Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee

“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.

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

“Everybody sees what you appear to be ... few people know who you really are.” This saying illustrates that if you appear one way, no one can see who you really are inside. When someone appears one way, you do not really get to know them but when they truly become themselves you can really see who they are and not just who they appear to be. However, they may only reveal their true selves to some people and keep acting like a different person to everyone else, or keep everything to themselves and do not show anyone their true self. Dolphus Raymond, Boo Radley and Atticus Finch in the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, all show themselves in a different way. Dolphus reveals himself to Scout and Dill during the trial at the court.

In the book To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee creates an amazing story, but there is one thing that is controversial in the book: Did Atticus do the right thing by taking on Tom’s case? In the book, Tom Robinson, who was a black man, was wrongly accused by Bob Ewell for raping Ewell’s daughter, and Atticus, a lawyer, decides to take on the case in a Maycomb, which was a very racist town. Bob Ewell, who is mad when Atticus makes a fool of him, goes after, and hurts, Atticus’s kids. So, the question is, did Atticus do the right thing by taking on the case, and by doing so, put his kids in danger? Most likely, the answer is yes, even though he put his kids in harm 's way, he still did the right thing, since his kids only came out of the experience with mild injuries, but a lot of knowledge and experience about how to live in the racist town of Maycomb.

In order to be your best possible self, you have to put yourself in someone else 's shoes. Atticus emphasizes that you have to untie your own shoes before putting yourself in someone else 's throughout his parenting in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Atticus strongly encourages Scout to explore the mentality of compassion, sympathy, and tolerance, by crawling into other 's shoes and trying to grasp what they go through in their everyday lives. When Scout puts herself in else 's shoes, she comes to the conclusion that the world is full of people who are willing to live their lives in hiding, just to be happy, and to hide from people’s harsh judgement.

J.F. Clarke once said "The bravest of individuals is the one who obeys his or her conscience." This quote means that standing up for what is right is the most profound form of bravery. Obeying one’s conscience is most difficult and requires the most bravery when others are against you, disagree, and mock or even threaten violence because of the exercise of one’s conscience. This quote is proven true in the story To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. It is revealed to be true through the actions of Mrs. Dubose, Atticus Finch, Tom Robinson, and Boo Radley. Harper Lee takes the small rural town of Maycomb, in Southern Alabama, and transforms it during the course of the novel from a hardcore racist town into a community beginning to demonstrate its capacity for equality, fairness, and justice.

‘“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 33). Said by Atticus Finch, this is perhaps the most important line from the book because it makes Scout Finch become who she becomes. Throughout the plot of To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Scout Finch’s views and understanding of the society that surrounds her changes very drastically. Her understanding of the good and evil in society evolves the most, due to the teachings of Atticus Finch. In the beginning of the book, Scout Finch was what every child once was; innocent and simple. As the book progressed, she became aware that life was a complex and confusing world, and she struggled to

“‘...Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit ‘em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird” (Lee 119). After having read most of the book, I now see that this is a significant and meaningful symbol in the novel. It represents innocence, like that of Tom Robinson 's. In Harper Lee’s book, To Kill a Mockingbird, which is based upon a true story, Tom Robinson, a man accused of rape, Scout Finch, a tomboy and lawyer’s daughter that observes occurrences in Maycomb, resists racist comments, and does not always understand things, who is also the narrator of the publication, both in a childish fashion and in an adult like fashion, and Atticus, a lawyer who is intelligent, respected and respecting, and defends Tom Robinson in his time

Not only have the adult characters in the book To Kill A Mockingbird set a solid ground of good morals and beliefs for the children in the book but also young readers decades later. Children are often influenced by adults in their life whether it has been a positive or negative moral aspect. Children often receive advice and encouragement from their guardians or adult figures. In author; Harper Lee 's novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, readers observe three parents who have influenced their children heavily, in this essay readers will look further into Atticus Finch, Mr. Radley and Bob Ewell.

Everyone remembers the days of their innocence and everyone remembers when it was taken away, but what does innocence really mean? Innocence means one is unsullied and does not yet know evil. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, the mockingbirds represent the novel’s innocent characters. Scout and her older brother Jem live in the old town of Maycomb, Alabama. The two encounter different instances in which they begin to notice and question what has been occurring around them, as their father Atticus takes on a case. Harper Lee depicts how innocence fades as children grasp the painful realities they experience when Scout and Jem face harsh criticisms, are helpless against atrocities, and realize a new perspective.

Imagine making 95 cents a week, and not even being able to use the bathroom that everyone else uses. At this time period black people were treated like dirt, and they were basically slaves that did whatever a white person said. Well this is exactly what

The ability to learn a lesson is one of the most valuable capabilities a human being possesses. As Vernon Law once said; “Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterward”. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee, the children learn extremely beneficial lessons through their experiences that are relevant throughout the course of the story. First of all, the children learn it is inappropriate to base an opinion on someone without taking the time to get to know them. Next, Jem and Scout are educated about the socio-economic situation, and the different types of wealth classes in Maycomb. Finally, the duo find out they should take caution when they complete an action, as all actions have a consequence. Through their interactions with others, the children learn valuable lessons that they relate to new experiences.

‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ written by Harper Lee, is a story of the racism, prejudice and inequality that

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.