Rhetorical Analysis Chart: To Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee

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.

The coming-of-age novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee is set in the fictional town of Maycomb County, Alabama around the 1930s. Vile racial discrimination in Maycomb is what lead to the trial of Tom Robinson, a black man accused of raping Mayella Ewell, a white woman. Atticus, the father of Scout, was assigned to defend Robinson in court. Atticus organized his argument to be successful by using rhetorical devices- ethos, pathos, and logos.

Power, it is something that everyone wants, it classifies us. “To Kill a Mockingbird” is about a powerless black man, Tom Robinson, accused of raping a white woman, Mayella Ewell. Because of Mayella’s class and gender she is powerless, but her race makes her have a little more power.

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.

In Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird, the atmosphere of discrimination normalizes the use of slurs, and the ostracization of certain members of the community, for the children in the novel. To Kill A Mockingbird, written in 1960, set in the fictitious town of Maycomb, Alabama. This novel, from the perspective of the character Scout, is a tale of identity, injustice, and inequality in a time of heavy discrimination. In Lee’s novel, the use of slurs is a common occurrence in the town of Maycomb. Scout, as well as the other children in the novel, are exposed to adults and their peers using these slurs, and, consequently, slurs become a desensitized part of everyday language. From the beginning of the novel, Boo Radley is an enigma to Scout,

“How would it feel to be convicted for a crime that wasn’t committed just because of skin color?” This is what exactly happens in Harper Lee’s book “To Kill A Mockingbird.” Tom Robinson was charged guilty for rape and assault of Mayella Ewell. Atticus Finch went against Mr.Gilmer to defend Tom’s innocence. It was almost impossible to convince a white jury’s opinion towards Tom because of his color. Both Atticus and Mr.Gilmer both used Logos, Ethos and Pathos, rhetorical concepts in their arguments.Even though Mr.Gilmer had won the case, Atticus’s was more effective in terms of strengths and weaknesses shown.

The second device Atticus hires to prove Tom’s innocence is similes, or the comparison of one thing with another thing of a different kind. Atticus practices the use of this device by stating, “Which, gentlemen, as we know is in itself a lie as black as Tom Robinson’s skin, a lie I do not have to point out to you.” In this excerpt, Atticus compares the lie of ‘all black people are bad’ to the darkness of Tom Robinson’s skin for two effects; The effect of demeaning the claim that ‘all black people are bad’ by comparing it to the skin tone of a black man; and the effect of causing irony, by showing that white men lie as well as black men, because this is a lie about black people is made by a white man. This helps the jury comprehend the mistakes in their prejudice better by Atticus’ explaining that both races make mistakes, however neither is truly bad, or worse than the

Lawyer Atticus Finch, in his closing argument from the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee states in Tom Robinson’s case that racial prejudice has blinded the county into deciding the misguided decision. Finch’s purpose is to convince the jury one’s race is irrelevant to justice. He adopts a moralistic tone in order to persuade the jury of Tom Robinson’s innocence. Finch furthers his purpose by effectively employing rhetorical devices to inform the jury to discard their differences and make the choice that can set an innocent man free.

Harper Lee, the author of To Kill a Mockingbird, focused on all three rhetorical appeal when she wrote Atticus’ closing argument. Atticus mixes ethos, logos, and pathos to attempt to persuade the jury that Tom Robinson is not guilty.

Imagine a place where the verdict of a rape trial stems from racial prejudice rather than the proper evaluation of proven evidence. This is Maycomb, Alabama, the strange, Southern town where Scout and Jem Finch grow up during the 1930s in the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee. In short, the novel travels a thin line between a light-hearted narrative of the siblings’ childhood with their single father, a defense attorney named Atticus Finch, and the injustices that arise within their close-knit community. The complexities include extreme racism, a peculiar social hierarchy, and general misunderstandings of certain people within the small town. These are all seen as “Maycomb ways”, almost as if they are considered facts. Through her writing, Lee conveys an important message that an essential part of a child’s education often takes place in a home or community rather than a classroom by utilizing the characters, Atticus Finch and Tom Robinson, a black man accused of rape whom Atticus is defending.

Research shows that children are more susceptible to commit crimes, fail in maintaining long lasting relationships and develop depression as well as other psychological disorders from the effects of bad parenting. In fact, many people grow up treating others the same way their parents have treated them with reference to their parents’ values, behaviours and attitudes. Harper Lee, an American author, expressed her childhood experiences in Alabama through writing the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. In this novel Harper Lee highlights the prevailing racist attitudes that existed in Alabama in the 1930s. Lee does this by having the parenting style of Atticus, and its impact on his children, stand in contrast to these prevailing racist attitudes. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee conveys that Atticus Finch is a great parent because he is not a hypocrite, he has a sense of fairness and he has good morals and values.

William Godwin lives his life by the meaningful quote he wrote, “No man knows the value of innocence and integrity but he who has lost them.” A variety of characters in the eye opening novel, “To Kill a Mockingbird”, can deeply connect to this quote. Each time someone who is innocent gets pushed over by death or situations they do not deserve, it’s as if someone are killing or threatening a mockingbird. Everyone in life, no matter who they are, needs to realize they cannot judge others based off of their physical appearances. Instead, they need to realize who people are internally.

Aunt Alexandra’s way of policing who Scout may play with is unjust because her judgement of character is ruled by the reputation that person’s background holds, rather than the actual trustworthiness of the individual. My parents are more lenient, and generally allow me to associate with whoever I please, as long as they are not considered a bad influence. At the most extreme lengths, my parents will interrogate the parents of my friends by phone to see if they have a good reputation, but that is the farthest they will take. My parents are amicable enough to trust me to make friends with likable and responsible people. If I were to enforce the type of people my kids were to hang out with, I would try to get them involved with others who were

Who would destroy something that contained a heart filled only with good? The answer to that can be found in the book To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee in an unjust time of unequal opportunity. The story follows the retelling of an 8-year-old girl named Jean Louis and those around her moral growth. She lives in Maycomb Alabama during the Great Depression. She has many chapters of growth including changing from afraid of a person to wanting to meet them, seeing people put on masks in order to avoid judgment, and watching an innocent man go to jail. Scout learns that to Kill a mockingbird is a sin for they have done no wrong, that people make that most meaningful mockingbirds, and the true significance of them because of the moral growth they bring about in people.