Literary Criticism Of To Kill A Mockingbird

To kill a mockingbird can mean many things. It’s the title of a book that has been bought 40 million times. But, it also has a definition. To kill a mockingbird means to destroy innocence. The theme of my literary analysis is mockingbirds. Mockingbirds in TKAM are innocent things tainted by the skewed society of Maycomb. Some of these mockingbirds are Boo Radley, Tom Robinson, and the children. To Kill a Mockingbird is a book set in a small Alabama town in the 1930’s. The main character and narrator is Jean Louise Finch, but is almost always called by her nickname, Scout. Scout, her brother, and her summer friend Dill get into all kinds of mischief while living in the racist society of a 1930’s Alabama town. Scout’s dad, Atticus, is a prominent lawyer in Maycomb and is appointed to a controversial case, and is defending a black man. Scout and her brother, Jem go through many troubles and learn many lessons from the days leading up to, and during the trial. The trail makes their family some friends and a lot of enemies. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is a story of courage and despair. Throughout TKAM, mockingbirds are used as an example of something innocent being tainted by the skewed society of TKAM. Some great examples of these are Boo Radley, Tom Robinson, and the children.

There are countless people who judge others by their image or the words whispered by friends. This has been true since people have begun interacting with one another. Indeed, people feel the need to categorize everything and everyone leading to stereotyping and bias based upon appearances. In today’s society, there are many incidents involving racial and gender inequality demonstrating that little has changed since the 1960s. In this novel, Scout Finch, a young girl, recounts her life as she observes social concerns including racism and prejudice. When her father Atticus, a criminal attorney, agrees to defend an innocent black man, Scout comes to realize that not everything is as perfect as it seems. Appropriately, Scout and her brother Jem learn not to judge others as a result of interactions with three characters that they encounter throughout their childhood. Boo Radley, known as the town’s ‘evil monster’, Mrs. Dubose, an elderly, ill-tempered woman who lives near the Finches and Tom Robinson, an African-American man being accused of raping a white woman that is being defended by their father, all teach the children that character is not a reflection of one’s outwards appearance. As such, through knowing these people and their circumstances, Scout and Jem’s sense of social justice and fairness matures. It is through their eyes that Harper Lee, in To Kill a Mockingbird, demonstrates the immorality of judging others without consideration of who they are and what

“It takes a village to raise a child”, is an African Proverb. In other words, it can take more than just a child’s nuclear family to make her grow into who she will be as an adult. This lens is true because even though parents and siblings have a major effect on a child, and how they turn out later on in life, society and a child’s surrounding are what really shapes, and makes them who they are. What a child sees when he or she is new to the world, and doesn’t know everything, effects their behavior, and outlook on their life ahead. This lens is illustrated in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by

Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” is set in a small Southern United States community called Maycomb during the Great Depression era. The whole book primarily revolves around segregation and racism and how it relates to Maycomb’s history. It eventually leads to the trial of Tom Robinson where he is accused of beating up and raping Mayella Ewell. Even though it was clear that Tom Robinson did not do anything wrong he was convicted by an all white jury simply because he was black. The trial of Tom Robinson and its verdict shows an example of how segregation in the court system prevents fair trials from occurring.

As the United States “progresses” in economic, educational and technological advancements we still are fighting for racial equality. With more than 50 years since the brown vs. board of education case there is still incidents like Ferguson, Baton Rouge, and Phiando Castile where many questions are still unanswered. However, Harper Lee dealt with these same problems in 1960 when she wrote To Kill a Mockingbird. Lee created an emotionally confronting story. Lee writes through the eyes of “Scout” a lawyer’s daughter in a small sleepy town of Maycomb in Alabama during the great depression. Throughout the book “Scout” learns coming of age lessons from Atticus and her own experiences. But when Atticus takes on a case defending a black man (Tom Robinson) convicted for rapping a white woman (Mayella Ewell) and is found guilty. “Scout” her brother Jem begin to understand the effects of the prejudices in society. Therefore, Lee applies the literary concepts of diction and tone to revel the truth that prejudices in society negatively affect the way people treat each other in To Kill a Mocking Bird.

When a child so pure and innocent witnesses the most savage of events before her, she would have to spend the rest of her life facing the world’s harshest realities yearning for the innocence that she once felt during her childhood. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, it follows the coming of age of the narrator of the story, Scout, and her older brother, Jem, witnessing a wave of controversies on how people react to racism and prejudice. Whether it’s among races or social classes, angry altercations occur between both parties, and while some, more than others, retort to hostile acts. Atticus on the other hand, wants to put a stop to the intense aversion that has been going on in Maycomb for years, in concern for his town’s future.

