Critical Lens: to 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.

Folks." Scout was trying to say that all people are created equal. No one, by nature, is superior to anybody else. This is a very contrary view to what most people believed at that time, especially in the South. There was prejudice between races and prejudice between families. The most obvious theme of the book is racism. Staged in the early 1930’s in southern Alabama, racism was still undeniably present. Even though the amendments which freed slaves and gave them rights were passed more than sixty years prior, the culture of the south intertwined with racism. Interracial marriages were illegal. Different races could not attend the same schools. It was the law that whites and blacks could not even be put together in the same jail cells. Looking at these things, one can only imagine the upheaval when a Negro was accused of raping a white woman: but did this stop Atticus from standing up for justice? No, it didn’t. He knew perfectly well how criticizing eyes would view the case; no matter how glaring the evidence was, the people wouldn’t accept an African American’s word over a white man’s. Atticus saw all people as equal, regardless of their skin color and he knew what was the right thing to do. He was a friend and ally to the African American community and they respected them for it. Another example is the Cunningham family. When Walter comes over for lunch, Scout criticizes him but

Yet Perry’s childhood bliss was taken from him, somehow creating his current disposition, the true purpose is the falling of unity from inside the people of Holcomb, therefore; pinning every person against another. A dark curtain that falls over the children, parents, farmhands, hunting regulars, and police officials. A curtain that keeps them apart from one another because they are lost in the infinite blackness that surrounds them, an evil they let seep into their minds and imaginations.

Not every person's perspective in a society is the same. Our perspectives differ due to how we were raised and our personal beliefs. In the novel, To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Lee bases the story from a six year old girl's perspective. We refer to this character as Jean Louise Finch, or more commonly known, Scout. Her perspective and beliefs are most evident when she gets into a fight with a farm boy named Walter Cunningham, when she and her twelve year old brother Jem go protect their dad Atticus, a lawyer, at the County Jail and when she protects a neighbour across the street from a distressing situation.

To Kill A Mockingbird is a universally beloved book that perfectly encapsulates being a child and growing up in the south. Though the times have changed, many of the experiences that Scout and Jem have are shared by children today, from an overactive imagination to playing with the neighborhood kids during the summer to a universal dislike of school shared by most young children. Not everything in TKAM is pretty; though Maycomb might seem like a sweet innocent town from the outside, on the inside however, anger, hatred, and racism run rampant. The town where everyone goes to church sunday is the same town that formed a lynch mob and would have killed Tom Robinson had it not been for Atticus and Scout. Race relations and social justice take

The Novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is story about two young kids, Jem and Scout, who are raised by their a father Atticus in a town called Maycomb during the 1930’s. The family sees a different side of the town when a case is brought into town and Atticus, the father has to defend a black man. One of the main themes in the story is racism and one can see that from the very start. The influence on the two children Jem and Scout ironically helps them. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, the racist views of Maycomb throughout the story aids the development of Jem and Scout by forcing them to grow up, mature and develop an understanding for their towns beliefs as well as their own.

“I guess tom was tired of white men’s chances and prefers to take his own”. In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee It shows the racism between whites and colored people to show how it can affect our day to day lives. Through the character Tom Robinson Harper Lee shows the struggle that colored people go through in their lifetime.

Twenty-seven years in prison could not shake his resolve to transform laws in South Africa. Innocent people shot down in front of him did not scare him away. After his death, NBC News reports that “…Mandela was a figure of enormous moral influence—a symbol of revolution, resistance, and triumph over racial segregation” (Connor). Similarly, Harper Lee shows us in To Kill a Mockingbird that one person standing alone has the power to influence the minds of people and challenge them to make sensible decisions. There will be many obstacles to overcome but one person can change society’s actions by taking courage to stand up for what’s right and urge other people to view situations differently.

Racism has been a huge issue for hundreds of years. Especially in the setting that the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, takes place in. In the south during the 1930s, racism was a major problem. It was so common that children were raised to be racists, however Jem and Scout were raised differently. Atticus, their father, was a great man and did not follow the other community members in acting racist.

The theme of racial injustice plays out primarily in the court during the trial of Tom Robinson, a black cripple, when Atticus thoroughly proves that Tom is completely innocent, even with the judge agreeing with their case, a jury consisting of racists deems Tom guilty, sentencing him to death. Atticus explains to Jem and Scout, “In our courts, when it’s a white man’s word against a black man’s word, the white always wins. They’re ugly, but these are the facts of life,” showing how racism is prevalent in not just their community, but in the court systems as well. Aside from the trial, racial injustice is woven throughout the story; much of Maycomb treats the black population scornfully, people use often use racial slurs, and black people either work for much less than a white man, or do dirty or unsafe work that their society feels whites shouldn’t do. In short, being exposed to these events help Scout understand the racial injustices surrounding

The concept of courage is more philosophical rather than something that is real. Its a fact that can’t be substantiated, courage is a non tangible feeling that lies within one's heart and psyche. It isn’t something that you're born with, it's something you work for as you grow older. When the day comes when you have to battle the inner demons that make your life discontented you’ll need to conquer in order to overcome it once and for all.After you overcome the thing that's pains you the most you’ll have the face of courage. The novel, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, it revolves around the idea of courage but to the farthest extremity. The characters are more than just literary entities that inhabit the book, they are individuals

In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout grows up in a small town of Maycomb County. Maycomb is a small town in Alabama during the Great Depression. Scout was being raised during a time when everyone did the same thing or acted the same way. Most were racist. Her father, Atticus, has tried to instill into her and her older brother, Jem, that you should accept everyone. In part one of the story, it is explains how Jem and Scout grew up looking at the world. Each chapter is about the kids aging along with seeing the world in new ways. The ideas that their father put in them stayed fresh in their minds as they learned how to respect and see people differently. Part two was much different, the Tom Robinson trial started. Tom Robinson was an African American wrongfully accused of raping a white girl named Mayella Ewell. The judge knew that he had to choose wisely when appointing a lawyer for the defendant. This is where the things Atticus taught Jem and Scout become important. Atticus was the only lawyer that would rightfully defend a man of a different color. No

Whether Karmen placed her touch so close to his crotch on purpose, Duane wasn't certain, and was not about to ask. The thief had quickly become accustomed to the woman's quick wit, and ability to reciprocate, with interest, any teasing of his own, and though he'd usually have no problem with engaging her, or indeed sliding her fingers subtly higher as a test to see if and when she'd stop him, this wasn't the time. Not when he'd be required to concentrate on the road, with his own hands mostly occupied, for the next one hundred miles, whilst she'd be totally free to do as she wished. There could only be one winner. Duke attempted to pretend nonchalance, which wasn't an easy task, and a fact likely caught by the woman. Thankfully, she said nothing.

The first theme is prejudice. In Chapters 1-11 we discover that the prejudice, especially racial, is extreme in Maycomb. The first few chapters play an integral part in the readers understanding of the treatment of Tom Robinson during the trial, without the racism the story would be completely different. By reading part one of the book we see that racism is a constant presence in Maycomb and is therefore seen as a normal everyday attitude, we can see this in the constant use of the word ‘nigga’ a word that we now consider inappropriate. The other way the readers can understand the racism is in the casual racist comments that Jem and Scout (two

Within the book ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’, Harper Lee has portrayed the importance of considering points of view from other people’s perspective and not being able to understand them until you have walked in their shoes. Many characters in this book, especially Jean Louise Finch (Scout) and Atticus Finch have shown that walking in someone else’s shoes can be helpful in the worst of times.