Hypocrisy In To Kill A Mockingbird

In Harper Lee’s novel ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’, the main character Scout’s journey of maturation is charted as she progresses in her moral education and gains a broader, more adult perspective of the world around her. Scout learns the vital need for utilising tolerance, compassion and empathy when dealing with others, no matter an individual’s reputation or the circumstance. She is also exposed to the terrible injustice and racial prejudice that overcomes Maycomb’s community, and sees how this outright bigotry has severe consequences. Atticus also teaches Scout the meaning of true courage, in both a physical and a moral sense, and how true bravery is often not appreciated by the majority. Harper

What it Means to Kill a Mocking Bird: an in depth analysis of the morals in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird

Intolerance is the unwillingness to accept views, beliefs, or behavior that differ from one's own. In To Kill A Mockingbird, the society of Maycomb, Alabama is very intolerant, as is Scout in the beginning of the novel. Towards the end, however as Scout grows, she starts to view the world differently and become more accepting of people's lives that differ from hers. Scout develops as a character from an innocent, intolerant little girl to a more knowledgeable and understanding human being.

To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, has been challenged dozens of times because it has been claimed it does not benefit the public, but in reality, the book benefits the public more than they think. In To Kill a Mockingbird, there are very valuable lessons that are taught, but parents are too afraid to let their children learn the truth. The book still relates to today’s events and causes us to realize how similar they are. To continue, while book may have some negative points, there are more influential positive messages, and it still relates to current events.

If you were a parent would you want the best for your kids? Would you want to teach them to search out for the true meaning of dignity and respect? This was the goal of one father, Atticus Finch. Being a nearly fifty-year-old man with extremely young children he wanted to share his wisdom and firsthand experiences with his children to shape them into a respectable young man and woman. Throughout his life, Atticus is taught many experiences himself about not judging someone, and to stand up for the helpless and defenseless. Some important morals that he carried through to teach his children in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird is to never judge someone by their social class or race, and to fight for the justice of all the people of Maycomb.

In chapter 24 of To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee satirizes Aunt Alexandra and the ladies missionary society by focusing on Mrs. Grace Merriweather, Lee characterizes her as being hypocritical. The satire is demonstrated when Mrs. Merriweather contradicts herself while scolding Sophy for not being Christian-like, when she isn’t either. “‘You are simply not being a Christian today. Jesus Christ never went around grumbling and complaining,’” (Chunk 3). She complains of her servant’s attitude and quotes “...there’s nothing more distracting than a sulky darky,”. Meanwhile, she’s in a missionary society meeting talking poorly of the woman who helps her life function orderly. At the same time, Lee also brings in the tribe, Mrunas and brings in horation

In Harper Lee’s ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’, one of the most prominent themes used in the novel is the action of intolerance and the affect it has on all people. The theme of intolerance is fully explored in the case of Tom Robinson and the underlying racism shown in the treatment of him. Intolerance is met by all three main characters, Scout, Atticus and Jem but is experience by many of the other supporting characters. There was no one kind of intolerant person; they all came from different background, which is testimony to the point of the book ‘You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of views.’ This quote shows that you have no idea why a person does what they do until you experience things from their

As Scout begins to consider people?s opinions about prejudicial behavior she soon feels obligated to understand these racial judgments. Scout, being the curious and forthright girl she is, feels that only way to do so is by interrogating these estimations. ?As Atticus had once advised me to do, I tried to climb into Jem?s skin and walk around in it? (57). At this specific point in the novel, it is clear that Scout has learned a valuable lesson. The social lesson accomplished is never to judge anyone before determining their past experiences or hardships. Not only Scout?s social well-being, but her mental and emotional well-being progress extensively throughout the events of the novel. This is clearly defined by the following quote. ?Atticus had promised me he would wear me out if he ever heard of me fighting anymore, I was far too old and too big for such childish things, and the sooner I learned to hold it in, the better off everybody would be?(74). The quote stated by Scout proves that she is willing to mature at such a crucial time as the trial. She discovers that it is more important for Atticus to focus on the defending of Tom Robinson, a Negro accused of raping Mayella Ewell, instead of focusing on her minor problems. This particular sacrifice portrays the fact that Scout is beginning to realize the amount of prejudice in the town and wants her father to help people accept racial differences. As Scout?s journey through racial

