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Life Lessons In To Kill A Mockingbird

Decent Essays

Harper Lee’s ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’, illustrates various morals and life lessons that reflect the attitudes of individuals towards notions of self growth, prejudice and innocence. The novel encompasses Atticus Finch’s courage and determination as he goes against the social conventions of Maycomb, Alabama and fights for justice whilst also teaching his children extremely valuable lessons. Harper Lee’s extensive exploration of these ideas are expressed through her literary techniques and characterisation within her work.

Throughout ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ the reader learns that as characters gain a newfound understanding of an individual’s situation, they discover the values of empathy, leading to self growth and maturity. Atticus explains …show more content…

Atticus’ children also learn the importance of recognising the innocence of others. Harper Lee has used the continuous motif of the mockingbird to represent innocence of several characters such as Jem and Tom Robinson. Atticus’ exclamation, “…Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit ‘em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird” emphasises the harmless nature of mockingbirds, and to kill one would metaphorically be destroying one’s innocence. During the trial, guilt-free Tom Robinson is being punished for a crime he has not committed as Bob Ewell is creating lies to protect himself. During this situation, Jem discovers the evil of racism, damaging his faith in justice and humanity. Jem’s rhetorical questions, “If there's just one kind of folks, why can't they get along with each other? If they're all alike, why do they go out of their way to despise each other?” clearly start to show his coming of age and influenced behaviour from his father. Scout being younger than Jem, is able to maintain her basic faith in human nature despite Tom’s conviction, remaining naive to the injustice that surrounds her. Through the transformation of perspectives and the relation of the mockingbird to their lives, Jem and Scout learn that necessity to keep innocent things unharmed, teaching them values of respect and fair

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