Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee

Scout understands why Boo isolated himself from the world "Just [by] standing on Radley porch" (page 374). She explains that when she was their, she could experience exact what Boo was going through. He isolated himself from the world because he knows that it is not a safe place and the people around the city like to gossip about a lot of things. He does not want to interfere with the world due to the negative that happens to it. When Scout experienced a rough day at school, it made her think that it was going to be like this from now on.Scout understands that

“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

After making fun of her teacher and being racist towards African Americans, Scout learns a tough lesson from her father. He takes her to the porch and sits her down, and shares his firm lesson with his daughter. "You never really understand a person until you really consider things from his point of view... until you climb into his shoes" (Lee 39). Atticus, quite plainly, stresses how important it is to not judge one on their appearance or on their position within the social classes. This makes Scout think more before she acts, and it puts their actions into perspective. A small town’s gossip and the power of assumption can change someone’s life in an awful way in some scenarios. One character in example, is Boo Radley. Everyone assumes he

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.

Boo Radley had impacted Scouts learning and development throughout the story. This is because Boo Radley was once the scary man living in a haunted house to the man who had saved Scout’s life by Bob Ewell.Jem and Scout had gone through a traumatizing experience after sneaking around at the Radley place. when they try to get a glimpse at Boo, a man began to chase them with the shotgun. “ Jem leaped off the porch and galloped toward us. He flung open the gate, danced Dill and me through, and shoed us between two rows of swishing collards. Halfway through the collards I tripped, as I tripped the roar of a shotgun shattered the neighborhood” (Lee 53). Scout has just had conflict with someone at the Radley place. after this experience, she begins to make better decisions rather than acting childish. Later on in the text, she found out that food was never the antagonist. she had been saved by him and finally saw what he looks like. Scout begins to describe Boo . “ I looked from his hands to sand stained khaki pants; my eyes traveled up his thin frame to his torn denim shirt. His face was white as his hands, but for a shadow on his jutting chin. His cheeks were thin to hollowness; his temples, and his gray eyes were so colorless I thought he was blind” (Lee 270).She finally sees Boo after

When Scout, Jem, and Dill were rolling each other down the road in a tire, Scout rolled into the Radley’s yard. When she realized where she was, she said, “I raised my head and stared at the Radley Place steps in front of me. I froze” (Lee 50). Scout was terrified of Boo Radley and his house, so when she rolled into the yard, she panicked and froze. Through all of the stories Scout had heard about Boo, she had learned to fear him, even though she didn’t know if any of those stories were the truth. She was scared of the man she didn’t know anything about. However, by the end of the novel, Scout’s opinion of him changed drastically. After Boo Radley saved Jem from Bob Ewell and carried him back to the Finch’s house, everybody moved to the porch to talk about the situation, and Scout told Boo, “‘Come along, Mr. Arthur...you don’t know the house real well. I’ll just take you to the porch, sir’” (Lee 364). When Scout finally met Boo Radley, she learned he isn’t scary at all, and started to be much more respectful to him. Instead of referring to him as “Boo”, she called him his real name, Arthur, and even used the word sir. Before she met the man, she saw him as a terrifying monster, but now she’s realized he isn’t at all what everybody made him out to be. Through this character development and Scout’s complete turnaround of opinions, Lee reveals that the world isn’t at all what it seems to be at first glance, and neither are the people that make it up. Without the inclusion of this development, the readers would not at all be able to see the coming of age of the protagonist, and would not see the theme that’s revealed with it.

They assume that the tales are true, believing, “In the house lived a malevolent phantom. People said he existed , but Jem and [Scout] had never seen him. People said he went out at night when the moon was down, and peeped in windows. When people’s azaleas froze in a cold snap, it was because he had breathed on them. Any stealthy small crimes committed in Maycomb were his work” (10). The “small stealthy crimes” that Jem and Scout believe Boo committed are only gossip spread around the neighborhood as “Jem and [Scout] had never seen him”. Jem and Scout represent Maycomb’s judgement of people based on rumors as they wrongly blames Boo for crimes he did not commit because their opinion on Boo is based solely on the gossip they hear about him. Scout, Jem and their friend, Dill continue to ridicule Boo Radley as they create a game about Boo’s dismal life, describing their game as, “a melancholy little drama, woven from bits and pieces of gossip and neighborhood legends: Mrs. Radley had been beautiful until she married Mr. Radley and lost all her money. She also lost most her teeth, her hair, and her right forefinger (Dill’s contribution. Boo bit it off one night when he couldn’t find any cats and squirrels to eat.); she sat in the living room and cried most of the time, while Boo slowly whittled away all

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.

