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.

Being at the top of the social hierarchy has been a must for every American of past generations, but can lead to fatal damages for some trying to obtain that goal and a cause to ruin people’s lives. In a remarkably triumphant story on compassion, Harper Lee explored the horrors of racial prejudice in the novel “To Kill a Mockingbird.” Set in the 1930’s, the poor town of Maycomb, Alabama has been hit by the depression hard, which created a vast, complex social pyramid, with distinct families and lifestyles. At the Finch household, composed of a little nine year old girl, Scout, a twelve year old boy Jem, and their father Atticus, proceed through a whirlwind of events throughout the next few years. Atticus, a lawyer who is a hardworking, honest man at the top of the social hierarchy of Maycomb, has to defend a colored man by the name of Tom Robinson. This happened to be very unusual for the time period, as the family has to transcend through the struggles in a racial prejudice town and learn the raw nature of the worst in humans, thus trying to overcome these events through compassion. The author utilizes metaphor, characterization, and mood to describe the situation of Maycomb, it soon then becomes very clear that the dangers of ruining innocence can lead to a vast road of horrors and evils.

“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 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

Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird, the importance of Atticus Finch’s character is to influence the way

Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird perfectly depicts a town succumbed to the racism that existed in the deep south during the time. Lee shows how there are good-hearted people who want change, but there are also ignorant people who will try to do anything to go against it. Some residents of Maycomb hope to push for a change because they understand the way people do things is wrong. Tom Robinson is a man who represents the change people want to pursue due to his false conviction; yet, some people are too scared to be the change, so they hide behind fake problems. Mr. Dolphus Raymond is a perfect representation of those who want change but instead flock and hide since he says “[secretly], Miss Finch, I’m not much of a drinker” (Lee 170). This

There are unforgettable moments in a society when one can shape events for generations to come. For an individual to use proper judgements to change one’s living environment, and make the situation equal for others is a significant responsibility. In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Atticus Finch presents as an evident contradiction of the society of Maycomb in which racism and injustice are customary in able to emphasize Lee’s lesson that one must stand with their own moral code, regardless of what others think in order to change society.

As the United States “progresses” in economic, educational and technological advancements we still are fighting for racial equality. With more than 50 years since the brown vs. board of education case there is still incidents like Ferguson, Baton Rouge, and Phiando Castile where many questions are still unanswered. However, Harper Lee dealt with these same problems in 1960 when she wrote To Kill a Mockingbird. Lee created an emotionally confronting story. Lee writes through the eyes of “Scout” a lawyer’s daughter in a small sleepy town of Maycomb in Alabama during the great depression. Throughout the book “Scout” learns coming of age lessons from Atticus and her own experiences. But when Atticus takes on a case defending a black man (Tom Robinson) convicted for rapping a white woman (Mayella Ewell) and is found guilty. “Scout” her brother Jem begin to understand the effects of the prejudices in society. Therefore, Lee applies the literary concepts of diction and tone to revel the truth that prejudices in society negatively affect the way people treat each other in To Kill a Mocking Bird.

Times are always changing and new ideas are born every day, nothing is static. New ideas, always need a radical man or women to help the world see that there are better ways of thinking. The small town of Maycomb county, in Harper Lee’s book To Kill a Mocking Bird, had their man to bring them into this new era of thinking, Atticus Finch. His gentle attitude shows an outstanding amount of kindness, determination, and wisdom. He is faced with difficulties that have been around all his life, and he never once falters in his character.

Set during the early 1930s, in rural Alabama, Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird covers too many deep and significant subjects to count–even today, though this work was published in 1960, many of these topics still pose as real issues in our world. Strung and sewn through each of these portrayals of injustice is Atticus Finch, the widowered father of Jem and Scout Finch, and a lawyer of the fictional Maycomb County. Atticus parents his children using non-disciplinary ways, an idea that irked many townsfolk, even bringing them to think of him as “much worse off without his wife”. Although the townspeople of Maycomb are made uncomfortable by the way Atticus’ parenting style, forbearing character, and liberal views challenge their way of life,

Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, became both an instant bestseller and a critical success when it was first published in 1960. Jean Louise Finch, nicknamed Scout, recalls her experiences as a six-year-old from an adult perspective, describing the circumstances involving her father Atticus and his legal defense of Tom Robinson, a local African American male falsely accused of raping a white woman. This novel takes readers to the roots of human behavior and challenges the racial prejudices shown to colored folks in Maycomb, by integrating Robinson’s court case into to the plot. Atticus Finch is one of the few residents of Maycomb committed to racial equality, and with his strong convictions, wisdom, and

In her seminal novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee introduces many racial controversies that

“There 's four kinds of folks in the world. There 's the ordinary kind like us and the neighbors, there 's the kind like the Cunninghams out in the woods, and kind like the Ewells down at the dump, and the Negroes,” (Lee 230). To Kill a Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee, is a must read novel and an unforgettable classic that was an instant success which touched the hearts of many at its release in 1960. Written to connect and demonstrate living during much discrimination and racial tension taking place in the small town of Maycomb, Alabama during the height of the Great Depression. Jean Louise (Scout), the narrator of the novel, is a part of the Finch family, along with her older brother Jem Finch and her father Atticus Finch. Jem and

As congressman Charlie Dent once said, “We live in a time of conflict - external and internal - when we sometimes concentrate too much on what divides us. Today, fly the Stars and Stripes with pride and confidence that what unites is far stronger (“Charlie Dent Quotes”).” Today, both in works of fiction and real life, individuals are affected by many different parental and societal teachings, creating stress and internal conflict. In To Kill a Mockingbird, renowned author Harper Lee explores racism and sexism during the 1930s, in the small town of Maycomb, Alabama. Told through the eyes of Jean Louise “Scout” Finch, readers observe her father, Atticus Finch, hopelessly striving to prove the innocence of a black man unjustly accused of rape. Throughout the novel, Scout’s older brother Jeremy “Jem” Finch is torn between two forces; that of his father, which encourages him to broaden his perspective before making harsh judgements of people; and that of the town and society, labeling people as things they are not without reasonable explanation. His internal conflict is apparent through his views of racism and gender roles. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee uses the character of Jeremy “Jem” Finch to portray that it is human nature to have internal conflict: whether to conform to societal views or follow one’s conscience.