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.

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

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.

Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, is the story of two children coming of age and learning about their hometown and the whole world. The two children in the story are Jem and Scout Finch. Jem and Scout live with their father, Atticus, in Maycomb County. Throughout the story, many problems arise which teach both children about bravery. The three bravest characters in the novel include their neighbor Mrs. Dubose, a convicted black man named Tom Robinson, and their father Atticus.

“‘...Mockingbirds… don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us [anyone and everyone in Maycomb]. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird…’” (Lee 119). In the Pulitzer Prize winning novel of 1961 To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee tells the story of a young girl by the name of Jean Louise (Scout) Finch and her older brother Jeremy Atticus (Jem) Finch, and what their lives were like growing up in Maycomb, Alabama during 1933-35. Scout and her brother Jem are both children of the morally passionate lawyer, Atticus Finch, and both are exposed to the same experiences that shape their sense of right and wrong. Yet Scout and Jem come to dramatically different conclusions about good and evil and the essential nature of humankind.

“There’s nothing more sickening to me than a low-grade white man who’ll take advantage of a Negro’s ignorance” (Lee 296). In the book To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee uses many different conflicts to prove the point that overcoming obstacles is tough to do alone. The narrator of this book is Scout Finch, who takes us through her childhood in a city called Maycomb in Alabama in the 1930s. Maycomb is like every other city in the south, most people being racist. Scout and her brother, Jem, are the children of Atticus Finch, who tries to teach them many lessons about growing up and about life. Atticus is the lawyer for a black man named Tom Robinson in a trial where he is being trialed for raping a white woman named Mayella Ewell. It is a detriment that Tom is black because there is a lot of racism. Mayella’s family is a dirty and disrespectful family in that town. In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee uses conflict to show that overcoming obstacles cannot be done by a single person.

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.

People, especially children, often make mistakes that will either lead to great or undesirable outcomes. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, the children make several mistakes that help them mature. Firstly, the children learn how courage is more than just physical strength. Likewise, they learn that if you judge someone by their race, you will never understand their true inner character. Finally, they learn that in order to understand someone, you must understand what experiences they have been through and what they are currently experiencing. Therefore, the children’s early mistakes in judgement teach them valuable lessons, which help them make more mature decisions later on.

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.

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.

Throughout the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee conveys the concept of courage through differing individual’s perspectives. In the racially segregated community of Maycomb, the existence and genuine form of valour is misinterpreted by the citizens. Audacity is associated with physical strength and will; one’s engagements and victories. However, Harper Lee explores its disparate forms through opposing individuals, defining the presence of authentic courage. Readers are exposed to several forms of courage, from individuals who acquire diverse values and beliefs. Lee discovers intellectual courage through the maturation of youthful Jem Finch’s into an adult. In the life of a principled lawyer, Atticus Finch’s moral fortitude is vividly illustrated as he continues to defy all social conventions when defending Tom Robinson. Through the eyes of a morphine addict, Lee introduces emotional courage in Mrs. Dubose’s when suppressing her unprincipled habits. By imbedding the quality of “courage” in the lives’ of various characters, Lee effectively illustrates the numerous forms of the motif ‘courage’ and its genuine definition: intellectual, social and spiritual.

The thinning fog laced between the leaves of the pecan tree. Morning dew dripped down onto the blades of grass that wove around the tree’s roots. It was a typical Maycomb morning. The street was dark and empty. The woman who always hummed old hymns in her flowers was silently sleeping. The woman who hurriedly walked across the street every morning to tell the latest gossip was snoring away in her bed. The man who kept his reading lamp on through the night was beginning to stir in his bed, and his children, who ran to him every afternoon, were tucked in warm beds dreaming about the day ahead. Rays of sunlight were beginning to splash onto the porch. It was time to go back inside. One last look around the street, and the door closed. In Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout Finch asks her neighbor, Miss Maudie, if she thinks Boo Radley is crazy. “If he’s not, then he should be by now. The things that happen to people we never really know. What happens in houses behind closed doors, what secrets-” (Lee 46) This novel is told from the perspective of Jean Louise “Scout” Finch, a young girl who begins to see the different sides of human nature. In the beginning of the novel, Scout becomes fascinated in a ghost. She had heard rumors and accounts of people seeing him. She heard he ate cats and tapped on windows in the night. The all allusive Boo Radley had become an infatuation. During the evolution of the novel, the attributes of Boo Radley are revealed in small acts of

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.