How To Kill A Mockingbird Be Taught In Schools

In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the trial in the novel is one of the most important incidents that takes place in the text. It is very important to our understanding of the text as a whole as it shows the racial discrimination in that time period of the 1920 – 1930’s and how society in the 20th century has improved and has become more accepting of different races throughout the world as a whole. The topics that will be discussed in this essay are the trial and how it represented a prejudiced society, what happened after the trial and the effects that the trial had on the children.

To Kill A Mockingbird is an important book that has continued to teach people about race and prejudice for over 50 years. Harper Lee’s message is the harsh reality of how prejudice is built into society and is one of the most important messages of the 20th and 21st centuries. This book teaches us to stand up to prejudice and spread more love. It teaches us to look at things from another person's point of view and to be accepting of those who are different from us. Even to this day we face issues involving prejudice such as police brutality, the achievement gap, homophobia, and equal

In the country town of Maycomb, people were easily influenced so prejudice was shown by most. The citizens knew that the colour of your skin determined your place in life and that Negroes were to be treated differently. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, there was only one true character that portrayed the true essence of tolerance. Atticus Finch stood on his own two feet, and never formed an opinion unless he had prior knowledge on the particular person or situation. Throughout the entirety of this novel, it was Atticus alone who not only was tolerant, but set an exemplarily example to his children, and the town, of how knowing before judging is not only important, but vital to society. “First of all…if you can learn a simple trick Scout, you’ll get along better with all kinds of folks. You never really understand a person till you consider things from his point of view…until you climb into his skin and walk around in it” (p.33). This is a perfect example of how Atticus passes on his knowledge to his children, and educates them on how respect

The book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee should be read and taught in school considering the facts that it teaches the important message of learning to stand in other’s shoes, and that the reader can see the wide range of diversity such as socioeconomic status and race. In the real world, we will come across many different people with different backgrounds and views. It is easy to look at those people and think, “they are strange,” or “they don’t understand anything.” I admit, before reading this book I was insensitive to this and didn’t even realize when I looked at people and made those assumptions. This book has helped me be not so judgmental and be able to see from other people’s point of view. While some may say this book shouldn’t be taught because it is “racist” or

Every child is born as a clean slate, with no concept of racism and prejudice whatsoever. However, it is their environment, and most importantly their education, which shapes them into a person and defines who they are. But a very important question exists. How do you define education? The acquisition of plain knowledge? Or the gaining of moral beliefs and values?

Growing up is a maze with many twists and turns. In Harper Lee's novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Jean Louise "Scout" Finch experiences many difficult situations as part of her coming of age. As Scout grows up in the rural Maycomb, Alabama, during the Great Depression, she faces problems with self-identity, racism, and her community. Harper Lee writes in a subtle yet impactful way about how Scout goes through this confusing stage, making her book a classic that every student should read. Recently To Kill a Mockingbird has been a controversial topic because a “school district in Mississippi announced that it was pulling the Pulitzer Prize-winning classic from its 8th-grade reading list” (Oprea 1). The school district worried that the book was uncomfortable for kids because of its use of explicit language. The school board stated that other books can convey the same lessons in more age-appropriate ways. The question is can these books convey the same lessons without using the language so vital in communicating the historical context of the novel. To Kill a Mockingbird is an important book that should not be banned in schools because it

To Kill a Mockingbird is a witty and well-written account of the realities of a “tired old town” (4) where there was “nothing to buy and nothing to buy it with” (4). Purposefully, it comes across not merely an innocently portrayed, yet eye-opening, story of a young girl start to grasp the inequalities of her society. Rather, it is accompanied by recollection of the unfortunate pillars of hate of the places Harper Lee matured in. We now perceive this account as an ‘archaic” and “ancient” recount of some historically frowned upon mindsets in an enthralling atmosphere upon which we pin historical quantities of prejudice, racism and most of all, bigotry. The unfortunate reality is that we look at history in a vacuum and ignore the occurrences of our own times. So although we, like Scout’s teachers teaching about the horrible acts of the Holocaust while being outspokenly racist, are able to analyze social inequalities in other places in time or the world yet refuse to open our eyes to the same prejudice, racism and bigotry today. To instance, when reading To Kill a Mockingbird , we often frown upon citizens for judging “folks” based on their family name and race, although, everyday, some member of our current society, such as police officers and employers, do the same thing and no one bats an eye. Alternatively, the issue which we definitely desperately desire to avoid, racism, is explicitly tackled in To Kill a Mockingbird to the point of viral awareness of the problem in

In this essay I will be describing and telling you whether or not To Kill A Mockingbird should or shouldn't be taught in the 9th grade. To Kill A Mockingbird is a very good and intellectual book to read. It is a winner of the pulitzer prize and a wonderful book it talks about this family(Atticus, Scout, and Jem) back in the day when black people didn't have many right and privileges. They live in a little town called birmingham Alabama, the kids father is a lawyer and is defending a black guy(Tom Robinson) that got accused of Rape. The reason for the father (Atticus)defending this man is because he knows that Tom Robinson didn’t rape this girl. Overall this book shows how you should act toward someone if you know they are not guilty even if they are black(Everyone Is Equal). So in my opinion this book should be taught in the 9th grade because it shows how white people acted toward blacks back in the day.

