To Kill A Mockingbird Essay

Being at the top of the social hierarchy has been a must for every American of past generations, but can lead to fatal damages for some trying to obtain that goal and a cause to ruin people’s lives. In a remarkably triumphant story on compassion, Harper Lee explored the horrors of racial prejudice in the novel “To Kill a Mockingbird.” Set in the 1930’s, the poor town of Maycomb, Alabama has been hit by the depression hard, which created a vast, complex social pyramid, with distinct families and lifestyles. At the Finch household, composed of a little nine year old girl, Scout, a twelve year old boy Jem, and their father Atticus, proceed through a whirlwind of events throughout the next few years. Atticus, a lawyer who is a hardworking, honest man at the top of the social hierarchy of Maycomb, has to defend a colored man by the name of Tom Robinson. This happened to be very unusual for the time period, as the family has to transcend through the struggles in a racial prejudice town and learn the raw nature of the worst in humans, thus trying to overcome these events through compassion. The author utilizes metaphor, characterization, and mood to describe the situation of Maycomb, it soon then becomes very clear that the dangers of ruining innocence can lead to a vast road of horrors and evils.

Through the eyes of an innocent child, the story of To Kill a Mockingbird introduces a world of corruption. In the disordered town of Maycomb, certain character traits are developed and displayed in a specific local family. The opposition against their beliefs brings daunting situations to their door. Yet, this one family perseveres through the continuous corruption of Maycomb. Therefore, this recurring motif of character development really plays into the characters and, consequently, the story. This evident pattern of courage composes the Finch family: Jem, Scout, and Atticus.

An award winning book and classic for modern American literature implies the remarkable novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Nelle Harper Lee. The narrator and main character of this book is Jean Louise, more commonly known as Scout Finch. This book is set in the slow-paced town of Maycomb where the community is small, but the struggles many. In this small town, social norms play a big role in everyday life. The social “laws” are found to be stronger and more enforced than the real law. Citizens of this southern community must stay in their class or endure suffering as an outcast. In the book To Kill A Mockingbird, specific circumstances in the 1930s South impacts the theme of Small Town Life. The study of eugenics and stereotypes impacts the identity of the citizens of Maycomb on a daily basis and affects the social norms for different people.

To Kill a Mockingbird, a southern-gothic story, shows the view of life in the 1930’s. This story is told in the eyes of Jem and Scout and how their views changed as they grew up in the town of Maycomb. Scout is a young girl who is growing up surrounding the contentions of her father’s lawsuit. Her father, Atticus Finch, is a lawyer who is defending a black man in charge of a white girl’s rape. This essay will show how the lives of the people in Maycomb are affected by discrimination and prejudice in Tom Robinson’s case, Calpurnia’s church and the Verdict.

Inside the small town of Maycomb County in 1933-1935, being segregated with colored bathrooms and maids was normal, but a white man defending a black man on purpose was unheard of. Jack, Atticus’s brother, has just punished Scout for fighting her cousin Francis, but little did he know Francis called Atticus a “nigger- lover.” Not only is it hard for the kids to be discriminated against and having prejudice thrown at them through the case, it is also hard for Atticus to watch it happen: “’You know what’s going to happen as well as I do, Jack, and I hope and pray I can get Jem and Scout through it without bitterness, and most of all, without catching Macomb’s usual disease’” (Lee 100). Atticus talks about Maycomb’s usual disease being prejudice, and infers that hopefully the kids will be unique, but also have an equal mind on blacks and whites.

The story is told through the eyes of six-year-old Scout Finch, who is now reflecting on her life as an adult writer. The story is about Scout growing up, and what she goes through during the hard times of racial

For hundreds of years, society has seem to always target African-Americans for things like slavery, and prejudice. People have turned what they thought were beasts from another world into their slaves, making them suffer from constant torture, working conditions, and more. Prejudice gained prominence in this era and the idea of racism was born. Most westerners seem to treat everyone that doesn’t fit their skin color and attributes as a worthy sufferer of hate. Racism would later flow through systems and societies of other countries, plaguing the population of ideas that make no sense and judge a population based on something one cannot control. One of the many playing fields of racism was the United States in the 1900’s, even though

The novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, is a classic authored by Harper Lee which takes place in Alabama during the depression. It is narrated by a six-year-old girl named Jean Louise ‘Scout’ Finch. The plot primarily revolves around everyday life in the community of Maycomb, focusing on Atticus Finch’s family and the challenges they encounter, including defending an African American in court. Throughout the novel, the community of Maycomb experiences significant change although there are those who hold steadfast to their convictions and habits. Perceptions of others, like Arthur Radley and Dolphus Raymond, are altered in the eyes of certain characters as they are exposed to other facets of the characters’ lives or personalities. Others, like Aunt Alexandra and Cecil Jacobs, undergo a certain level of maturity which significantly improves the way they interact with others. However, there are certain individuals within the community that do not experience a transformation and the community as a whole continue to maintain their racist views.

