In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, the character Scout has the personality trait of being aggressive. Scout also has a character trait of being unladylike. An example of how Scout is aggressive is that after Scout and her brother Jem had gotten there guns for Christmas they were headed to “the Landing”. Before they left their father had said they couldn’t take the guns with, she had already been planning on shooting her cousin. “ He declined to let us take our rifles to the Landing. ( I had already begun to think of shooting Francis)…” (Lee Pg. 106). This is an example of Scout being aggressive because she was thinking about shooting a family member. Shooting someone is considered aggressive behavior because it is purposefully causing
Racism is the belief that characteristics and abilities can be attributed to people simply based on their race and that some racial groups are superior to others. This has been a problem in our world forever. In to Kill a Mockingbird there are so many racist events and it reflects on the society as a whole till this day. The book setting was the 1930’s in a small county of Maycomb, where most people were racist and discriminatory. People think racism has died off, but it is still a huge problem. People choose to raise their children and teach them that racism is okay and that is how there is still racism today. There are so many statistics out there based on skin color that right there is even racist if everyone is equal why are there polls being taken separating people by the color of their skin?
How would you feel if you lived in a town where everyone discriminates you because of your color and treats you different only because your different and do you think that it would be fair to you and those around you? People these days believe that they have more power than others because they look different if they were put in there shoes they wouldn’t think the same and you wouldn’t too. Some people thinks that black man doesn’t compare with white men and they think they shouldn’t have any power when the truth is there is nothing truly different between them. The characters in TKAM live in a diverse community where blacks are different from whites in not the best ways. In that community they experience racism towards the people around them and sometimes to themselves as well. People in TKAM treat other people differently based on there color no matter what the situation is the white man always has more power than colored.
The scars and stains of racism are still deeply embedded in the American society (John Lewis www.BrainyQuotes.com). In the book To Kill a Mockingbird there are real life events that Harper Lee used. There are different ideas such as the Jim Crow laws, mob mentality, and the Scottsboro trials that Harper Lee uses to help her write her book.
“Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless,” by Mother Teresa. Mother Teresa’s quote about kindness can extend to more than kind words. It can also describe actions, and the effect in which they have on people. Kindness is a quality, which anyone can possess, even those who are unexpected to show it to others. This is shown through the way in which the characters interact in Harper Lee’s historical fiction novel To Kill A Mockingbird.
In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird many of the key themes of the story was Mob mentality, Racial profiling and Courage, all of the events that happened in the novel taught Scout and Jem a lesson, or demonstrate to them how the real world actually works. Many of the events that played out in the book, unfortunately still happens today. The primary reason why we learn history is to not repeat the same mistakes and I can’t say we learn much, we progress yes indeed, but declined in many different ways. What I infer is that America is lacking in is a leader not a dictator for instance, we need a Martin Luther King or a Malcolm X, the courage is lacking in that department, but there is also the fear factor, the thought of, ” Am I
In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper lee presents the idea that Respect is seen when one has great manners towards someone’s race, social class, or age. Social justice requires respect because No one would get along and the world would fall apart resulting in no rights, fights, and wars. The character Atticus Finch demonstrates respect by not showing that race or someone's social class is a factor in his judgment. He even shows being just by not letting scouts age get in the way of telling her the truth about everything.
It seems that the world has become so cruel to itself. Have you felt it? In the book, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, there are examples of cruelty as shown by the character, Boo Radley. “‘Scout, I think I’m beginning to understand why Boo Radley’s stayed shut up in the house all this time… it’s because he wants to stay inside.’” (Lee, 227) This quote comes from Jem Finch, talking about why he thought Boo stayed away from the rest of the world. There are also examples of cruelty shown by the characters Tom Robinson and Dolphus Raymond.
In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee shows through Atticus and Jem many examples of compassion, sympathy and tolerance. Harper Lee does a great job showing how Atticus and Jem can view things from a different perspective other than what everyone else in Maycomb believes. Compassion is shown when Atticus takes Tom Robinson's case. Jem shows a lot of sympathy for Tom Robinson during his trial and after he is convicted. A lot of tolerance is shown when Bob Ewell spits in Atticus’s face and he doesn't fight back.
Parenting is very challenging and there are many flaws but great reward to it. There are many struggles in parenting and in To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee Atticus Finch has a very good parenting style.
Don’t be a conformist. Don’t be common. Be an individual. Conformity, although prevalent in society past and present, is never the answer. As individuals, we were made to be unique. Our insight alone is greater than the elementary principles of the crowd. However, if we conform to societal beliefs, as many of the racists did in “To Kill a Mockingbird” (Harper Lee), then what are we? Uneducated, crowd-pleasing citizens who won’t form our own values. The inability to form our own values causes everyone to cast the same vote. No one expresses different opinions, every white man downgrades African Americans, every male is “superior” to every female, and every child is of lesser value to adults. So, by being an individual, although one may be yelled
People can experience evil without becoming evil by ignoring it, not caring what others think about them and overcoming evil with good. There is a lot of evil in the world and people have to do the best they can to experience evil without becoming evil.
Going against the preconceived notions of society can be very challenging. Atticus Finch displays bravery throughout To Kill A Mockingbird by standing up for his beliefs in all aspects of his life. Maycomb is a corrupt town full of preconceived judgements and unjustified assumptions. Rather than be a bystander to the misjudgements of his fellow townspeople, Atticus stays true to himself.
Homeland of Racism ¨About six-in-ten Americans (61%) say more changes are needed to achieve racial equality”(Renee Stepler,1). This quote demonstrates how a majority of people in America feel about the racial inequality of our country. Not only do minorities believe that this is true. Many whites also believe that changes must be made. In the book To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, there is an extraordinary amount of racial inequality throughout its duration.
In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, the author Harper Lee, uses conflict to express the idea that the innocence of a child can suppress a tense situation. You might ask “How could the innocence of a child do exactly that?” Well, sometimes all it takes is a brief conversation between two people to bring what could be a tragedy into nothing but a mistake. Take the lynch mob scene during the book as an example. The children, and their friend, follow their father to the county jail.
There were 17,250 people dead. This is the amount of people murdered last year in the U.S. alone. Why does this happen? Pure cruelty. There is tight tensions with the U.S. and North Korea that could start a nuclear war and kill most of us. Why is this possible? Cruelty between one another. This is just two examples of the cruelty in our world today and for the passed hundreds of years. In the book To Kill A Mockingbird cruelty plays a big part in the problems that go on in this small town in Alabama. I think if cruelty was eliminated Tom Robinson wouldn’t be dead, Boo Radley wouldn’t hide, and the whole view on equality between blacks and whites would change.