Kill A Mockingbird, By Harper Lee

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.

“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)

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’

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.

Harper Lee’s novel, “To Kill a Mockingbird,” is set in a small, southern town, Maycomb, Alabama during the Great Depression of the 1930s. The story is told through the eyes of a girl named Scout about her father, Atticus, an attorney who strives to prove the innocence of a black man named Tom Robinson, who was accused of rape and Boo Radley, an enigmatic neighbor who saves Scout and her brother Jem from being killed. Atticus does his job in proving there was no way that Tom Robinson was guilty during his trial, but despite Tom Robinson’s obvious innocence, he is convicted of rape as it is his word against a white woman’s. Believing a “black man’s word” seemed absurd as segregation was a very integrated part of life in the south. The social hierarchy must be maintained at all costs and if something in the system should testify the innocence of a black man against a white woman’s word and win then what might happen next? Along with the prejudice amongst blacks and whites, the story also showed how people could be misunderstood for who they truly are such as Boo Radley. Without ever seeing Boo, Jem and the townsfolk made wild assumptions on what Boo does or looks like. Even so, while “To Kill a Mockingbird” shows the ugliness that can come from judging others, its ultimate message is that great good can result when one defers judgement until considering things from another person’s view. Walter Cunningham, Mrs. Dubose, and Boo Radley are all examples of how looking at things

Based on the first six chapter of the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, we can see that it moves at a rapid pace. It starts off as the beginning of summer and by the end of the sixth chapter an entire year has passed by. Throughout this year, we see Scout 's, Dill 's, and Jem 's adventures during the summers and Scout going to school for the first time. We also receive some additional background information on the mysterious Arthur "Boo" Radley.

In To Kill a Mockingbird by harper Lee, The story of a southern life in Maycomb during the mid-1930s you begin an exploration of human morality. Each character has morals on how to treat some one of the other race. Atticus and Bob Ewell are two characters with contrasting morals. Tom Robertson an African American male is court between both of them and is dependent the towns social morals in a court case.

Atticus Finch, another character in To Kill a Mockingbird, is trapped in a racist society that unjustly lashes out at him when he does what he believes in, but he continues to keep his head up and overcomes their bias. For example, on a Saturday when Scout and Jem walk by Mrs. Dubose’s house while on their way to town, Mrs. Dubose yells at them, “‘Your father’s no better than the niggers and trash he works for!’” (Lee 135). Mrs. Dubose is only one of several people who attack Atticus for doing what he believes in, which is treating everyone fairly. Atticus tries to uphold his own moral code but only receives hostility for it. The backlash from the community is solely out of prejudice and is completely unjustifiable; if anything, he deserves

“‘...Mockingbirds...don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us [anyone and everyone]. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird…’” (Lee 119). In the Pulitzer Prize winning novel of 1961 To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee tells the story of a young girl by the name of Jean Louise (Scout) Finch and her older brother Jeremy Atticus (Jem) Finch, and what their lives were like growing up in Maycomb, Alabama during 1933-35. Scout and her brother Jem are both children of the morally passionate lawyer, Atticus Finch, and both are exposed to the same experiences that shape their sense of right and wrong. Yet Scout and Jem come to dramatically different conclusions about good and evil and the essential nature of humankind.

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.

“To Kill A Mockingbird” by Harper Lee emphasises the power of racial segregation and prejudice towards the black people which was predominant during the Depression era. Set in Maycomb County, an imaginary distinct in Southern Alabama, the novel describes the story of an attorney, Atticus Finch and his courage and determination to defend an innocent black man. Lee’s use of character development and detailed depictions have allowed the reader to view Atticus as heroic through his righteous and just actions. These actions are demonstrated through elements that construct him as the protagonist, portraying him as an embodiment of courage, wisdom and dignity. These elements are seen in his character, behaviour, attitudes and beliefs.

Harper Lee’s, ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’, set in 1930’s Alabama during the depression error creates various representations of different racial and ethnic groups. The hero of the novel, Atticus Finch is shown to challenge the dominant racist and prejudice values of the Maycomb citizens through his representation as courageous, empathetic and carrying as well as his belief in equality. Using a variety of language features Lee skilfully positions the reader to view Atticus positively though his beliefs and actions.

People often fear what they don 't understand. Evolutionary psychology can be traced back millions of years, when fear was avoided because of its repercussion of death. An aversion to the unknown was usually safer. Therefore, evolution culled for human traits that feared and avoided the unknown. Fear of the unknown shows how people become narrow-minded and ignorant to their surroundings, and how people behave when they believe something will happen even though they are solely intolerant. This ideology directly correlates to Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a MockingBird. Throughout the story, the townspeople attempt to overcome their various fears by turning against each other. In Maycomb, fear enforces racism and causes the townspeople to

The text type of To Kill a Mockingbird is a fiction novel which deals with the racism the author observed as a child in her hometown of Monroeville, Alabama. To Kill a Mockingbird was written by Harper Lee, who wrote her novel in a retrospective point of view. There were numerous aspects of historical, personal, cultural and social context in To Kill a Mockingbird. Harper Lee was born on the 28th of April, 1926, in Monroeville Alabama. Monroeville was a close-knit community that has many similarities with Maycomb, which is the setting of To Kill a Mockingbird. Harper Lee’s father was a prominent lawyer, whom she drew inspiration for the protagonists father, Atticus Finch. Among Lee’s childhood friends was Truman Capote, from whom she drew inspiration to the character Dill. These personal details help portray Harper Lee’s own childhood home, where racism and segregation was highly evident. Another example of context which helped shape To Kill a Mockingbird were the events that occurred during Harper Lee’s childhood. In 1931, when Harper Lee was five years old, nine African-American men were accused of raping two white women near Scottsboro, Alabama. After a series of lengthy, highly publicised, and often bitter trials, five of the nine men were sentenced to long term imprisonment. Many prominent lawyers and various members of the general public saw the sentences as spurious and believed that it was motivated by racial prejudice.