It 's Kill A Mockingbird, By Harper Lee

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’

“Human beings are poor examiners, subject to superstition, bias, prejudice, and a profound tendency to see what they want to see rather than what is really there” ~ Scott Peck. Harper Lee’s novel To Kill A Mockingbird abounds with the injustice produced by social, gender, and racial prejudice. The setting of the book takes place in the 1930s, where racism is a big deal in society. In the novel Harper Lee uses a mockingbird as an analogy to the characters. The Mockingbird is a symbol for Three Characters in the book, Atticus Finch, Tom Robinson, and Boo Radley. The people of Maycomb only know Boo Radley and Tom Robinson by what others say about them. These Characters are then characterized by other people 's viewpoints. In the novel there are many themes that are adjacent to our lives, the one that is found in To Kill A Mockingbird is Human Conflict comes from the inability for one to understand another. “ You never understand a person until you consider things from his point of view- until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” (39)

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee has been banned and/or challenged over thirty times since its publication in 1960. Effectively preventing many students from enjoying the novel and benefitting from its message. To ignore racism is no different than denying it ever existed. To Kill a Mockingbird is appropriate for mature adolescence/students and should not be banned from schools. Despite its sexual related content, or profanity, a valuable lesson remains that should be taught to students.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee has many ongoing themes such as Walking in Someone Else 's Shoes, Social Classes, Scout 's Maturity, and Boo Radley. These themes contribute to the story in many ways.

George Washington once said, “I hope ever to see America among the foremost nations of justice and liberality”. While America has yet to reach an era where injustice is nearly or completely eradicated, we have most definitely progressed from the Great Depression in the 1930s and World War II. In World War II there was a black American fighter pilot group, named the Tuskegee Airmen, who suffered the racial prejudices of America despite fighting for America. Similarly, injustice is widespread in Maycomb County, a fictional town set in the Great Depression of the 1930s. In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird characters, like Scout and Atticus, face injustices that they must overcome. Similarly, in the Achieve 3000 article “America Says

First, Harper Lee uses Tom Robinson as a Mockingbird. The reason Tom is a mockingbird because he was a convicted of rape and accused of beating on Mayella. He was black so they still locked him up after the trial. Tom was also shot in the back 17 times by the cops; they called them warning shots. They said while him and the other inmates were doing exercising session he was trying to run away so they gave him warning shots and killed him. The narrator explains, “His left arm was fully twelve inches shorter than his right, and hung dead at his side. It ends in a small shriveled hand, and from as far away as the balcony; I could see that is was no use to him” (248). This quote shows that Tom is a mockingbird because they accused him of beating and raping Mayella; but we

Throughout the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, there are many characters with very strong personality traits. These characters are very memorable and easily recognizable because of their traits. These characters have one thing in common, they all have influenced peoples life’s in one way or another. One of these great characters is Calpurnia. Three of Calpurnia’s most memorable traits are being a disaffection of the social rules, motherly, and courageous.

It makes sense for Atticus to defend Tom Robinson, even if others thinks it 's stupid just because of Tom’s color. Harper Lee was the Author of the number one book in America, To Kill A Mockingbird. The book starts off with Scout talking about her family, Jem and Atticus. Then Scout talks about someone named Dill, who comes only during summer. When Dill did come over, Jem, Scout, and Dill would try to get Boo Radley to come out of his house. The kids were afraid of Boo; and when Scout told Atticus that they were trying to get Boo out of his house, Atticus told them to stop because they didn 't know how he feels and that “you never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view - until you climb into his skin and walk around in it” (Lee 30). This made Scout understand how Boo Radley felt and became less scared of him and wanted to become his friend more than anything else. But what Atticus said also ties in with his case with Tom Robinson, who is a black man being accused of rape. But, people in the book think it doesn 't make sense for Atticus to defend Tom Robinson; because of Tom’s color. It makes sense to me for Atticus to defend Tom Robinson because if Tom was white, he wouldn 't have to deal with all this, along with Atticus. Since Tom is black, they are going to give him a hard time.

It is almost equivalent to a sin to be a woman. In Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird”, Scout is conditioned to think that being a woman is the absolute worst you could ever be, and that having female characteristics is an abomination. Scout is told things such as “Shut your trap or go home—I declare to the Lord you’re getting’ more and more like a girl every day!” (Lee 58) and “Come on scout, don’t pay no attention to her, just hold your head high and be a gentleman” (Lee 117). Lee demonstrates how Scout was taught to glorify and establish male characteristics and traits to receive respect and acceptance. This is also demonstrated by the shock Scout experienced when she realized what it takes to be a woman, “She seemed glad to see me when I appeared in the kitchen, and by watching her I began to think there was some skill involved in being a girl” (Lee 132). Scout had always believed a woman was the worst thing to be, being a woman meant you were weak, annoying, incapable, untrustworthy, and fragile. But throughout the book, Scout realizes the truth, which being a woman and doing “girl things” is no easier than being a man and doing “boy things”.

