Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee

The Cunningham family was very poor. They did not take anything from anyone that they could not pay back, therefore Walter did not take the quarter. Scout was then punished with slaps on the knuckles and she was put in the corner. Scout was angry at Miss Caroline until Scout talked to Atticus. He believed that Scout and Walter should have put themselves in Miss Caroline 's shoes. " Miss Caroline had learned several things herself. She had learned not to hand something to a Cunningham, for one thing, but if Walter and I had put ourselves in her shoes we’d have seen it was an honest mistake on her part. We could not expect her to learn all Maycomb’s ways in one day, and we could not hold her responsible when she knew no better." (Lee page 30). Walking in Someone Else 's shoes is important to the story because it helps the characters understand the other characters situations.

Imagine a hole that radiates gifts every time you visit it. Now picture that being stuffed with such force, that your gifts seem like they don’t exist anymore. In the late Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird, a child named Jem Finch always peeked his head inside a tree on the street right across him. He found the tree always being filled with goodies, filling his heart with pleasure, but later filled with cement, ultimately filling Jem’s open heart with pain. Scout Finch, Jem’s sister grew up feeling both the pain and the pleasure through violence. She always fought her classmates, out of rage, but later changed to a more stable being, to her pleasure. Dill, a friend of the Finch family ran away from his home in Meridian because of

The same cool air that flows through the sky, is the same as the rotten prejudiced air, in which, the people of Maycomb breathe every day. It’s an unnecessary sickness that spreads throughout the whole town. In Harper Lee’s novel of To Kill a Mockingbird, it symbolizes the many divisions and classifications used in Maycomb to differentiate different groups of people. Although, each individual is in fact different, the people of Maycomb are blinded to the fact that, “’there’s just one kind of folks. Folks’” (Lee 304). Scout understood the fact that people shouldn’t be judged based on divisions and classifications, and rather focused on people’s similarities. Scout’s mature way of understanding, le her see something, that most people in

Anne Frank once stated, “Parents can only give good advice or put them on the right paths, but the final forming of a person’s character lies in their own hands.” This guidance can go hand in hand with the theme growing up, when older characters give advice to children or siblings.Growing up is used frequently in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Harper Lee uses the theme growing up in To Kill a Mockingbird to change characters opinion, develop characters through their world, and utilizes prejudice to reveal growing up.

In To Kill A Mockingbird it is a recurring theme for a lack of education to develop into a lack of judgment. This novel, by Harper Lee, includes many lessons taught by Atticus Finch to his children. He taught Scout and Jem, his children, that race and appearance does not affect the quality of a person, you will never understand one’s actions until you see things from their point of view and lastly to look past the evil in everyone. Atticus has great domination over his children and the way they are growing up. Education can help overcome the judgment in a community, but develop one as well.

Everyone grows up hearing elders saying how “back in their day”, things were done differently. Although it often makes people roll their eyes when they hear that saying, it tends to be true. Each generation has its own pros and cons, and each time period is unlike the previous one. This is especially true for the 1930s, where discrimination was at its peak since the Civil War, and the majority of the United States was in extreme poverty. This sets the scene for the book, To Kill A Mockingbird, where the young narrator, Scout, tells the events that happen in the small town of Maycomb. The plot of the novel, To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, has a more profound effect since it is set in the 1930s.

“Remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” ~ Atticus Finch. Atticus, a major character in Harper Lee 's classic novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” says this after giving the children rifles. Atticus indicates they can shoot at any kind of bird besides the mockingbird, because unlike other birds who will eat peoples plants and ruin their gardens, the mockingbird will just sing. The mockingbird exemplifies one who is weak, or defenseless. To kill a mockingbird is equivalent to one who takes advantage of any who are weak. “To Kill a Mockingbird”, written by Harper Lee, is often considered a direct influence from her own life in 1936.Published July 11th, 1960, Lee was 30 years old. She died February 19, 2016 at 89 years old.

