Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee

Harper Lee uses Atticus to portray social justice in many ways. Harper Lee uses Atticus to give many hints and allusions about many views on social justice. Atticus is given the opportunity to defend an unpopular client, which shows what he thinks about social justice and racial equality, in turn showing what Harper Lee thinks. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee uses the character of Atticus to reveal her ideas about social justice.

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.

“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

Matt Berman from Common Sense Media commented, “This richly textured novel, woven from the strands of small-town life, lets readers walk in the shoes of one fully realized character after another.” To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, one of the major messages is identity. Harper Lee lets the people look into the perspectives and identity of some of the characters that make it seem very life-like. In the novel, many characters possess both admirable and dislikable qualities which are shown through their actions. With the nurturing of her father, Scout contains the charming qualities of being courage and mature for her age. The father that instilled these characteristics in Scout, is Atticus Finch. While dealing with the stressful case of Tom Robinson, Atticus maintains to keep the likable aspects of sympathy and strong will. The antagonist in this novel fighting against Tom Robinson is Bob Ewell. Bob Ewell has instilled, in him, the terrible qualities of cruelty and racism. These life-like characters that Harper Lee illustrates gives people a clear vision of who the characters portray.

Based on the first six chapter of the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, we can see that it moves at a rapid pace. It starts off as the beginning of summer and by the end of the sixth chapter an entire year has passed by. Throughout this year, we see Scout 's, Dill 's, and Jem 's adventures during the summers and Scout going to school for the first time. We also receive some additional background information on the mysterious Arthur "Boo" Radley.

Atticus’ morality puts him to the test through out To kill a Mockingbird. “but before I can live with other folks I’ve got to be able to live with myself. The one thing that doesn’t abide by majority rule in a person’s conscience.”(pg. 105) Atticus is saying he has to stick to his self-morals in order to be satisfied with himself so he can deal with other folks the correct way. He also mentions that one’s own morals are not conformed to a jury, but ones sense of correct conduct.

Harper Lee's novel To Kill a Mockingbird was published in the year of 1960, and is one of the few American classic novels awarded the Pulitzer Prize. The racism that is prevalent in many southern American towns in the 1930s is brought to life with profound imagery in To Kill a Mockingbird. There are several characters in the book, yet the true main character is the narrator's father, Atticus Finch. He is a man of great integrity and intelligence. A very heroic figure in more ways than one, Atticus possesses traits like being principled, determined, and, more importantly, he teaches others. When looking at To Kill a Mockingbird, one can see that Lee uses lots of description, dialogue, and actions to portray Atticus as a heroic individual.

Atticus on the other hand looks past the skin color and treats them like human beings. An example from the book is how Atticus allows Calpurnia to interact with his family by taking his children to her black church. She asks them "How'd you and Mister Jem like to come to church with me tomorrow" (Lee 156). Atticus doesn't treat Cal as his slave. He considers her a helper around the house. He also does not call her nasty names or beats her for certain things. She is considered family. Atticus is not prejudice against colored people. He is fair and respects everyone, including the

In To Kill a Mockingbird, author Harper Lee uses unforgettable characters to explore civil rights and racism in the segregated southern United States in the 1930s. Atticus Finch, who is an attorney tries to prove that Tom Robinson, a black man, is innocent of a crime. Boo Radley is a neighbor who saves Scout and her brother Jem’s lives. The values the book promotes, the traits its characters demonstrate and the relevant themes it portrays, and the feelings it evokes in readers prove that To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee is the book worth saving. There are many morals promoted in the novel To Kill A Mockingbird, such as empathy.

Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee demonstrates morality. To have morality is to know one’s beliefs are, and can express those beliefs through their actions regardless how a society around them reacts to those actions. In Maycomb County, everyone is discriminatory of race and unaccepting of change. In the 1930’s, if you believed in equality between blacks and whites, you were frowned upon. For example, wherever the Finch family went, the residents of Maycomb County would display bigoted rhetoric towards them and threaten their safety simply for defending Tom robinson in court. Nevertheless, Atticus never feared their actions or threats because he knew what he and his family knew what the were doing was the right thing. Atticus

Being an 9 year girl living in the year of 1930 along with being said that your father is a “Nigger lover” How would that make a child feel? In Harper Lee’s Novel,To Kill a Mockingbird, Two young children from Maycomb county in the late 1930’s experience trail which in involves their father defending an African American in an injustice court.Throughout theses events the children interact with society.Society displays these universal themes.Harper Lee’s Novel explores the 3 most important themes to kill a MockingBird: Evils of racism, females roles and growing up-pain or pleasures.

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.

Harper Lee uses her novel to teach us important lessons from the characters presented in To Kill a Mockingbird. Atticus, a fair and moral character, whose parenting style is unique, lined with honest and example, teaches us to follow his ways. Scout, an innocent girl who teaches us what’s important in life. Tom Robinson, someone who is ostracized for being African American, can teach us the importance of equal treatment and awakens us to our surrounding society. Lee’s construction of characters gives us perspective to issues in our society today, how they still matter and what we can learn from the novel such as compassion, justice and understanding.