In the real world, there are harsh realities that all children must face one day to finally mature into an adult. Jem and Scout, in To Kill A Mockingbird, face situations like seeing an unjust trial with Bob Ewell, a white man, falsely accusing Tom Robinson, a black man, and being attacked by Bob Ewell, that put them face-to-face with hatred, partisanship, and racism. Through characterization and the conflicts that the characters face, Harper Lee shows the theme that innocence is lost through the confrontation of evil.

Literary criticism is an informed written analysis and evaluation of a work of literature that is based on a literary theory. A literary theory is a means to understand the various ways people read and connect with texts. In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee uses reader’s response criticism, a form of literary criticism that analyzes the subjectivity of events and situations. The author’s use of subjective events is reflected in Calpurnia’s two lives, the folks quote, and Tom Robinson’s attempted escape.

The concept of conforming to society or not has gone through the minds of almost everyone. Recently, I had read two novels. The first concerns a young girl’s journey in discovering what the world is like - unfair, unjust, misleading. She also learns not to be prejudiced and she learned how to not give up: she learned this all from her father. The second follows a teenage girl’s only known world as it’s destroyed. This is the beginning of her troubles since the elders exiled her and her partner. All that they had left were the dangers of the world above ground and her partner’s long ago memories. Though both of these novels seemed as if they have nothing in common, they do have something: the conception of harmonizing or not. After reading

In “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee, the plot is based on what Harper Lee herself has seen in her childhood, her family, neighbors, and the event that occurred near her hometown of Monroeville, Alabama in 1936. Racial prejudice was a major issue during this period of time and Lee incorporated this matter by displaying white men as the authoritative figures in Maycomb County. African Americans were always put down and proven guilty even if they were innocent because it was a white person’s word against a black’s. For example, “The Sheriff hadn’t the heart to put him in jail alongside Negroes, so Boo was locked in the courthouse,” (Lee, 14). Clearly, Boo was guilty of breaking the law and committing a crime but because of the fact that

In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, one of the main characters, Scout, goes through multiple coming of age experiences that help her develop an understanding of equality and the importance of fighting for what is right. Each event Scout experiences allows her to live in a mindset free of prejudice and racism, which is common in her society. Scouts coming of age process ties into the overall message of the novel to develop a strong conflict and resolution.

What: “To Kill a Mocking Bird” portrays a society that is supremely, staggeringly unfair. The story takes place in the U.S. South in the 1930s in a small town where racism is part of the very fabric of society. Faced with this situation, an equality minded person, is tempted to speak their mind, however keeping their head down until then. Some people in the novel do just that, but few decide to act on the side of justice and equality, even though they think it’s mostly hopeless. “To Kill a Mocking Bird” does not sugarcoat the results, however it does suggest that

To Kill a Mockingbird is a popular literary title. It’s one of the most famous pieces of literature. George W. Bush says that the book is “a meditation on family, human complexity, and some of the great themes of American life. At a critical moment in our history, Mockingbird helped focus the nation on the turbulent struggle for equality.” (Wayne, pg. 1) President Bush could not have been more right, To Kill a Mockingbird is a timeless classic, with themes that are still relevant in today’s world.

“We teach girls to shrink themselves, to make themselves smaller. We say to girls, you can have ambition, but not too much. You should aim to be successful, but not too successful. Otherwise, you would threaten the man. Because I am female, I am expected to aspire to marriage. I am expected to make my life choices always keeping in mind that marriage is the most important. Now marriage can be a source of joy and love and mutual support but why do we teach girls to aspire to marriage and we don’t teach boys the same? We raise girls to see each other as competitors not for jobs or accomplishments, which I think can be a good thing, but for the attention of men.” ― Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. To Kill a Mockingbird is a book displaying many societal issues of the 1920’s, yet the one that is still widely believed throughout the world is sexism. In To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee uses the criticism Jean-Louise receives for her “unlady like” behavior and Jean-Louise’s observations about society to argue about the damage of forcing gender roles upon children and how anyone who opposes them is outcasted.This issue is still believed all over the world but is mostly enforced in Latin American countries or by many muslims.

Critical Review of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird To Kill a Mockingbird is set during the 1930's in a small, isolated