Maycomb may look like a normal town on the outside, but it is not. Sadly, everyone is not treated equal. In maycomb, “there’s four kinds of folks in this world. There’s the ordinary kind...the cunninghams...the ewells...and the negroes” (302). Scout, her family, and her neighbors were the ordinary people, and the Cunninghams were poor white people who were proud of themselves.

Aman Gill Ms.Prete ENG 2D1 05/05/15 Discrimination: Cause & Effect Discrimination is defined as making distinctions and judgments based on a person’s membership in a certain group. When discrimination is applied, it tears that person or group of people away from the whole of society, marking them as different or abnormal. Through the novel, To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, she displays many incidents of this destructive act. Using mainly racism, sexism and classism, Harper Lee illustrates the ways in which discrimination negatively impacts society.

The vital themes explored in Harper Lee 's ‘To Kill a Mockingbird ' are still as relevant and confronting to the young adults of today as it was to the novels young central characters, Scout and Jem Finch. Through Lee 's understanding of the context, exhibited by her precise depiction of a prejudiced town, we are able to gain an authentic insight into the general disposition of the town and the unspoken codes and values of the people that make the prejudices in Maycomb so prominent and accepted. We see the growth in understanding and maturity in the children as they come to realise the hidden darkness in their hometown, as a result of the killing of Tom Robinson following the unjust court case. Scout and Jem 's altruistic father, Atticus Finch, demonstrates the values of courage and morality in the small but greatly prejudiced town of Maycomb. The themes of context, growing up, prejudice and courage studied in this novel appeal to young adults because they are still appropriate, as well as confronting, in our time.

The Maycomb society teaches the children to depict sympathy to African Americans as a wrongdoing, leaving Scout flustered by her father’s intention of helping Tom Robinson with the court

There is a clear prejudice against African Americans throughout To Kill a Mockingbird. There is a cultural mindset that the community shares that those of colored skin, are “immoral beings, and the Negro men cannot be trusted around our women.” The white man’s opinions, words, and actions, are valued over the black man’s. In the complicated social hierarchy of Maycomb, where the Finch’s are at the top, the black community is at the bottom, below even the disrespectable Ewell’s, despite their admirable qualities. The rigid social format confuses Scout, as she doesn’t understand why Aunt Alexandra won’t allow her to play with Walter Cunningham, a poor boy. The author uses this to deplore the far too relevant role of social status and prejudice in social interaction.

The novel To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, contains a plethora of literary techniques which evoke strong emotions and opinions within the reader. Evidence of these techniques include: colloquial and formal language, tone and metaphors. Through incorporation of these literary devices the reader is positioned to empathise with each of the character’s perspectives whilst gaining a child’s perspective of injustice. The employment of these literary techniques powerfully delivers the underlying themes of: racism, corruption of innocence and injustice. Narrated by Jean Finch or “Scout” retrospectively reflecting on her experiences as a child, this historical fiction is cautionary tale highlighting the embedded dangers of racial inequality and the prevailing injustice surrounding the town of Maycomb in the Great Depression. The story is set in the context of an uprising of black rights against slavery in America.

In To Kill A Mockingbird, Maycomb County Alabama is first described as a tired, quiet, and lazy town; “There was nowhere to go and nothing to buy, and no money to buy it with.” It presents itself as a quaint village with dirt-paved streets, few stores, sweltering summers, and the constant bustle to and from church on a Sunday morning. The interesting things, it seems, come few and far between to the town. The reader also knows that “Maycomb had recently been told it had nothing to fear but fear itself;” From this, and the easy, reactive way Maycomb responds, we first gather it is filled with calm beings harboring a sense of optimism and contentment. Jean-Louise “Scout” and Jeremy “Jem” Finch are two of the few children settled in the town; To Kill A Mockingbird focuses on their endeavors to defend, discover, and learn as much as they can in a hands-on world whilst telling a tragic tale through a child’s eyes. Their father, Atticus Finch--the sole lawyer and sophisticate of the town--teaches them as much as he can through his morally upright actions and guidance. Their town of Maycomb is soon to be changed by a riveting case of lies, emotional peaks, and