Quotes In To Kill A Mockingbird

Maycomb is on edge; the racial divide is as sharp as a knife. Despite having lived there for their entire lives, young Scout and Jem Finch are naive to the extent the racial dynamics influence their lives. They are like many other members of Maycomb, holding prejuicides about those among them, notably their neighbor Bob Radley and Tom Robinson, a black man accused of rape. Boo is a legend, depicted to be a monster and the young children cannot resist the allure of trespassing his house. In many benevolent acts, Boo makes his presence indirectly felt, later intervening in a dangerous situation to protect Scout and Jem. Their dad, Atticus, embodies the moral of the story and his unique virtue acts as a guide in Scout and Jem’s maturity. He defends

She goes through obstacles in her life on a daily basis and is believed not to be of much worth. Words such as dirty, poor, victim, and social outcast is used to describe Mayella. In measuring how much power Mayella holds, race, gender, and class shows herself having barely any power at all. Concerning her life at home with her abusive father, the way people see her, and how she is considered inferior as a person compared to males, Mayella cannot control her life the way she wishes. Throughout her life, she has experienced little to no respect and inappropriate actions involving her

As a result of the Ewell’s living behind the Maycomb county dump, Mayella is looked down on. “We’ll convict this Negro but get back to your dump (Doc A).” This quote shows that though Mayella had won the case against Tom Robinson, the Ewells were still thought of as nothing. “White people wouldn’t have anything to do with her because she lived among pigs; Negroes [the Ewell’s nearest neighbors] wouldn’t have anything to do with her because she was white (Doc E).” Powerful white people looked down on Mayella because she lived in filth; black people would not either because she was white. “Long as he keeps callin’ me Ma’am and sayin’ Miss Mayella, I don’t hafta take his sass (Doc C).” Mayella is not used to being respected as she is poor and is not treated fairly. This shows how Mayella’s class ties with her power.

Mayella is not an overpowering character based on class. For example, “He thought he’d be a hero, but all he got for pain was… okay, we’ll convict this Negro but go back to your dump” (A 3). Bob Ewell thought he’d be a hero, but he doesn’t take of his family. Mayella still has to go and live in the same

In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the characterization of Aunt Alexandra helps to reveal the theme of how reputation contradicts identity the theme is presented throughout the plotline of To Kill a Mockingbird. The way Aunt Alexandra shows this theme vocally is when she expresses her opinion to others of how family reputation should be followed by each family member. An example of this is when Scout is talking to her cousin Francis after they have eaten at the Finch's landing. As they were talking Francis brought up the subject of her dad and his case. After hearing what Francis says she gets mad at him and he replies that was what their Aunt Alexandra had said. Scout's cousin Francis says, "Grandma say it's bad enough he lets you all

She has no power because she is female. When Tom is questioned at the trial, he explains how he got into the “situation” in the beginning. Tom repeated to the jury during the court case “she said what her papa do don’t count” (Lee Doc.B). Being a woman, when Tom told this statement to the jury, it showed that Mayella is sexually abused by her father, Bob Ewell. To add, Mayella later in the court case, accidentally showed emotion when Atticus questioned her about physical abuse. For instance, Atticus repeatedly questioned Mayella and ended with “except when he’s drinking”(Lee Doc. B). Mayella is physically abused by her father. Being female, she has no power to fight back, leaving her powerless. Though Mayella has power in her race, she is still powerless in her general because she is

“It’s a dirty business, you’re right. That’s why we women shouldn’t get involved” (Alvarez 44). In this quote Patria is trying to explain to Minerva that she shouldn’t get caught up in worrying about all of the government politics that are currently occurring about women. Minerva ends up arguing back explaining why she wants to “fight” back. She wants there to be equality or women of the future. Specifically she says, "women had to come out of the dark ages". Minerva wants women to be able to do what they would like to do, when and how they would like to without having to consult with their husband or a male. She wants them to have freedom and be able to do reasonable things on their own.

Mayella Ewell is not powerful dues to her class. Scout described the Ewell's house when she said “ Maycomb's Ewells lived behind the garbage dump”(Get Back To Your Dump). Scout is saying that the house of the Ewells compares to the City dump. Scout said ”White people wouldn't have anything to do with her because she lived amongst pigs”(The loneliest person in the world). Even people of her own race were against her because of her class. Mayella's low class makes her unrespected, even by blacks and upper class whites.

Mayella Ewell has no social class power, because she is poor. Mayella and her family live near the town dump which used to be a Negro camp. The author wrote, “Maycomb’s Ewells lived behind the town garbage dump in what was once a Negro cabin”(Lee Document A). The Ewell family is being represented as trash since they live next to the town dump. During the trial, Mayella tries to clean up and look nice when she takes the stand. Scout says that, “Mayella looked as if she tried to keep clean,”(Lee Document A). Although the Ewells do not have much money, Mayella tries to make beauty out of what she has. Therefore, Mayella has no social class power due to the fact that she is poor.

Is life nothing more than a journey with obstacles to conquer? In today’s culture, both men and women think they know how to handle every obstacle, but sadly they do not. What was not learned the first time will be accumulated to their overall life experience. The values that I learned from To Kill A Mockingbird were the importance of parenting, of not being cruel, and of making connections to the outside world.

Another example of discrimination in To Kill a Mockingbird is, discrimination by gender. One example of discrimination by gender is Aunt Alexandra expecting Scout to be a “girly-girl” and act like a mature, grown-up, woman. In the book, Jem says, “‘You know she’s not used to girls...leastways, not girls like you. She’s trying to make you a lady. Can’t you take up sewin’ or somethin’?’”

“Real courage in To Kill a Mockingbird is not always readily seen.” Representing a valid point and providing a thinking statement, this example represents a fantastic way to get an opinion. Scout is a 6 year old girl with a bowl full of fight. She seldom lets anyone tell her off, the exception being Atticus, her father and Calpurnia, their cook. So when somebody attacks her father or family with names and harsh word, she is bound to strike back, a bold but almost normal move.

Mayella’s situation clearly indicates how society has the power to cripple an individual due to people’s assumptions leaving a person limited and predefined in the way that they must act. An individual’s behavior can often be influenced by how society defines them and not how they define themselves. Mayella was never given a chance to decide who she wanted to be, she was assumed upon her family and her background which restricted her to decide who she wanted to be and how people would

Atticus teach Scout a very important lesson: “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view...until you climb into his skin and walk around it” (39). This book is all about the views people have of each other, the people in Maycomb never seems to care about these views and seems to see only on the outside of people. Atticus guides himself … This line is really important because at the beginning of the book Scout struggles at respecting people but towards the end of the book Scout discover that Boo Radley was a man damaged by his father. The author wants the readers to not only agree with someone's views but to respect it and as the reader realizes this they ask themselves, am I respecting people with

Between whispers and superficial conversations world is going around. People care about social class, about how much money do you have, about your race. Gossips, secrets and lies. Almost is forgotten the human being. This is not a phenomenon of nowadays. Since almost a hundred years ago this is being happened. Because the citizens of today are the same of yesterday. Although, every day there is a new technological invention or advantage and you think that world is advancing, retrogrades minds still exist. Reflect about it. For example, you are still going to a friend reunion and having conversations full of trivialities. Smarts and deeps conversations do not exist. Time is done not take for think, create and innovate. Sadly, life is lived by people in a