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 …show more content…
Furthermore, Uncle Jack finally listens to Scout’s side of the account and Scout pleads, “‘Promise you won’t tell Atticus about this… I’d ruther him think we were fightin’ about somethin’ else instead’” (Lee 114). Satisfied that her side of the story has been heard, she turns her focus to wanting to protect her father from the ugliness of the town and her own family. Scout perseveres in the end when Uncle Jack omits the real story from his conversation with Atticus. allowing Scout to finally overcome the situation. Scout’s perseverances through this injustice reveals her growing maturity; however, Atticus also witnesses injustices and perseveres. 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
After Scout confronts Atticus about “defending negros”, Atticus replies on how this decision is for his own dignity: “‘For a number of reasons’, said Atticus. ‘The main one is, if I didn’t, I couldn’t hold up my head in town, I couldn’t represent this county in the legislature, I couldn’t even tell you or Jem not to do something again.’” (123; ch.9). Out of the lots of prejudice in Maycomb County, Atticus is one that looks passed race and gender. He holds equal respect for those who abide by the laws of being human. Not much of population consist of people like Atticus, who is not just fighting for Tom for the sake of the town, but for his own virtue. It takes a lot of integrity to stand up for what is right during that time and that is exactly what Atticus is making an effort to do.
In Harper Lee`s astounding novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus Finch is the glue that holds the County of Maycomb together. Atticus Finch is a lawyer, widower, father and the pure definition of a fair, patient, and courageous human being, who is willing to step out into the dark, unfair world of racism, discrimination, and prejudice, to lend a hand to any victim in need. No matter what race, gender, culture, or religion you have been blessed with, you can count on the Atticus Finch of Maycomb County to be there. Atticus was revealed by his own words, what the people in this story say about him, and his actions. He is shown as the spark of justice, the sign of patience, and the ray of courage in this blind world that is flooded by the
“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 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.
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
These types of topics are quite touchy and not generally talked about until a much later age, but Atticus sympathizes towards Scout’s curiosity and tells it to her
“‘...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.
During Civil War period, a pro¬slavery mob chained Francis McIntosh to a locust tree, burnt him fatality in 1837. There are a lot of abolitionists, like Elijah Parish Lovejoy, who lost their lives when criticizing lynching. Elijah Parish Lovejoy showed both physical and moral courage fighting against inequality. The real courage of abolitionists during that time was gaining equal opportunities for African-¬Americans, and be treated the same as white people no matter the consequences. Even after a century, there is no slavery anymore, there is still racism happening. In Harper Lee’s book To Kill a Mockingbird, she shows the real meaning of courage fighting for equal rights in the small town of Maycomb, Alabama, during the Great Depression.
Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, is the story of two children coming of age and learning about their hometown and the whole world. The two children in the story are Jem and Scout Finch. Jem and Scout live with their father, Atticus, in Maycomb County. Throughout the story, many problems arise which teach both children about bravery. The three bravest characters in the novel include their neighbor Mrs. Dubose, a convicted black man named Tom Robinson, and their father Atticus.
We live in a society where African Americans used to be treated with no respect. What if you had to experience the same things that they dealt with? They faced racial discrimination and injustice in court. Mostly in the Jim Crow South, certain groups of white people during this time made it impossible for African Americans to receive justice. Even if they were innocent, blacks could be brutally punished and were subjugated by violence. In court whites would generally win even if they did not have any strong evidence to support their arguments. Especially in the south, during the 1930s, African Americans had little value and basically no legal status in society. They were meant to be treated like animals and, generally, many people believed that whites were always superior to blacks.
Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird says, “I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what” (Lee 149). Atticus is the best example of what courage is this book for three major reasons. First, he is a single parent, secondly he defended Tom Robinson, and finally because he was willing to spare Mr. Arthur suffering by allowing his son, Jem, to take the responsibility of Mr. Bob Ewell’s Death.
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”.
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.