It's the 1930s and racism, classism, sexism is prominent and the Great Depression is happening. In 1930, Harper Lee was 4 years of age. 1930, is the time period that her book, To Kill a Mockingbird, takes place. Due to growing up in the 1930s, Harper Lee has experienced all of the issues above, which provided her with material for themes and purposes in her book. Harper Lee uses imagery, metaphors, and characterization to show the theme of overcoming fear. First, Harper Lee uses imagery to show the importance of overcoming the fear of a person. For example, on page 319-320 as Scout links arms with Boo to escort him home she says to herself, "He had to stoop a little to accommodate me, but if Miss Stephanie Crawford was watching from her upstairs window, she would see Arthur Radley escorting me down the sidewalk, as any gentleman would do." With this quote, Harper Lee is communicating to the reader through the imagery of Boo, who is walking with her like a gentleman, that Scout no longer cares about what Miss Stephanie Crawford says about Boo because Harper Lee has created the mindset that Scout is willfully hoping Miss Stephanie Crawford is peeping through her window and sees that Boo is being a gentleman not a monster. Harper Lee is communicating to the reader that people do have opinions and make assumptions about people. And that once someone gets to know the person that is made out to be a villain, that those assumptions can sometimes be incorrect just like Miss
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“Curiosity will conquer fear even more than bravery will” (Stephens). Fear is a big part of one’s life. Fear affects many things including people’s behavior, actions and their state of mind. Even though fear is in everyone not all have the same fears, everyone is made differently, by their culture, their race and their religion, fear is the same it defines what a person will accomplish. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee shows her readers that fear is a significant part in the novel since it’s the reason for most people’s actions. By looking further into the book the result of fear is present in Tom Robinson’s case, Boo Radley and Bob Ewell.
Fear. The unpleasant emotion that often takes control over our distinct morality senses. That’s exactly what fear did to the people of Maycomb in the novel, To Kill A Mockingbird as fear clouded their better judgment and drove their unpleasant actions towards people who were considered inhuman. The central idea of To Kill A Mockingbird revolves around the phrase, ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’ as it illustrates the racial prejudices of not only the black people against the white people, but also the judgments passed between people that off either the same or different race.
In Harper Lee’s historical fiction novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus shows the children that Maycomb is prejudice, teaches them courage, and the children show maturity. Scout and Jem are children of Atticus who's assigned to defend Tom Robinson is his case and throughout this case Scout’s summer neighbor and friend, Dill, Jem, Atticus, and Scout exuberate of these themes in their actions .Prejudice is when one pre-judges another based on their race, gender, age, or sexuality which one don’t understand and one hates the unknown of another. Courage is doing something without the fear of being judged or fearing the unknown. Maturity is learning lessons and applying them to oneself where one start to display adult characteristics. These
To Kill a Mockingbird took place in the 1930’s, during The Great Depression. The plotline was developed around people who were impacted during this time. Racial violence became more common, especially in the South. In To Kill a Mockingbird, racism sprouted most of the tension, and has
As humans, the concept of fear is a complex topic. We all believe that there are things in the world that should be feared, but do we really fear them? In the novel, “To Kill a Mockingbird”, the main character Jean Louise Scout Finch made an interesting statement. “Besides, nothin’s real scary except in books.” (Lee pg 280). This quote gave a deeper meaning to this whole story.Scout claims that through everything she had been through, she had never been actually scared. In everyday situations you might find yourself feeling a change in your body which is perceived as “fear”. Whether it’s metabolic or organ functions and ultimately a change in behavior, but does fear actually control us? Is it actual fear that we feel
Harper Lee creates a fictional story that depicts historical references from her childhood in the 1920s. This was a time of the depression and strong racism in the United States. Both of these topics display in To Kill a Mockingbird. The character, town and plot all provide historical references of the time period.
Harper Lee wrote To Kill a Mockingbird in the 1950s, a time of excessive prejudice and contempt in her home state of Alabama. Through carving out her own childhood and the world around her, Lee wrote a novel widely known as the 20th century’s greatest work of literature.
The novel To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, published in 1960, comes out during a flourishing time of tremendous segregation and injustices in the United States. In fact, during this time in America, Civil Rights Movement are at their peak; also, some residents are pushing for equality for all, during this time period. One of those United States citizens who is exposing the South for what it truly is, is Harper Lee. Harper Lee, born on April 28, 1926 in Monroeville, Alabama, a southerner herself, sets this influential novel in the 1930’s in the South, during the Great Depression. Though, she is very young during the 1930’s, she is not unaware of the happening world around her. Harper Lee has written this book to inform the future inhabitants of America what happened during this important era of the United States, and gives some very important messages, themes, that need to be exposed to all. Indeed, in To Kill A Mockingbird, there are various themes that contribute to the essence and momentous impact this novel has on readers. Though, there are only three that stand out, and are the most significant themes of the entire novel. These three themes particularly show the true meaning of why this novel is written, its purpose. Ultimately, in the literary masterpiece To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, the themes of perseverance, discrimination, and bravery are clearly illustrated throughout the novel.
“To Kill a Mockingbird,” written by Harper Lee is set in the 1930’s during the Great Depression in a “tired old town” of Maycomb Alabama. It is seen through the eyes of a young, six-year-old girl called Jean Louise or Scout Finch. She delineates a story about growing up and learning to understand that the world is a complicated place with a lack of justice, destruction of innocence, racism and prejudice. One important symbol in the novel is the mockingbird which helps readers understand characters such as Boo Radley and Tom Robinson who are symbolically compared to mockingbirds as both of these men are a victim of society in different ways.
To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel by Harper Lee published in 1960. To Kill a Mockingbird is an influential book that shows us about American culture back in the 1930s, during the Great Depression in the Southern United States when discrimination was very harmful. Although it was published around fifty-seven years ago, it still manages to show us how racism hasn’t come as far as we would like to believe in the last half a century.
The 1930s had not been a time anyone could possibly refer to as uplifting. It was the period of time where people were living in poverty. One unforgettable event is known as the Great Depression, which To Kill a Mockingbird is based upon. The Great Depression caused massive economic default leading people in penury. Not only was money a problem, but racism was as well. The novel illustrates the drawbacks of the 1930s to show readers the important values that are expressed during this period of time. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee reveals the social values of prejudice, acceptance and righteousness that she insists need to be expressed more in the real world.
To Kill A Mockingbird is a novel written by Harper Lee, published in 1960. Right away everyone loved it, winning many awards like; “Pulitzer Prize for Fiction”, “Brotherhood Award of the National Conference of Christians and Jews”, “Paperback of the Year”, “Alabama Library Association Award”, and the “Quill Award for Audio Book”. The novel takes place in a southern town, Maycomb in the 1930’s, portraying various forms of discrimination. Throughout the novel Harper Lee includes many examples of racial discrimination like between the Negroes and Whites, Scout and school kids, and between Atticus and the whole White society.
In To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee uses fear, race, and justice to effectively develop the story. The book takes place through (1933-1935) of the Great Depression in Maycomb, Alabama. The main characters are six-year-old Jean Louise Finch (Scout), her older brother Jeremy (Jem), and their widowed father Atticus who is a middle-aged lawyer. At the start of the book during the summer of 1933 Scout befriends a boy named Dill who comes to live next to them during the summer and Scout, Jem, and Dill play together.
In her book, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee uses many different characters and parts of the plot to show how deeply the conflict between good and evil can affect everyday life in a small Alabama town in the 1930's.