Black and white, right and wrong; do decisions that simple and clear even exist? Does a decision ever mean gaining everything without giving anything up? Many characters in To Kill A Mockingbird are forced to make difficult, heart wrenching decisions that have no clear right answer. Harper Lee presents many of these important decisions in To Kill A Mockingbird as ethical dilemmas, or situations that require a choice between two difficult alternatives. Both of these alternatives have unpleasant aspects and question morals and ethics. A person is put in an awkward position, with their mind saying contradicting things. These dilemmas are presented in many different ways. The

José Emilio Pacheco says “We are all hypocrites. We cannot see ourselves or judge ourselves the way we see and judge others.” Hypocrisy is demonstrated and observed on an everyday basis in our society, and even in the rural town of Maycomb in the 1930s it is evident as well. In To Kill a Mockingbird, two children by the names of Scout and Jem start to see hypocrisy more and more frequently because of the events that happen to unfold. This includes , including an african american young man accused of something he did not do. This amazing novel by Harper Lee shows that hypocrisy is closely linked to privilege, and a dominating opinion about others. The characters Miss Gates and Mrs. Merriweather are great examples of hypocrisy and Atticus is a great counterexample, showing an effort of being larger than others in Maycomb.

Scout was contemplating the classroom discussion of Hitler. She continued to be absorbed in thought about Hitler and the Jews as the class moved on to math. Harper Lee writes Scout’s thoughts about the discussion of the persecution of the Jews, “This would not do. One maniac and millions of German folks. Looked to me like they’d shut Hitler in a pen instead of letting him shut them up” (329). Scout was conflicted because she had been taught by Atticus the correct moral standard which was to defend the weak and stand up for others. She was puzzled as to why no one stood up for the Jews. She did not understand how this happened. She had been taught to help the lesser, yet no one did that for the Jews. After the classroom discussion of Hitler, Scout goes to her father, Atticus, to get clarification about the confusion she was having. “But it’s okay to hate Hitler?” “It is not,” he said. “It’s not okay to hate anybody” (330). This is another example of the upstanding moral character of Atticus which was demonstrated throughout Scout’s upbringing. He had taught Scout that she is not to hate others, but this causes Scout internal conflict. Atticus called Hitler a maniac which would make it seem to her okay to hate him because of all the horrible things he had done to the Jews. However, he tells her that she is not to hate anyone. The theme of hypocrisy is explored

An award winning novel, To Kill A Mockingbird was brilliantly written by author Harper Lee, intertwining multiple themes to create a classic piece of American literature to represent white southern ethics of the 1930s. A common theme throughout the novel, hypocrisy is a method for Harper Lee to communicate an underlying message to readers. Hypocrisy reflects how societies, communities and the church benefits from it as a means for being ignorant of oneself’s wrongdoings and sins, placing blame elsewhere as a matter of cynical pride, no doubt hurting others in the process. An example of a character who effectively represents southern hypocrisy is Miss Mayella Ewell, who cynically condemns Tom Robinson to preserve the little remains of her

Morality is not a virtue that many can tolerate without a conscience. It was considered the critical awareness of humanity's standards of conduct that are accepted as proper. Yet, for Scout, morality becomes not only a principle, but also a necessity in order for her to survive in the prejudiced society of Maycomb County. It is solely the essence of ethics that causes her to frown upon the injustices brought about by intolerance. Thus, Scout's maturity towards understanding the vitality of morality allows her to become a noble individual in an unjust social order.

A moral: “To be concerned with the principles of right and wrong behaviour, and the goodness or badness of a character”. Harper Lee’s, “To Kill a Mockingbird”, evidently shows the importance of morals, and how Jem and Scout's development is affected and modified as the plot unfolds. In the novel “To Kill a Mockingbird”, there are multiple debatable morals induced by Jem and Scout, and both their ways of being. Scout was able to progress throughout the plot, exceeding herself along the way. Jem as well had an increase of growth as the novel developed.

Harper Lee's ‘To kill a Mockingbird’ explores the prejudicial issues which plague over the town Maycomb. Harper Lee uses the trial of Tom Robinson a black man accused of rape on a young white girl, Mayella as a central theme to portray the prominence of racial discrimination in Maycomb. The racial prejudice is also widely shown through the characterisation of Atticus. Having Scout as the narrator allows Harper Lee to highlight the gender inequity through a youthful unbiased perspective. The chauvinistic attitudes and prejudiced views of most of the town’s folk leaves Maycombs social hierarchy in an unfair order, victimising many of the town’s people due to their socially non-conforming habits some ‘socially unaccepted people’ including Boo