Rhetorical Analysis Of Harper Lee's 'To Kill A Mockingbird'

In the book To Kill a Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee, during chapters seventeen through twenty-one, one of the leading characters, Atticus, has to defend a black man in a court case against two white people. Before the jury is sent to make their decision, Atticus gives a closing argument speech. During his speech, Atticus uses three main types of persuasion called: ethos, pathos, and logos.

Prose appeals to ethos in this essay by appealing to the reader as a mother, educator, and student. By writing from the perspective of both a student and educator, Prose shows how both are affected by assigned literature. By discussing her own two sons, she appeals to readers who are mothers by expressing her concern about their education.

There are many instances in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird that show how kindness and generosity are more effective than rudeness and disrespect. One example of this is when Atticus is talking to Scout about understanding other people’s point of view. He tells her, “you never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view--until you climb into his skin and walk around in it” (Lee 36). This passage illustrates how Atticus is trying to instill good morals and values in his children. He believes that if you try to look at another point of view, you will be more successful in understanding others. Many people are closed-minded and unwilling to accept any perspective except their own. This can lead to a lot of misunderstandings and

Undoubtedly, one of the most controversial subjects in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, would be whether or not Atticus Finch should have defended Tom Robinson. However, in order to understand this controversy, a person must first be able to understand Atticus Finch himself. Atticus as a character is a very intellectual person who possesses the fortitude to stand up for whatever he believes is right and will not let other people’s choices affect his own. Furthermore, it is also important to understand that Atticus is not a racist, nor does he approve of the idea that one group of people are better than another based on their appearances in general, and because of this, a person can generalize that Atticus’s characteristic traits are why he did not complain when given the task of defending a black man, Tom Robinson, who had been wrongfully accused of raping a white woman. A man that he, as well as a small group of other people from town, viewed as the picture of innocence. In their eyes, Tom was no more than a mockingbird, “[and mockingbirds] don’t do one thing but make music for [people] to enjoy” (Lee 119). Knowing this, anyone with a reasonably strong sense of what is right and what is wrong can conclude that it does make sense for Atticus Finch to have taken the case due to his belief that it is a sin to kill the innocent as well as his courage that allows him to stay true to his ideas, even though when taking the case, he was inevitably going to be putting his

First things first a word that is hard to really define because it means so many different things is power. Power is having control over something or being the stronger person overall being number one. A little summary about this story is it is about a black man by the name of Tom Robinson who is accused of raping a younger white woman by the name of Mayella Ewell.

Justice, what is right and fair by all of society's standards and morals, is represented, along with injustice, through events and characters in To Kill a Mockingbird. "...in this country our courts are the great levellers, and in our courts all men are created equal." (Atticus, pg227). One type of justice is the legal kind, the kind in our courts, where men are found guilty or innocent. The other is any right or just act. "The one thing that doesn't abide by majority rule is a person's conscience." (Atticus, pg116). In

Although the dedication of Mr. Finch in “To Kill a Mockingbird”, even though it turned out against his favor due to an absence of evidence and a debauched court hearing. This court hearing makes readers question whether or not the justice system of that era was fair and in retrospect, a good question is whether or not our justice system today is fair and lawful. If you think that a false conviction was unfair, Tom is eventually killed for his false conviction under a faulty justice system. To me the sense of justice and fairness seems to be completely violated and bigoted.

Our courts serve to ensure full representation, attention, and assistance but the most valuable of these promises is justice. In all circumstances, it is a court’s duty to uphold the virtue of justice by eradicating any and all forms of inequality and ensuring that all participants are essentially no greater than the other. In Harper Lee’s classic novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, we see Atticus, an almost ethereal yet highly influential presence in the novel praising the courts saying, “-our courts are the great levelers, and in our courts all men are created equal.” Atticus’s statement concerning the courts simultaneously holds truths yet also contradicts itself. Albeit, the verdict on Tom’s case was unjustified and a clear sign of discrimination,

“There is one way in this country in which all men are created equal—there is one human institution that makes a pauper the equal of a Rockefeller, the stupid man the equal of an Einstein, and the ignorant man the equal of any college president. That institution, gentlemen, is the court. ”-Atticus Finch. (Lee page 190) To Kill a Mockingbird is a story told by a young girl named Scout. Throughout the novel you watch scout grow up and learn about the things around her.

Atticus Finch, the best lawyer in Maycomb, was sitting nervously in his chair as he waited for the town judge to arrive in court. Tom Robinson, Atticus’ client, was feeling anxious as he kept his head bowed avoiding everyone’s burning glares. The courtroom was hot, midsummer breeze blowing in, cooling off people’s skin not their tempers, however. Atticus leaned over to occasionally whisper things in Tom’s ear, when the courtroom door was suddenly thrown open to reveal a sweaty and panting judge. He fixed his dress before and hair before walking to his podium, apologizing the whole way there. He finally seated himself, making the officer next to him say in a somewhat confused voice, “All rise for the honorable Judge Manning.” Manning nodded at everyone before turning to Atticus, confusion clouding his

“If there’s just one king of folks, why can’t they get along with each other?” (Lee 259). These words were spoken by Jem Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird. In Harper Lee’s novel, Jem has a loss of innocence, a repeated theme in the book; this happens during the Tom Robinson trial, from Jem’s mood, and because of the character, Boo Radley.

“Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic theory of personality argues that human behaviour is the result of the interactions among three component parts of the mind: the id, ego, and superego”. Harper Lee crafts Jem proficiently enough to allow analysts to apply three components to explain Jem’s personal development and maturity growth. The id relates to Jem’s initial self, super ego relates to his learning curve during Tom Robinson's trial and the ego is how he comes to a substantial understanding of the world around him.

When I read To Kill a Mockingbird, I gained a deeper understanding of not just what was happening American society in the 1930s, but also what the atmosphere of racism and judgement truly felt like. The perspective of a young girl who was figuring out the meaning behind the way her town worked expressed the truth of American views in a brilliant way. To Kill a Mockingbird wonderfully revealed a wide variety of perspectives that helped the reader have empathy for all the characters, even the ones that they weren’t fond of. The author, Harper Lee, tied the main theme of the book together by repeatedly comparing different situations to killing a mockingbird. I really enjoyed reading To Kill a Mockingbird because it was an interesting and eloquent story.

July 11, 1960, author Harper Lee published a book, unaware of what it would turn into today. To Kill a Mockingbird is considered one of the most universal novels throughout the world, receiving many awards and almost immediately blossoming into the modern classic it is known for today. The book takes place in Maycomb, Alabama, where lived a lawyer with two children. This novel takes the reader through maturation of young characters, as well as creates one of the most famous trials in literature. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee explores modern day, universal themes of racism and evidence of others being different and the significance of them.

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