How do you keep from giving up when bad things happen? Hope. This may not be a question we get asked everyday or know an answer to, however, people have dealt with it all through history. From the holocaust, to african-american rights, you name it, people didn’t give up so easily. Anne Frank didn’t give up believing in people while atrocious things were happening to her and her family. Like so many others, she had hope and despite the outrage as well as fury, she said this: “In spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart.”
The Diary of Anne Frank and The Boy in The Striped Pajamas both take place during the holocaust. One is fiction and the other is a nonfiction piece that gives the reader a sense that they are
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Both Anne and Scout live in a dysfunctional world. They are both highly aware of the world they live in. Scout’s father, Atticus is defending a negro in court for a crime he didn’t commit. Scout becomes worried of what people will say and is shocked herself as to why he was defending a negro. At first she didn’t agree with what he was doing, but by the end of the story she had matured greatly and realised how awful people can truly be. Throughout the trial, Atticus taught Scout and Jem important lessons such as, “If you can learn a simple trick Scout- you never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view until you climb in his skin and walk around in it. “ Atticus is discussing Tom Robinson who also, despite his situation didn’t give up. He put up a fight in court and relied on his innocence. Even though he was standing alone beside Atticus, he put up a fight. Sadly, this came with an unfortunate ending. Tom was accused guilty merely for the color of his skin and was sent to jail. When he tried to escape, he was shot and killed. Scout find out later on and realizes how unfair it is. After sitting through the trial and realizing nothing is wrong with the negroes, she is furious and upset. Although her ending is much different, she keeps the values Atticus taught her and kept those values the rest of …show more content…
In their own ways, these characters fought through many tough obstacles. Whether it was the holocaust or times of racism against racism, they all remained hopeful. Each of these character matured over time and grew as human beings. It’s important to remember the sacrifices people made to protect them as well as let them grow. We must never forget hope when things may look down for us. Human beings go through something everyday and it’s important to realize that those obstacles were put there for a reason. We need to look up when things look down and fight with all of our power for what is right. We must remember to
Racism is witnessed many times throughout Scout's life, but not many times through her family as Atticus believes all people are equal. The only times she really sees it in her household is when Aunt Alexandra gets there. Jem and Scout talk to each other about what Aunt Alexandra says to Atticus and it shows her views. “She won’t let him alone about Tom Robinson. She almost said Atticus was disgracin’ the family. Scout… I’m scared.’ ‘Scared’a what?’ ‘Scared about Atticus. Somebody might hurt him”(167). Not only does this quote show her views about a different race, it also shows her directing her thoughts towards Atticus. She is trying to guilt Atticus into changing his mind and to keep the Finch family legacy going strong. This method of persuasion obviously does not work on Atticus, as he continues with the trial, despite Aunt Alexandra’s perspective on the
During Tom Robinson’s trial, Scout starts to understand the entirety of racial injustice. We see this when Scout meets the lynch mob outside Tom’s cell before the trial, and she stopped them by talking to and embarrassing Mr. Cunningham. It was not until after that night
Firstly, Atticus shows empathy throughout the whole story to everyone. Atticus told scout you have to stand in someone's shoes to understand them, “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view, until you climb in their skin, and walk around in it,” said Atticus (39). Atticus gives the advice to scout, so Scout can show more empathy to everyone, and so she can try to understand what a person is going through in their life, and Atticus taught her how to do that. It took courage and empathy for Atticus to defend Tom Robinson. It was not normal for a person in the 1930’s to try to defend an African American, much less care about him and the case, that is real empathy. Atticus really tried his hardest to defend him, and prove Tom’s innocence, but the jury still had the prejudice of racism against Tom. Atticus is the same person everywhere, on the streets, and at home. He treats everyone one with great respect, and shows empathy for everyone, even if
Both stories had a few differences. One of the big differences is that Bruno dies with Shmuel, but in Night Elie survives but his father dies. Also, Boy in the Striped Pajama is fictional while Night is an Autobiography story by Elie Wiesel. Also Boy in the Striped Pajamas is based off of a 8 year old perspective while Night is from a 15 year old perspective.