Many schools are taking books out of their curriculum because of the harsh and uncomfortable language and topics. The Biloxi School District had taken To Kill A Mockingbird out of their classrooms and Drake High School had even burned all copies of Slaughterhouse -Five. It is wrong that schools began taking books like that from their lesson plan because students should not be oblivious to these kinds of topics and it is sending the wrong message about the authors and their books.

In Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, prejudice and racism are embedded in the regional psyche of Maycomb, a miniscule town in Alabama. The narrator interpolates injustice and racism in Alabama during the 1930s, largely through the eyes of Scout, who was a child during this time, however, the adult Scout occasionally interjects with some adult observations. Furthermore, the citizens of Maycomb are stereotyped pervasively throughout the book. In Harper Lee’s To Kill Mockingbird, examples of racism, sexism, and social class are used to demonstrate how prejudice can corrupt a community.

“But now he’s turned out a nigger-lover we’ll never be able to walk the streets of Maycomb again. He’s ruining’ the family, that’s what he’s doing’.” (Lee 110). The power of hatred is one so strong, that it imprisons the Finches and African Americans of Maycomb County. In Alabama of 1920 to 1930, segregation is an established action of the Southerners, it’s a lifestyle. The slurs passed from the mouths of white Southerners and ending with the shooting of a black man, the ways of Maycomb County are ones seen as either shocking or common in today’s eyes. To Kill A Mockingbird is an eminent novel by Harper Lee that illustrates the aspects of discrimination and prejudice, tolerance and courage during a time in America where racial inequality

Imagine a world where evil and unjust actions are based on the color of skin; a world where some don’t even realize that they are prejudicing. In the book To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, these themes are present. People and how they commit evil, hypocritical, and unjust acts. We see these themes and great issues through the point of view of a child; the vigorous, youthful, elementary-aged Scout. Through this character Harper Lee shows the innocence of children, and what they go through in our inequitable world.

As the United States “progresses” in economic, educational and technological advancements we still are fighting for racial equality. With more than 50 years since the brown vs. board of education case there is still incidents like Ferguson, Baton Rouge, and Phiando Castile where many questions are still unanswered. However, Harper Lee dealt with these same problems in 1960 when she wrote To Kill a Mockingbird. Lee created an emotionally confronting story. Lee writes through the eyes of “Scout” a lawyer’s daughter in a small sleepy town of Maycomb in Alabama during the great depression. Throughout the book “Scout” learns coming of age lessons from Atticus and her own experiences. But when Atticus takes on a case defending a black man (Tom Robinson) convicted for rapping a white woman (Mayella Ewell) and is found guilty. “Scout” her brother Jem begin to understand the effects of the prejudices in society. Therefore, Lee applies the literary concepts of diction and tone to revel the truth that prejudices in society negatively affect the way people treat each other in To Kill a Mocking Bird.

Classic texts have the ability to remain timeless and obtain an ongoing relevance due to the powerful messages and ideas that readers are able to relate to. Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird {TKAMB} reflects Southern America in the 1930’s, the attitudes and perceptions of a small town called Maycomb, where Lee lives her young life through Scout who endures the negative implications that racial prejudice and class distinctions have on the environment as well as the importance of understanding and empathy. Throughout the novel, literary techniques effectively present important messages that resonate with audiences regardless of context, thus making this text classic.

In Harper Lees’s masterpiece, To Kill a Mockingbird, moral education is a theme that only seems to bloom within the Finch household and is severely lacking in all of Maycomb County. The main character, Scout Finch, is growing in an environment where manners and education matter, this is a quality that can be attributed to the teachings of Atticus Finch and Calpurnia. In a world that is corrupted by prejudice, moral education is form of behavior that stands out, Harper Lee provides examples of this in Calpurnia’s discipline at home, Atticus’s ethical guidance and explanations for the reasoning behind his defense of Tom Robinson, and Scout’s bewilderment at Ms. Gate’s hypocrisy. Moral education is a theme that plays a core role in the development of the title characters as well as the deterioration of the town’s moral standards.