Summary Of ' Kill A Mockingbird '

Discrimination and perspective are ideas thoroughly developed in Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” through the use of language techniques, particularly the use of symbolism and descriptive language. Lee explores the nature of society itself and unflinchingly exposes the rampant institutionalised and societal racism prevalent the 1930’s American South. The fact that the novel was written during the 1950’s civil rights movement is significant. Lee warns the reader of the poisonous nature of unchecked prejudice and discrimination and its degrading nature of the progress of society itself. Lee uses descriptive language and its connotations through the novel to highlight the idea of discrimination. The introduction of Maycomb this is particularly significant. Maycomb is described as “a tired old town” with a courthouse that “sagged”. By using words with connotations of degeneracy lee implants into the reader's mind that Maycomb is degenerate and negative. The physical degeneracy highlights the degenerate ideas of prejudice and discrimination. Describing the courthouse as dilapidated is particularly significant as the courthouse is the main location of institutionalised racism of the judiciary system is largely expressed. This symbolism of physical degeneracy symbolising the degenerate ideas is reinforced throughout the novel, particularly by Atticus. Atticus believes Maycomb is being destroyed by its “usual disease”, which is racism. By using with similar connotations to describe both the physical degeneracy of Maycomb and the backward ideas that it contains, the two are linked in the reader's minds. This was used by Lee to reinforce the idea that discrimination was rampant by describing both people and the town itself with words with negative connotations. This use of descriptive language suggests to the reader that by continuing to follow out of date ideas, they will be left behind. Lee hints to the reader that in order to continue in the future, you must adapt and change ideas in order to not be left behind. Lee shows that the degenerate ideas and buildings are interrelated and to move towards a better society, the degenerate idea of racism and discrimination must be left behind. Boo Radley is used to shows

Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, is a realistic story that deeply discusses issues involved with the 1930’s that still resonate today. The struggles of life are evident within the believable characters of Maycomb County which is a microcosm, reflective of universal issues. Along with the authentic characters, setting and style also helps to convey Lee’s controversial notions of racial and gender prejudice, and persecution of the innocent, discussing many other ideas within.

I selected this book because its the best book I have ever read. I read To Kill A Mockingbird last year and my class wrote an essay about this book, since I already know so much about this book I thought it would be a nice and quick read. I thought it would be a great enjoyment to refresh my memory of this epic book. I watched the movie soon after I read the whole book and it was very fun to pick out the not-placed and wrong-worded parts of the movie. To Kill A Mockingbird is about a sister, brother, and their friend Dill finding items in their neighbors tree, soon after this their father was the lawyer of a case on an african american.

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.

In 'To Kill a Mockingbird' many morals about the themes in the novel are portrayed through different issues and events. The major themes are appearance vs. reality courage, maturity and prejudice. Each of these themes has an event in the novel that help the reader understand its message.

On Sunday, when Atticus has to leave town, Cal takes Jem and Scout to church. They enter the church, sit down, and listen to the Reverend Skyes speak. He talks about how they will all pray for Tom Robinson and his family while he is at court. Scout asks where the hymn books are, and Cal hushes her. When they sing the hymns Zeebo, Cal’s oldest son, goes up to the front of the church. Since the church doesn’t have any hymn books Zeebo has to memorize them and sing a verse to the crowd, which they repeat back to him. Near the end of church the Reverend says that they do not have enough money to give to Tom Robinson’s family. So he closes the church doors and makes the crowd give up ten more dollars to help.

On August 9, 2014,a young man by the name of Michael Brown was shot and killed by a police officer. It is little known why the shooting occurred, but the boy was unarmed.This could be one of many cases of modern day racism and segregation. In 1930, “even after the abolishment of slavery in 1865, blacks were still almost powerless(BBC 2)”.Blacks were heavily segregated and had almost no rights.Many cases of segregation in the 1930s caused a lot of current day racial tension in the united states.

