Influence Of Characters In To Kill A Mockingbird, By Harper Lee

Today’s society is damaged with the results of people doing terrible things to each other. Peoples actions can make or break lives.The novel To Kill A Mockingbird, is about a little girl, her Brother, their Dad, and the negro they all fight to defend. The main character scout and her older brother Jem, get into all sorts of dilemmas in the small town of Maycomb, Alabama. As they learn new valuable lessons about life, they also pick up that the small town they grow up in is not as clean and safe as it seems. The father, Atticus Finch is a kind hearted soul who was given the case of Tom Robinson, a negro accused of Raping a white woman. As soon as Atticus was given the case he aimed to defend Tom but a faulty jury made sure it did not happen.To

Harper Lee is a famous author who wrote the award winning novel To Kill a Mockingbird. She grew up in the heart of Alabama and tied in many aspects of her southern childhood into the novel. There are historical and biological influences in the book To Kill a Mockingbird that reflect Lee’s life and the society around her during the 1930s.

‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ is a novel written by Harper Lee. It is set during the early 20th Century in the fictional town of Maycomb. Lee has decided to write the novel from a child’s point of view because a child is innocent but as the novel progresses the narrator, Scout, loses her innocence as she deals with the complications of her father being a lawyer. The novel revolves around racism and Scout sees discrimination wherever she goes whether it is racial or social prejudice. The town’s people agree with the idea that whites are superior to blacks. An example of this is when Atticus, Scout’s father, has to defend a black man who is accused of raping Bob Ewell’s daughter.

Atticus said, “They’ve done it befor and they did it tonight and they’ll do it again and when they do it-seems that only children weep”(Lee 285). To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel written by Harper Lee. It is about two siblings , Jem and Scout, who live in a small town called Maycomb. Their father Atticus, is a well known lawyer, who is defending an African American that was accused of raping a white women. Throughout the novel, Jem and Scout are introduced to discrimination and learn that it’s an everlasting problem. Prejudice and discrimination are important themes in To Kill a Mockingbird because of racism, sexism, and ageism.

As Lemony Snicket wrote in The Blank Book, “People don’t always get what they deserve in this world.” 1930s America was fraught with racism, especially in the southern states. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, a Negro man by the name of Tom Robinson was put on trial. Although he was not guilty, the jury convicted him because of the colour of his skin. During the trial, others showed injustice towards Tom and people that were on his side. As Tom’s lawyer, Atticus Finch was not admired by many of the white citizens of Maycomb, the town in which the novel takes place. Although Atticus and Jean Louise Finch (Scout) were white, they were still treated unjustly as a result of helping and supporting Tom Robinson. Scout, Atticus’

As children grow up, they open their eyes to the harsh truths in the world around them that they once did not understand or question. This is experienced by the main characters of Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird. The story is of a girl called Scout and her older brother, Jem, who go through the trials of growing up in the fictional small Southern town of Maycomb, Alabama in the 1930s. Racism is rampant in the mindset of the townspeople, shown when the children’s lawyer father, Atticus, takes the case of an obviously innocent African-American man and they convict him in their hearts before the trial even starts. Through this all, we can see the theme of loss of innocence in the children. Lee uses characterization to portray

Matt Berman from Common Sense Media commented, “This richly textured novel, woven from the strands of small-town life, lets readers walk in the shoes of one fully realized character after another.” To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, one of the major messages is identity. Harper Lee lets the people look into the perspectives and identity of some of the characters that make it seem very life-like. In the novel, many characters possess both admirable and dislikable qualities which are shown through their actions. With the nurturing of her father, Scout contains the charming qualities of being courage and mature for her age. The father that instilled these characteristics in Scout, is Atticus Finch. While dealing with the stressful case of Tom Robinson, Atticus maintains to keep the likable aspects of sympathy and strong will. The antagonist in this novel fighting against Tom Robinson is Bob Ewell. Bob Ewell has instilled, in him, the terrible qualities of cruelty and racism. These life-like characters that Harper Lee illustrates gives people a clear vision of who the characters portray.

In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee, there are many characters that demonstrate heroic qualities. The story is narrated by a young girl named Scout Finch who lives in Maycomb County Alabama in the 1930’s. There is a lot of racial prejudice in Maycomb County and Scout’s father, Atticus, is a lawyer defending a black man named Tom Robinson. In the novel, Atticus, Scout, and Scout’s brother Jem have to overcome many insults and bullying because Atticus is defending a black man. While the trial is going on, Scout and Jem befriend their mysterious neighbor whom they have never even seen. Through this friendship and the trial Scout and Jem are able to open their eyes to the injustices and prejudices of the people of Maycomb. Scout, Atticus, and Tom Robinson are all heroes in the small town of Maycomb.

