The book “To Kill a Mockingbird,” written by Harper Lee was set in the 1930s in a fictional town called Maycomb County. Courage within that specific time period and town was seen as strength in the face of fear; whilst the way that Harper Lee has tried to convey courage throughout her book is as the act of doing something to benefit a specific person or a whole group of people, no matter what odds are against you, how uncomfortable you may find the task, and how dim the chances of succeeding are. Many characters in the book “To Kill a Mockingbird,” express this form of courage. This is demonstrated firstly by Atticus Finch when he went to trial defending a black man who had been accused of a rape he didn’t commit whilst systematic racism was still at large, purely to help an innocent man, to hopefully further the black rights movements at the time and to give his children a firm faith in the justice system. By Boo Radley when he stepped out of the comfort of his home to rescue Jem and Scout from Mr. Ewell, despite the fact that fighting was not at all in his nature. And lastly by Jem, when he and Scout were attacked by Mr. Ewell and Jem was needed to protect Scout at no matter what costs, as she was unable to fend for herself.
Atticus believed sternly and wholeheartedly in the justice system; a view point that he wanted his children to share with him. When Atticus was requested to defend an innocent black man, he believed it was his duty to the town and his children to
His morality on believing that “there is one way in this country in which all men are created equal- there is one human institution that makes a pauper the equal of a Rockefeller, the stupid man the equal of an Einstein, and the ignorant man the equal of any college president. That institution gentlemen, is a court. It can be the Supreme Court of the United States or the humblest JP court in the land, or this honourable court which you serve. Our courts have their faults as does any human institution, but in this country our courts are the great levelers, and in our courts all men are created equal” (205). This cause him to take on the role because he could not live with himself. If he did not try to save Tom Robinson. It took a lot of bravery to stand up for him because everybody in the whole county went against him and started threating him. Such as Mr. Cunningham and a group of man trying hurt him for protecting Tom Robinson. Also his fellow neighbors has started bad mouthing him and calling him a “nigger-lover”. Atticus stood up for this trail because he believes that everyone deserves a fair trial. That is why he acts courageously since it was the right thing to do to help Tom
“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.
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee takes place in Maycomb County, Alabama in the late 30s early 40s , after the great depression when poverty and unemployment were widespread throughout the United States. Why is the preconception of racism, discrimination, and antagonism so highly related to some of the characters in this book? People often have a preconceived idea or are biased about one’s decision to live, dress, or talk. Throughout To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee examines the preconception of Scouts teacher saying Atticus is teaching her wrong, Aunt Alexandra having views that are discriminating, and Tom Robinson not having a fair trial because of his race. Scouts teacher gets upset with her after Miss Caroline figures out she’s literate and Scout makes it worse by antagonising Miss Caroline by trying to explain things to her. “Teach me?” I said in surprise. “He hasn 't taught me anything, Miss Caroline. Atticus ain 't got time to teach me anything”… “If he didn 't teach you, who did?” Miss Caroline asked good-naturedly. “Somebody did. You weren 't born reading The Mobile Register”… Miss Caroline apparently though I was lying. “Lets not let our imaginations run away with us, dear,” she said. “Now tell your father not to teach you any more. Its best to begin reading with a fresh mind. You tell him i 'll take over from here and try to undo the damage.” “ma’am?” “Your father does not know how to teach. you can have a seat now.” (Lee 22) Scout 's teacher Miss Caroline
“‘...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
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
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
Everybody knows the book To Kill a Mockingbird. One of the main storylines in the book was with Atticus, the father of the narrator. Atticus was a lawyer and was assigned to defend a black man in the 1930s. The book To Kill a Mockingbird has many events such as jem scout and dill go up to the radley place and jem has to read to Ms dubose for cutting all her calimesa buds. The story takes place in Maycomb County, Alabama. The book was published in 1960. The main characters included the narrator, Scout, her brother, Jem, their father, Atticus, the house maid Calpurnia (she is black women) and other characters like Ms Dubose and Aunt Alexzandrea. Even though Atticus knew that he had no chance of winning Tom Robinson 's case, he should defend him because he would be a good example for his children and that it is the right thing to do so it makes sense to defend Tom Robinson.
Winston Churchill once said, “Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.” Many believe that courage is the ability to do something that is challenging and requires lots of effort, but that is not all. According to Psychology Today, six attributes of courage include feeling fear yet choosing to act, following one’s own heart, persevering in the face of adversity, standing up for what is right, expanding one’s horizons, and facing suffering with dignity and faith. People in the real world can show unexpected and overlooked forms of courage, just like Atticus Finch does in Harper Lee’s novel To Kill A Mockingbird. The setting takes place in the small Southern town of Maycomb, Alabama, where a young girl named Scout Finch learns to see the lively views of society. Maycomb society is characterized by racism hypocrisy, prejudice, and fear. Scout lives with his brother Jem and his father Atticus, who is a well-known lawyer in town. Atticus is defending Tom Robinson, who is accused of raping Mayella Ewell, the loneliest girl in the whole town. After the jury debates over the verdict, Tom Robinson is guilty for what he has done and gets sentenced to prison. Mr. Bob Ewell, father of Mayella, wins the court case, and starts to go after the Finch kids with his pocket knife. Boo Radley, a neighbor who has not gone out for many years, notices this and peacefully saves the Finch kids from Mr. Ewell. Lee clearly demonstrates through
It is the 1930s in a small town in Alabama, Maycomb County to be specific. The Great Depression is in full swing, people are dirt poor, slavery is abolished but segregation is not.
During the 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. Lee shows that the society is unfair and teaches people how important it is to have courage. The novel is narrated by an innocent girl named Scout, whose father, Atticus, is a famous lawyer, and tries to provide equal rights to the people. She lives with her father Atticus and her older brother Jem. The two siblings grow up learning about prejudice, unfair treatments in the society and they started to understand the moral of life. In the event of Tom Robinson, poor black men, is being accused of raping a white girl which is not true. He is being treated unequally, they stand up, show respect to the African¬-Americans and fight against racism. Atticus and his children display the real courage when the majority of people in the town is
In To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee not only does the reader experience a monumental story about a time period in which racial discrimination is a very important and visible issue, but the coming of age moment that every child experiences at some point in his lifetime. Although there are many coming of age examples throughout Lee’s novel, the most apparent and noticeable change is seen Scout whom mature’s greatly during just three summers.
Harper Lee, the author of To Kill a Mockingbird, one of the most seminal books ever written, ending the life of a famous, but incredibly private genius. This incredible novel is the story of a young girl named Scout, who through maturity changing lessons and traumatic experiences grew from a young girl to a matured teen. Not only did she learn that racism only creates problems within a society or community, but also that getting to know people before assuming bad about them should be used in all occasions. Multiple events within the real world now can connect back to the adventurous yet serious, and informative novel through racism and unfair treatment in the justice system. Few, if any solutions are applied to solve these problems with racism, but some may argue that some of the solutions, used or not, would not help the situation. Others create solutions based off of what they feel is right. Although some solutions work better than others, many solutions can also be created based off of Harper Lee’s beliefs.
The author of To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee, wrote the novel during a racially tense period in Alabama. The South was still segregated, but influential people like Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr. were soon to come on the scene. Lee decided to set the novel in the Depression era of the 1930s. In doing this, Lee exposed readers to the history of the civil rights struggle in the South. In To Kill A Mockingbird, Lee explored discrimination against race, gender, and class.
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.