Scout’s maturation and non-judgmental attitude that develops throughout To Kill a Mockingbird help her mature into an individual with integrity. Contrary to the beginning of the novel, Scout establishes herself as a wise character in the latter portions of the book. After an incredulous Atticus is told that Jem did not kill Mr. Ewell, Scout reassures Atticus by saying, “Well it’d sort of be like shootin’ a mockingbird, wouldn’t it?” (Lee 276) Taking Atticus’ advice into consideration, Scout climbs into Boo Radley’s skin and finally respects Boo’s decision to remain indoors and not be proclaimed a hero. Additionally, Scout matures into a very open-minded

In the beginning of the novel, Scout has many misconceptions concerning Boo Radley. Due to Maycomb’s judgemental ways, rumors provoke Scout to view Boo Radley as a mean, squirrel eating monster. At the beginning of the novel, Boo is feared by the people of Maycomb, especially Scout, Dill, and Jem. “Boo was about six- and- a- half feet tall, judging from his tracks; he dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch. There was a long jagged scar that run across his face; what teeth he had were yellow and rotten; his eyes popped, and he drooled most of the time” (Lee 16). This fraudulent description by Jem exhibits how both the children as well as the rest of Maycomb viewed Boo. As the novel progresses, the three children continue to try and get Boo out of the house he has been in for years. Jem, Dill, and Scout create several childish schemes in attempt to get the

The trial takes place subsequently in which Atticus refutes most of the opposing evidence but still loses on account of the racist and prejudiced decisions by the jury. Bob Ewell feeling Atticus made him look like a fool, targets Jem and Scout in an attempted murder. Boo Radley comes to their rescue and saves them from harm, killing Bob in the process. Throughout the novel, Lee portrays ways that Jem matures throughout the book. Three of the events include inviting Walter over for lunch, the conflict with Mrs. Dubose, and the unfairness of the court trial.

There are many Maycomb rumors about him, such as he stabbed his father with scissors, he used to be in a “gang,” and he eats squirrels and cats. They are obsessed with the idea of getting him to come out of the house, and Jem says that “it began the summer Dill came to us [them], when Dill first gave us [them] the idea of making Boo Radley come out” (p.3) They are young and curious about the idea of a mysterious neighbor, especially when they live in such a small town where everybody knows everyone and everything, so it makes sense that she and everybody else actually believes these rumors. In the end, Boo ends up saving Jem from the rage of Mr. Ewell, so Scout gets to meet him which is when she learns a priceless lesson from Atticus. After Boo leaves, Scout and Atticus are talking about a book, referring to Boo and the adventure they had in a deeper way. Scout tells Atticus that Boo is “real nice” (p.376), and Atticus responds with, “Most people are, Scout, when you finally see them” (p.376). Scout realizes that one should not to make assumptions about people until he really knows them because they might not turn out to be who one really sees or thinks of them at

Jem, who is older than Scout, is more mature than her and understands the injustice of racism at the trial. Scout on the other hand is biased to believing that everyone is naturally good at heart, mainly because she does not understand prejudice. Jem starts losing his innocence though, and understands that not everyone is pure the way that Scout imagines they are. Scout does not have her morale shattered the way Jem had his after they found out that Tom Robinson had lost the case for this reason. Scout does not have the capability to understand what evils were really occurring behind the scenes of the trial, and instead views the world through the lens of what she wants to see instead of the lens of reality. But, the way Scout interprets the actions of people is altered after Bob Ewell reveals his evil side and tries to murder both Scout and Jem. This event ultimately leads to her acceptance of a world that is