Harper Lee, author of the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, acknowledged the prejudice in 1930’s America. This novel won the Pulitzer Prize for its strength in upholding the prejudice in a small town in the south. To Kill a Mockingbird is set in a town called Maycomb, where a family of three and their cook lives and deals with this animosity everyday. Atticus, the father, is a well-respected lawyer and Alabama state legislator. He chooses to defend African American Tom Robinson against charges of assault against Caucasian Mayella Ewell. Although Atticus knows that he would not win the case, he still wants to defend Tom to teach his children, Jem and Scout, a valuable lesson. Harper Lee made the right decision in having Atticus Finch defend Tom Robinson; however, the decision came with consequences (Lee).

“To Kill a Mockingbird” examines the very central theme of man’s inhumanity to man. The many types of inhumanity, whether it is intentional or not, is seen throughout the novel in its many forms. It is shown through the ignorance and prejudice of the people in the small town of Maycomb, Alabama. Most examples of inhumanity found in the novel are not as innocent as Scout and Jem’s actions. It is evident that racism of all kinds affects the everyday lives of many people. Although this novel may be fictional, the conflicts are as real and valid in the world of Scout and Jem Finch as they are in reality today. The reader witnesses Bob Ewell’s inhumanity towards his daughter, and pretty much everyone he comes in contact with, the inhumanity shown by the Radley’s as well as the other Maycomb citizens towards Boo Radley and lastly, the inhumanity shown by the white people in Maycomb towards the Blacks.

In Harper Lee's novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, the author explores the issue of justice using the symbol of the mockingbird. Placed in, the 1930s, a time of great depression and inequality, the book presents injustice acts to the most kind yet blamed citizens of the town Maycomb. The symbolism of the mockingbird and the characters are essential for the message of Harper Lees novel because the kind, but African-American Tom Robinson is unfairly put on trial for the “rape” of Mayella Ewell. Also, Arthur “Boo” Radley is victimized by the rumors the towns people have created about him, forcing him to live alone inside his house with his brother, Nathan Radley. Lastly Atticus Finch, is known by the town for being a good human being and sticking

In the 1962 novel, To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee, shows how racism can impact a society in a negative way through character construction because it is a reoccurring problem. In chapter 15; while Tom Robinson awaits his trial, he is transferred to the Maycomb jail. At ten o’clock pm, Atticus is on his way to the jailhouse; Scout, Jem, and Dill follow secretively. When Atticus got to the jail, he sat outside the doors and read; meanwhile the kids are hiding and spying on him. In the middle of Atticus is reading, four cars pull up, a group of men get out of the cars and tell Atticus to move away from the jailhouse doors. The men want Tom Robinson to get released; so that they can severely beat him and possibly murder him, simply because of the color of his skin.  The characters in To Kill a Mockingbird are all constructed differently. Some characters are constructed to be extremely closed-mindedly prejudice, while others are constructed to be open-minded and accepting of differences. Although the book is set in an earlier generation, concepts of the book are extremely relevant today.

Particularly how Scout described Maycomb made me feel that the people residing there had no purpose. For example the phrases she uses such as “for there was nowhere to go” or “ nothing to see outside the boundaries of Maycomb County.”, depicted that the town was the only place to be at, that nothing was important outside of Maycomb.

“Why do you identify as Ethiopian-American?” my 10th grade English teacher asked me, a valid question I would not forget anytime soon. Our class was discussing how the protagonist in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout, struggled to find her identity. To engage the class, our teacher asked what we identify ourselves as and why we labeled ourselves as such. Never the one to miss the chance to boast my east African heritage, my right hand soared up. After I told him, the usual set of questions followed: “Were you born there...but you were raised here?” And then he asked the million-dollar question.

Nelson Mandela, former President of South Africa, once said, “I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.” Mandela was an anti-apartheid revolutionary, politician, and philanthropist. His life experiences and the quote he left us with show a direct reflection to the lives in many characters in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. In this novel, one of the main characters was Atticus Finch. Mr. Finch’s life was very similar to Mr. Mandela’s, as he was appointed to represent Tom Robinson for the charge of rape against a white woman in Maycomb, Alabama. Deep inside, the reader can feel Atticus’ internal fear, but his courage to teach his family and community right from wrong before, during, and after the trial proved that he conquered that fear. In today’s society, diversity is welcomed. Thanks to many important events in our history people of all races and colors are treated equally. There is much more acceptance than there was in the setting of this novel. This story took place in the deep south in the 1930’s. The conflict centers around a white family with a black housekeeper who is directly involved in a court case between a white woman and a black man. A relationship was involved. This hearing raised the race issue to the people of Maycomb when the facts were pretty obvious that the black man was innocent. In those days, interacial relationships and blacks