As a child, there are many moments that contribute to growing up and losing innocence. Some of these moments help define a person and enrich their personalities as adults. These can be as little as meeting a new person or as large as moving across the world. Being a child in a new environment exposes them to many new opportunities they may not have had prior. This can be very important when it comes to growing up. Every experience and conflict an adolescent has to overcome makes them lose a portion of their innocence and become more of an adult. In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout Finch experiences many things such as starting school, playing with her neighbor Boo Radley, witnessing a rape trial, and living with her aunt Alexandra.

The main characters of both, Reginald Rose’s play 12 Angry Men and Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird, stand up for what is right even in the face of opposition. 12 Angry Men focuses on a jury 's deliberations concerning a homicide trial of which the accused, a sixteen-year-old boy, will be sentenced to death if found guilty. To Kill A mockingbird, on the other hand, is narrated by a six-year-old girl named Jean Louise ‘Scout’ Finch who lives in the southern American town of Maycomb. The plot primarily revolves around her father, the attorney Atticus Finch, striving to prove the innocence of a black man unjustly accused of rape, to a town steeped in prejudice. Throughout both narratives, the main characters, Juror Eight in Rose’s play and Atticus Finch in Harper Lee’s novel, display similar characteristics and stand up for what they believe is right. They share many character traits and emphasise justice. Although they are both are confronted by disapproval, they manage to resist external influences with grace, though their methods may diverge at times. Ultimately both defend the accused of their respective trials, even though it is an unpopular and degraded position in the eyes of their fellows.

Prejudice is a negative opinion or feeling formed about someone without thought or reason, and before knowing anything about them. In To Kill a Mockingbird, the citizens of Maycomb are prejudice and cruel towards Tom Robinson and he is put on trial and convicted because he is a black man. Prejudice was also destructive to Jem, and witnessing it every day left him hurt and heartbroken. In the book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the destructiveness of prejudice is harmful to Jem and Tom Robinson, therefore children and people of colour are the most affected by prejudice at the time the book took place in the 1930’s.

The book “To Kill a Mockingbird,” written by Harper Lee was set in the 1930s in a fictional town called Maycomb County. Courage within that specific time period and town was seen as strength in the face of fear; whilst the way that Harper Lee has tried to convey courage throughout her book is as the act of doing something to benefit a specific person or a whole group of people, no matter what odds are against you, how uncomfortable you may find the task, and how dim the chances of succeeding are. Many characters in the book “To Kill a Mockingbird,” express this form of courage. This is demonstrated firstly by Atticus Finch when he went to trial defending a black man who had been accused of a rape he didn’t commit whilst systematic racism was still at large, purely to help an innocent man, to hopefully further the black rights movements at the time and to give his children a firm faith in the justice system. By Boo Radley when he stepped out of the comfort of his home to rescue Jem and Scout from Mr. Ewell, despite the fact that fighting was not at all in his nature. And lastly by Jem, when he and Scout were attacked by Mr. Ewell and Jem was needed to protect Scout at no matter what costs, as she was unable to fend for herself.

In To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee not only does the reader experience a monumental story about a time period in which racial discrimination is a very important and visible issue, but the coming of age moment that every child experiences at some point in his lifetime. Although there are many coming of age examples throughout Lee’s novel, the most apparent and noticeable change is seen Scout whom mature’s greatly during just three summers.

Harper Lee, the author of To Kill a Mockingbird, one of the most seminal books ever written, ending the life of a famous, but incredibly private genius. This incredible novel is the story of a young girl named Scout, who through maturity changing lessons and traumatic experiences grew from a young girl to a matured teen. Not only did she learn that racism only creates problems within a society or community, but also that getting to know people before assuming bad about them should be used in all occasions. Multiple events within the real world now can connect back to the adventurous yet serious, and informative novel through racism and unfair treatment in the justice system. Few, if any solutions are applied to solve these problems with racism, but some may argue that some of the solutions, used or not, would not help the situation. Others create solutions based off of what they feel is right. Although some solutions work better than others, many solutions can also be created based off of Harper Lee’s beliefs.