Chapter 1 begins as a flashback told by the main character and narrator, a young girl named Scout. This retelling of the story continues through the entire book. the author of this novel, Harper Lee, characterizes scout the narrator as an intelligent tomboy who is not so sure she wants to deal with the Radleys. Scout always hung around her older brother Jem and Dill, a boy who visited Maycomb every summer. She was always up for whatever they did and really did not like it when they called her girly. Dill became fascinated with the Radleys and their mysteriously hidden son Boo. Scout urged Dill to let the Radleys keep to themselves, but her harassing of Dill did nothing. Even though Scout is a clever girl, Lee makes it obvious that Scout still

In the Bildungsroman novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the protagonist Jean Louise “Scout” Finch lives in Maycomb, Alabama. In Maycomb, races are segregated and people are alienated; Arthur “Boo” Radley was isolated by most of Maycomb, for example. In the novel, Scout met people in different social classes such as: Robert E. Lee “Bob” Ewell, Tom Robinson, Calpurnia, and Atticus Finch. Through the use of complications, imageries, and characters, Lee implies stereotypes and how a person’s development can be impacted by social classes.

This can be seen here “‘Not only a Finch waiting on tables but one in the courthouse lawing for niggers!’” (135). This passage shows how the people of Maycomb judged people by the color of their skin this was common in those times but the few people like Atticus show the reader that you don’t have to look at a person with a single story in mind. The townsfolk want to teach the young citizens of their society to believe in what they believe and that is why they use hateful words to show children that the words are okay to say at everyone. As Scout is only 6 she falls into the group of kids that question if thing are right and wrong, by hearing almost everybody in the town saying these words this makes the kids feel like it’s okay to say and they do not feel like they will be judged ar frowned upon. Another example of Maycomb's prejudice and hatred would have to be the separation of White folk and Black folk. An example of this is Jem is very confident that his father is going to win the case. Reverend Sykes tells Jem not to be so confident because he had never seen a jury favor a black man over a white man (Lee 279). This example shows that Jem doesn’t fully understand that the jury in the case will look at the race then they do to the evidence. This clearly shows how Maycomb is stuck in that time when one race thought they were gods among the other races, they fail to socialize and learn that they are the same like Atticus thinks. The town of Maycomb tries to enforce that being racist is okay by saying hate filled words and acting like they are the privileged class of the

Lee utilises the novel’s context in order to signpost the theme of prejudice. Maycomb’s conservative values and deep-seated racism and xenophobia is used by Lee as a catalyst

In her coming-of-age novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee explores how the precocious protagonist, Jean Louise “Scout” Finch, struggles to fit into her role as a lady and has a difficult time coming to terms of the cruelty as well as the injustice her Southern town displays through discrimination. Scout resides with her family in Maycomb County, Alabama in the 1930s--a town severely divided by color. She goes through a breathtaking metamorphosis throughout the novel when her father Atticus defends a Negro man accused of rape, exposing her to the true roots of human behavior. Through the use of settings, characterization, and ironies, Lee implies that hypocrisy is a tragic act to be involved in; it can

“You never understand a person until you consider things from his point of view… until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” Atticus Finch, To Kill A Mockingbird. When I was nine years old my family and I moved from Marshall, Texas to Harleton, Texas. Making this move had a significant impact on my childhood due to the fact that I was taken from the town I had spent the first nine years of my life in only to begin an entirely new life in another town I had never even been to. I was taken from my friends and family, and I was faced with having to adjust to a whole new world. I didn’t realize it at the time, but this move and the experiences I would have would shape my life and make me the person that I am today.

Harper Lee's ‘To kill a Mockingbird’ explores the prejudicial issues which plague over the town Maycomb. Harper Lee uses the trial of Tom Robinson a black man accused of rape on a young white girl, Mayella as a central theme to portray the prominence of racial discrimination in Maycomb. The racial prejudice is also widely shown through the characterisation of Atticus. Having Scout as the narrator allows Harper Lee to highlight the gender inequity through a youthful unbiased perspective. The chauvinistic attitudes and prejudiced views of most of the town’s folk leaves Maycombs social hierarchy in an unfair order, victimising many of the town’s people due to their socially non-conforming habits some ‘socially unaccepted people’ including Boo

Lee also explores the systems which were present in those times that allowed for the racism to continue throughout the society. Judicial systems, political system, social system was structured for racism, segregation and discrimination. The Social system in Maycomb revolves around the fact that the Negroes despite their admirable qualities lie at the bottom of a social hierarchy which is headed by the Finches, followed by the townspeople who are in front of the ignorant farmers like the Cunningham’s who are in turn of a higher class than the white trash people like the Ewells. This is apparent in the court room scenes