The Holocaust was a distressing time in history and is not a story everyone can absorb. Both the book, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas written by John Boyne and the film, Life is Beautiful, directed by Robert Benigni, are based upon the real life events of the Holocaust but with a difference. They made clever use of different techniques to dim and censor the reality of the events and interpret it in a more tolerable way. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas depicts the life of a young nine year old boy named Bruno who is the son of the Commandant of the Auschwitz
When Scout arrives home from school to explain to Atticus what her classmates have been calling him he stated that “I’m simply defending a negro...but there’s been some high talk around town to the effect that I shouldn’t be defending this man.” (Lee. 75). Entirely based on the fact that Tom is black he is seen as less than therefore does not deserve the justice services offered to the white community. During Aunt Alexandra’s get together, Atticus pulls her and Calpurnia aside and tells them the bad news. “Tom’s dead...they shot him. He was running. It was during their exercise period. They said he just broke into a blind raving charge at the fence and started climbing over. Right in front of them.”
Throughout this novel, Scout gains insight into herself by learning to cope with racism. Scout first discovers that her father is defending Tom Robinson, an African American in the Maycomb community after she gets into a brawl with Cecil Jacobs when he calls her father a “nigger-lover”. “Atticus had promised me he would wear me out if he ever heard of me fighting anymore … the sooner I learned to hold in, the better off everybody would be”(Pg. 74). This quote shows how Scout has to cope with different ways to deal with the racism directed toward her father for defending a black man. Moreover, Scout learns to refrain from showing belligerence to those who insult her family and, instead turns to ignoring them and not giving them a reaction. When Scout acts out and harms those who are racist toward her family, it shows how she finds racism morally incorrect. Though she does not know what the term nigger-lover means, she still acts out because she is aware that it is an offensive term. Scout believes that people should not be discriminated against and her bursts of anger support this concept. Racism provides maturing children insight into themselves because whilst Scout
She would get a better understanding of this as the novel progresses. Scout also learns more about maturity when she experiences hypocrisy from her teacher, “Over here we don’t believe in persecuting anybody. Persecution comes from people who are prejudiced. Pre-ju-dice,” She is contradicting herself, saying that it is acceptable to persecute blacks but not Jews. It dawned on Scout that people are hypocrites and have double standards when it suits them. The biggest step the children took towards growing up was during the Tom Robinson trials. There, the children received full exposure to the evils, malevolence, prejudice and sorrow of the cruel world as a white man accuses an innocent black man for raping when all Tom ever wanted to achieve was to help others. The children understood what was going on completely and was therefore changed because of it. At the unexpected climax of the novel, the children have an unpleasant encounter with Bob Ewell who wanted to take revenge on Atticus for humiliating him by killing his children. This was an absolutely outrageous act of insanity but also taught the children how dangerous reality could be, finalizing their journey into adulthood.
Scout learns 3 important things about life in the book. One thing she learns is that life is unfair. She experiences this in a court case with her dad defending a black man named Tom Robinson who is accused for raping Mayella Ewell the daughter of Bob Ewell. Mr. Atticus had very good reasons on why Tom should not be accused of rape and everyone in the court including the jury and judge were sure that he would win but at the end of the case the jury decided
Another character that helps Scout to become accepting is Tom Robinson. He teaches Scout how pervasive racism is and the importance of fighting it. When Tom Robinson gets shot by trying to escape, Scout begins to experience for the first time, how strong racism and prejudice is between whites and blacks. After reading Mr. Underwood’s article, she realizes that Tom Robinson is a “dead man” once Mayella Ewell “open[s] her mouth and scream[s]” (Lee 241). Society is so unjust; Tom is stuck in a situation, where it is impossible for him to win the case, since a black man’s word will never be more respected than a white woman’s. After the trial, Scout is more aware of the need to treat all races equally. One day after Scout and Jem visits Calpurnia’s church, Scout asks if she can “‘come see [Calpurnia] sometime’” (Lee