An Atticus Finch in today’s society is an uncommon occurrence; the Mayella’s and Bob Ewells are rarities also, hopefully. The rest of society fall somewhere in between; we are the Tom Robinsons, the Scouts, the Jems, the Dills, or even Boo Radley. We as people are observers. We scrutinize people with inimitable qualities, such as Atticus, and attempt to mimic them in order to mold our own characters accordingly; we see people like Bob Ewell and hope we’ll never be like them, discarding those attributes in the process. To Kill A Mockingbird is essentially about human nature; about learning the difference between what is right and wrong, and getting to know an individual before judging them. The synopsis might sound overly simplistic, but

In towns with small populations, remaining conversant with the unspoken laws of the community is not difficult as the knowledge of who is socially acceptable to talk to and who is thought of as more of an outsider than a neighbor is not hard information to come across. Harper Lee highlighted this in her novel To Kill A Mockingbird by telling the story of life in Maycomb County, Alabama, through the eyes of Jean Louise Finch, whom everyone called Scout. While Scout, her father Atticus, and her older brother Jem were considered to be at the top of Maycomb’s social caste due to their light complexion, respectable family history, and Atticus’ career as a lawyer, other families were not so lucky. As Jem stated, "There 's the ordinary kind like us and the neighbors, there 's the kind like the Cunninghams out in the woods, the kind like the Ewells down at the dump, and the Negroes." (Harper 259). Though the Cunningham’s were white, which would normally mean superiority in this small town, their inability to make as much money as others as well as their isolated home placed them lower on the social scale than other middle and upper class citizens, such as the Finches and Miss Maudie. At first, Young Scout fully believed the scale’s interpretation of the Cunningham’s when the youngest, Walter, got her in trouble. Attempting to explain why Walter didn’t have a lunch and refused to borrow money from the teacher did not work out, and Scout blamed this on Walter and his poor family

A parent is not someone who only provides protection and the necessities of life for their children. A parent is someone who deeply cares for their youngster and is a role model for them. A parent is a teacher; someone who can provide information and guidance and shows the real working of society for their child and guide them through it. A parent is someone who treats their children as an independent individual with full respectfully. The story, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, is about Jean Louise Finch (Scout) who is a young girl growing up during the 1930s in Maycomb, Alabam. Harper Lee wrote about Scout’s life and how her father, Atticus, helped her and guided her through life. Harper Lee shows the real attributes of an excellent

There is a clear prejudice against African Americans throughout To Kill a Mockingbird. There is a cultural mindset that the community shares that those of colored skin, are “immoral beings, and the Negro men cannot be trusted around our women.” The white man’s opinions, words, and actions, are valued over the black man’s. In the complicated social hierarchy of Maycomb, where the Finch’s are at the top, the black community is at the bottom, below even the disrespectable Ewell’s, despite their admirable qualities. The rigid social format confuses Scout, as she doesn’t understand why Aunt Alexandra won’t allow her to play with Walter Cunningham, a poor boy. The author uses this to deplore the far too relevant role of social status and prejudice in social interaction.

America was once thought of as the greatest country in the world. Though since the dawn of our country’s time, we’ve been one of the biggest perpatrators of racial and social injustice. In Harper Lee’s “To Kill A Mockingbird”, Lee puts America’s faults on display for everyone to see. There are so many people today who view this novel as old, outdated, and irrelevant to society today; but with issues like the wage gap between men and women, Donald Trump being a real candidate for the presidency, and the Black Lives Matter movement, this novel pertains to our society much more than society probably thinks, and America is far from the end of racial and social injustice.

“The turning point in the process of growing up is when you discover the core of strength within you that survives all hurt” (Max Lerner). As children begin the process of growing up they have to go difficult times and periods in order to become an adult. Even though the events may hurt, they still gain strength from those events and when then find that strength, then they begin to truly grow up. This lesson is learned throughout Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. The story takes place in the 1930s in the small town Maycomb County, Alabama. The main character Scout starts the story out as a young girl who behaves as a tom-boy and she favors fighting rather than talking out her feelings. Scout’s father Atticus is trying to teach her how to mature, but it is a long process. Her older brother Jem and their best friend Dill contribute toward her staying immature by messing around with the neighbors, specifically the Radley’s. They become fascinated with the mysterious son, Arthur (Boo) Radley. But overtime, he becomes insignificant because of Atticus’s job and the stress that it puts on the family after he takes a difficult case. As a result of this case Scout matures faster than normal because of the difficult material. Throughout the novel, Scout becomes more mature causing her to strengthen her compassion toward others, which shows how through growing up, people experience situations that cause them to understand the appropriate way to act.

In chapter 2 Scout arrives home from her first day of school upset, and see’s Atticus for advice. Scouts’ first grade teacher Miss Caroline kindly offers Walter Cunningham money for lunch. When Walter refuses to accept the money Miss Caroline carries on until Scout rudely interrupts her. Scout explains to Miss Caroline that Walter is a Cunningham, and the Cunningham’s do not accept money as they cannot pay back.

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.