Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird Essay

hearts for us. That's why it's a sin to kill a mockingbird." It is a

Raising children in the era of Jim Crow laws provided a unique teaching experience for Atticus to provide to Scout and Jem. These laws followed the Southern societal ideas of the separation between races, but also demonstrated a division between a community where individuals held different moral ideas. To Kill a Mockingbird explores human morality from the perception of a six year old child, providing a different perspective on important issues of this time period. Scout’s understanding of morality develops from her once simple idea of an individual being either good or evil to a much more complete comprehension of its complexity. In retrospect, Scout as the narrator revels in her naivety and child-like innocence throughout her

Prejudice has caused the pain and suffering of others for many centuries. Some examples of this include the Holocaust and slavery in the United States. In to Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee racism was the cause of much agony to the blacks of a segregated South. Along with blacks, other groups of people are judged unfairly just because of their difference from others. The prejudice and bigotry of society causes the victimization of people with differences.

     Each character’s personality in the book To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee is intricately described, therefore giving the reader an image or idea of the kind of person he or she is. A picture of the character is formed in the mind with maybe rough edges but a soft heart on the inside. A character’s personality may be oversimplified by drawing shapes in symbolism, but the shapes may be helpful in perceiving the general extent of the characteristics. With a little help from Lee’s descriptions, I have been able to form images in my mind (and draw them on paper) of the personalities of Scout, Jem, Atticus, Dil, Calpurnia, Boo Radley, and Bob Ewell.

One person. Two worlds. Impacting the lives of others. Throughout To Kill A Mockingbird, the author Harper Lee, uses the main character, Scout, to demonstrate an idea that as you grow up, you gain greater understanding of the world. For this to be portrayed, Harper Lee brings in the character Calpurnia. Calpurnia is a black woman. A mother figure to Scout. The Finch’s maid and a person that exemplifies moral lessons and themes of the book. Scout views these moments to shape her “coming of age”.

As the teacher reads the verdict of Tom Robinson’s case in Harper Lee’s novel, “To Kill a Mockingbird,” the class gasped in unison. It was as if an icy chill blew through the room, for the hair on the backs of the students’ necks stood up. The issues that the book identifies is still poignantly present in our current time, and yet, the reader reacts to the story as if it were a distant memory. In other words, we experience the shock value in the book, as though it were completely foreign to us, notwithstanding the fact, that “To Kill a Mockingbird,” is set in the 1930’s of Maycomb, Alabama. The theme of social inequality, lack of perspective and empathy and the transition from a darkened senses of awareness (youth) to enlightenment, are three themes that are present in the novel and are read with shock, yet, we have become desensitized to these issues in our present day.

To Kill a Mockingbird, in an indirect way, is a story about the death of a “mockingbird” and the aftermath of the event. There is no literal mockingbird as a character within the story; rather; the mockingbird symbolizes the innocent characters within the story. One important mockingbird within the story was Arthur “Boo” Radley, a mysterious man who had, prior to the ending, never been the subject of a confirmed sighting in Scout’s time. According to Scout, he was, in his earlier years, involved in minor gang related activity, and now he is pretty much under the equivalent of house arrest. Allegedly, he stabbed his dad with a scissors once; since then, he became the subject of many rumors. Specifically, characters within the book said that

“Mockingbirds don’t do one thing except make music for us to enjoy. They don’t eat up people’s gardens, don’t nest in corncribs, they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” (page 103) Harper Lee explains that it is a sin to kill someone, (mockingbird) when all they do is sing and/or never harmed anyone. Single story is shown in To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, with the characters Tom Robinson, Boo Radley, and Dolphus Raymond. Tom was accused of beating and raping Mayella Ewell. The town looks at Boo Radley as the “killer of the night” when they don’t know anything about him, and it’s just an excuse. They look at Dolphus Raymond as the town drunk when really it’s just a cover up for hating the white society, and would rather live among the coloreds. Throughout To Kill A Mockingbird, a single story runs

In the early twentieth century, the United States was undergoing a dramatic social change. Slavery had been abolished decades before, but the southern states were still attempting to restrict social interaction among people of different races. In particular, blacks were subject to special Jim Crow laws which restricted their rights and attempted to keep the race inferior to whites. Even beyond these laws, however, blacks were feeling the pressure of prejudice. In the legal system, blacks were not judged by a group of their peers; rather, they were judged by a group of twelve white men. In serious court cases involving capital offenses, the outcome always proved to be a guilty verdict. In Harper

Often times, literature reflects the problems within a society. An author finds their character’s struggles and triumphs in the people of each era. Inspirations from real life events fuel not only great literature but also books that become remarkable social pieces. A perfect example is Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird. This novel is reflective of the 1930’s era. In the story racism runs rampant through society with only a noble few trying to stop it. The racism that is apparent and a focal point for the novel is, although fiction, closely matched to that of a racist era in America. Racism represents fear of the unknown in many themes in the book as well as in the daily aspect of life.

Harper Lee has incorporated the representation of her most meaningful statement in the title of her novel, To Kill A Mockingbird. The many points of discussion which surface in Lee's book would certainly have partially submerged the parallel she created between Tom Robinson and the mockingbird.

The Dictionary defines prejudice as, “an unfavorable opinion or feeling formed beforehand or without knowledge, thought, or reason.” There has been prejudice known throughout history, mostly against the blacks during and before the time of Martin Luther King Jr. In The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd and To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee there is clear evidence of prejudice against the blacks. In both of these novels, the readers are shown that Rosaleen Daise (The Secret Life of Bees) and Tom Robinson (To Kill a Mockingbird) are two characters affected the most by discrimination and prejudice.

My story is about really weird raccoon. It is one of those things that you have to be there. I’m a Boy Scout just put that out there. We went on a camping trip to Blackhawk and Minor Lake. With me and 15 other Scouts.

In the beginning of the novel, Jem describes Boo as “a six-and-a-half foot tall man, who dines on raw squirrel and any cat he could catch.” (p. 16) Towards the end of the novel Jem and Scout realize that Boo is kind and gentle. He connects with the children by putting chewing gum, pennies, and a watch in the knothole of a tree (p. 44). He even carves Jem and Scout out of soap (p.46) When Jem’s pants got hung on the fence Boo sewed up the pants and placed it neatly on the fence for him (p. 78) When Miss Maudie’s house was burning, Boo put a brown woolen blanket around Scout’s shoulders (p. 95). Another example symbolizing Boo is like a mockingbird is when he killed Bob Ewell and saved Jem and Scout walking home. Scout realizes that Boo Radley is really nice and sweet.

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee To be educated is to obtain or develop a certain knowledge or skill by a learning process. There are many distinct learning processes, some more explicit than others. In the first part of To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, education, in one form or another, is very significant. Both inside and outside of the classroom, Scout continually gains experience through education from both her brother, Jem, or by her wise and tolerant father, Atticus Finch. Although the education of children is more apparent in this novel, the education of adults is not otiose.