Scout’s school did not stress the importance of equality, and it showed in the town’s ignorance. But, Scout did not let school taint her perception of others, and she believed “everybody’s gotta learn, nobody’s born knowin’. That Walter’s as smart as he can be he just gets held back [...]. Nothing’s wrong with him. Naw, Jem, I think there’s just one kind of folks. Folks” (Lee 304). Scout’s friend was going to get held back in school because he was poor and unable to attend as often. She stood up for him, because she thought everyone deserves an equal chance. However, a place that did not give everyone an equal chance was the courtroom where Atticus defended a black man accused of a crime he did not commit. After losing the case, Atticus consoles his children and tells Scout and Jem that “as you grow older, you’ll see white men cheat black men every day of your life, but let me tell you something and don’t you forget it- whenever a white man does that to a black man, no matter who he is, or how rich he is, or how fine a family he comes from, that white man is trash” (Lee 295). While others may see a situation such as this and say that the black man was at fault, Atticus sees through the color of a man’s skin. He wants to make sure his children do this, too. Growing up in the south, racism was expected to be seen. But, just because something is common does not make it right. Atticus made it a priority to teach his
To begin, Jem and Scout have a father named Atticus who is a lawyer and has such a good character, that even he defends colored people for crimes even though most know that if a black person is tried in court, not at anytime did he or she receive a fair and unprejudiced decision toward their fate. Based on Atticus and his overall character and actions, one can say that one of the most impactful and poignant lessons that Atticus ingrains into his children’s brains is to always live humbly towards life and live positively and politely. Several instances of Atticus being reserved and respectful and most importantly impacting Jem and Scout would be when he shot a dog with rabies when nobody else particularly wanted too and shot it dead between the eyes and never told anyone about being “the best shot in town”. It most left Jem in utter awe as Miss Maudie Atkinson, a neighbor of the
For example, Scout witnesses Miss Gates completely contradicting herself when she says “persecution comes from people who are prejudiced...there are no better people in the world than the Jews, and why Hitler doesn’t think so is a mystery to me” (281). Even though she had said “it’s time somebody taught “em a lesson, they were getting’ way above themselves, an’ the next thing they think they can do is marry us” (283), after she had heard the guilty verdict of Tom Robinson. Scout starts to learn that not everyone has the same definition of prejudiced. When Scout hears Miss Gates speak she starts to question how someone can try and defend the Jews but be completely racist about the black community in her own town. Moreover, after Scout finds out about the injustice of Tom Robinson getting shot she doesn’t know how to react, so she looks to the adults around her to see what to do and see that they do not act as if anything happened and they asked one another “do I show it?...not a sign.”(270). When Scout looks to her elders for guidance in a situation it shows that she does respect Aunt Alexandra and trusts what she does in such a critical situation. Scout begins to understands that in order for her to deal with an unstable world she needs to look around for help every once in a while. Through critical thinking and questioning the members of her community, Scout starts to understand what it means to mature into a young woman.
Atticus is the town’s most respected lawyer. He is not wealthy, but he is well off in the community and is very kind towards everyone. As a single parent, he faces the world, raising his two children with his maid, Calpurnia, who experiences better conditions and responsibilities than other African Americans of her time, due to Atticus’ beliefs. He has a reputation for being an open-minded, fair man, and a unique personality that is overflowing with honesty. He has been assigned a case of defending a black man who is apparently accused of rape. Now Atticus is both loved and unloved by the townspeople. Since they live in the South during the 1930’s, Atticus gives a lot of advice to his children, Scout and Jem. Atticus tells Scout and Jem that they should not say anything about a person especially when they do not know that person. Atticus describes what he means in a quote “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”(Lee 39). Atticus defends a black man named Tom Robinson, who is accused of raping a girl. Atticus has the confidence and the courage to defend Tom and prove that he is innocent. Scout does not believe that her father is nice enough or has the courage to defend Tom. Atticus proves that
There have been a lot movies based in World War II. The one that stands out the most is The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. Made in 2008, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, is a Holocaust movie filmed from the frame of reference of an eight-year-old boy. The director-writer, Mark Herman took the story of two boys, written by John Boyne, and developed a masterpiece (The Boy in). With the use of these two boys, Mark Herman takes the divide of cultural bias and economic injustices and links them together. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is an accomplished film made with incredible character development, heart-warming acting, powerful viewpoint, and a meaningful message.