song to each character. These songs remind me of these characters. It can be because of a single lyric, or just how the feel of the song is. Now, let’s begin by showing what songs fit the characters of the classic story, To Kill a MockingBird. My first character will be Bob Ewell. For Bob, I want to use the song “Thriller” by Michael Jackson. It describes evil and the dark, which describes him and his

“Feed your child ideas of peace, harmony and compassion but at the same time give them courage to defend their identity and dignity.” A quote written by Abhijit Naskar in a study of child psychology. Children are molded by the milieu they are raised in, as apparent throughout the story of To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Countless times we are exposed to children who are raised in different environments, from the Finchs to Ewells to even the Cunninghams. While we follow Scout, a 6 year old girl, and Jem, a 10 year old boy, through the story, we get to see their characters’ personalities evolve and change due to when and where they grew up at. We also get to experience how they interact and compare with each other as we progress. {}{}{}

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