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)

She would get a better understanding of this as the novel progresses. Scout also learns more about maturity when she experiences hypocrisy from her teacher, “Over here we don’t believe in persecuting anybody. Persecution comes from people who are prejudiced. Pre-ju-dice,” She is contradicting herself, saying that it is acceptable to persecute blacks but not Jews. It dawned on Scout that people are hypocrites and have double standards when it suits them. The biggest step the children took towards growing up was during the Tom Robinson trials. There, the children received full exposure to the evils, malevolence, prejudice and sorrow of the cruel world as a white man accuses an innocent black man for raping when all Tom ever wanted to achieve was to help others. The children understood what was going on completely and was therefore changed because of it. At the unexpected climax of the novel, the children have an unpleasant encounter with Bob Ewell who wanted to take revenge on Atticus for humiliating him by killing his children. This was an absolutely outrageous act of insanity but also taught the children how dangerous reality could be, finalizing their journey into adulthood.

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.

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.

In the courtroom, where the jury is deciding who is truly guilty of beating Mayella Ewell, Scout begins to change her viewpoint and views the case from an adult’s perspective. In the early stages of the trial, Atticus Finch is having a conversation with his brother, Jack, involving the negativity to come. He says, "It couldn 't be worse, Jack. The only thing we 've got is a black man 's word against the Ewells’” (100). The entire town assumes Tom Robinson beat Mayella simply based on the color of his skin. Maycomb is filled with racism; it runs through the town’s veins. However, Scout chooses to look beyond the given facts and discover the truth. Alongside her brother, she decides to dig deeper into the case after meeting Dolphus Raymond. The man inspires her to never give up and keep fighting for what she believes in. Later on, Scout and her friends hear the news concerning the trial. Bob Ewell, Mayella’s father, proves to be the culprit, but Robinson is found guilty. Scout’s opinion on racism evolves during the trial, and she learns that the world is not as perfect as children assume it to be.

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.

In this particular part of the book, Tom Robinson is being persecuted because he ‘supposedly’ raped Mayella Ewell. When Scout explains to Dill that Tom Robinson is “just a Negro”, it is portrayed that Scout understands that some people have prejudice opinions against those of different races. Thus showing that she is understanding the world surrounding her and accepting that some people have different opinions on others. Violence and self control are a big part of growing up, whether you're a boy or a girl. Earlier in the book Atticus is assigned to take care of a ’Negro’ case, this causes Scout to be confronted by her classmates in a negative way and also provoking Scout to make bad decisions.

From naivety to being quick-tempered, Scout progresses from childlike innocence to being a hotheaded little girl whose physical violence got the best of her when tension between civilians of Maycomb started to rise as Scout’s father, Atticus Finch, decided to be a lawyer in defense of a black man who has been accused of raping a white female. This important trial became the talk of the town, and even spilled over to the kids. So at school, Scout was was frequently approached and teased by other children because her father was defending someone who was black. At first, Scout used to get into fights with the other children in order to protect her family and stand up for her father. But as this fighting became more and more common, Scout told Atticus about these problems at school, and he advised her to rise above the fighting and stop the arguing with the other kids. And the next time Scout was teased she “remembered what Atticus had said, then dropped my fists and walked away... It was the first time I [she] ever walked away from a fight" (102). Scout’s maturity is beginning to grow since old Scout would have taken any opportunity to fight and argue in order to protect her family’s reputation, but

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 To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee presents as a ‘tired old town’ where the inhabitants have ‘nowhere to go’ it is set in the 1930s when prejudices and racism were at a peak. Lee uses Maycomb town to highlight prejudices, racism, poverty and social inequality.

She questions, "Do you defend niggers, Atticus?" (Lee 261) and expects a answer where Atticus will follow the majority. Instead, he lectures her on the importance of prejudice and judgement by telling her that they are just like every other person; they have friends, families, and communities. As a result, Scout learns to not judge based on words alone and adapts to not be influenced easily by the opinion of others to form her own stance on the matter. More importantly, she learns the aftermath of injustice

The main characters of both, Reginald Rose’s play 12 Angry Men and Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird, stand up for what is right even in the face of opposition. 12 Angry Men focuses on a jury 's deliberations concerning a homicide trial of which the accused, a sixteen-year-old boy, will be sentenced to death if found guilty. To Kill A mockingbird, on the other hand, is narrated by a six-year-old girl named Jean Louise ‘Scout’ Finch who lives in the southern American town of Maycomb. The plot primarily revolves around her father, the attorney Atticus Finch, striving to prove the innocence of a black man unjustly accused of rape, to a town steeped in prejudice. Throughout both narratives, the main characters, Juror Eight in Rose’s play and Atticus Finch in Harper Lee’s novel, display similar characteristics and stand up for what they believe is right. They share many character traits and emphasise justice. Although they are both are confronted by disapproval, they manage to resist external influences with grace, though their methods may diverge at times. Ultimately both defend the accused of their respective trials, even though it is an unpopular and degraded position in the eyes of their fellows.

“‘...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.

One of the main themes in “To Kill a Mockingbird” Is maturity through several events. Harper Lee clearly demonstrates this through Scout and Jem Finch by the emotional death of Mrs. Dubose, defending their father while refusing to leave his side for his safety, and finally the appearance of Boo Radley on the night of the pageant.