The Mad Dog, By Harper Lee

Thoughts are like seeds that take root in our minds. They spawn feelings and more thoughts that can have powerful consequences. In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, the views of the townspeople in the 1930’s Southern town of Maycomb greatly impact the lives of two innocent men. The people make false accusations against Tom Robinson and Arthur “Boo” Radley because they are different. These characters are representative of the author’s reoccurring symbol of the mockingbird, which signifies innocence, and subjects them to vulnerability. Tom Robinson and Boo Radley, although innocent, fall victim to the hatred of society and thus emerge as mockingbirds. Tom Robinson, is black man, who is wrongfully

I did not expect that I would like To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee as much as I do. Written from the perspective of Scout, a young girl in the 1930’s, this book takes a look at many issues, including racism and sexism, all from the innocent eyes of a child. This book reveals many of the issues and struggles faced during the Great Depression. So far, this book is excellently written.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee has been banned and/or challenged over thirty times since its publication in 1960. Effectively preventing many students from enjoying the novel and benefitting from its message. To ignore racism is no different than denying it ever existed. To Kill a Mockingbird is appropriate for mature adolescence/students and should not be banned from schools. Despite its sexual related content, or profanity, a valuable lesson remains that should be taught to students.

Caring and noticeable is Harper Lee's, To Kill a Mockingbird take readers to the source of humans action, through faults and experiment, kindness and trouble, hatred and love, and the struggle between blacks and whites. Atticus Finch is a lawyer and a single parent at Maycomb town in the 1930’s. He was set by the judge to defend the guy who was charged with raping a white woman: Tom Robinson(Black man). Friends and neighbors of Atticus Finch were not happy with the fight Atticus was putting up to defend the man who was charged for raping a white woman. Not only does Atticus enjoy being a lawyer, Atticus even enjoy being a father of Jem and Scout. Atticus Finch is a excellent character who is known for certain accomplishment and superior. He is known for many stuff. Atticus Finch has remained a hero in modern days for american literature for decades and an honorable figure due to his honesty as a parent, a lawyer, and a respectable community members.

In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, they were both kids. They were both immature children, they both taunted Boo Radley, they both interpreted things similarly and they both eventually "came of age". Yet they were both different; one was innocent and one was narcissistic and more. In To Kill A Mockingbird, Jem and Scout are two very similar and different characters throughout the entire novel. They show both common and differentiating traits that determine their character. The traits that these characters had in common were they both thought similarly when a situation arose especially when they were at a younger age, they both started out as immature kids and obsessed over childish things like Boo Radley, and they both eventually "came of age". The traits they differed in were that Scout throughout the whole novel was an innocent character even in her "coming of age" while Jem was a narcissistic one, Scout went against what her family/town wanted her to be (a lady) while Jem tried more and more to be like Atticus and lastly Scout never understood racism while Jem showed he somewhat did understand it. These two main characters are similar like brother and sister and different like boy and girl.

“Human beings are poor examiners, subject to superstition, bias, prejudice, and a profound tendency to see what they want to see rather than what is really there” ~ Scott Peck. Harper Lee’s novel To Kill A Mockingbird abounds with the injustice produced by social, gender, and racial prejudice. The setting of the book takes place in the 1930s, where racism is a big deal in society. In the novel Harper Lee uses a mockingbird as an analogy to the characters. The Mockingbird is a symbol for Three Characters in the book, Atticus Finch, Tom Robinson, and Boo Radley. The people of Maycomb only know Boo Radley and Tom Robinson by what others say about them. These Characters are then characterized by other people 's viewpoints. In the novel there are many themes that are adjacent to our lives, the one that is found in To Kill A Mockingbird is Human Conflict comes from the inability for one to understand another. “ 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.” (39)

As Lemony Snicket wrote in The Blank Book, “People don’t always get what they deserve in this world.” 1930s America was fraught with racism, especially in the southern states. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, a Negro man by the name of Tom Robinson was put on trial. Although he was not guilty, the jury convicted him because of the colour of his skin. During the trial, others showed injustice towards Tom and people that were on his side. As Tom’s lawyer, Atticus Finch was not admired by many of the white citizens of Maycomb, the town in which the novel takes place. Although Atticus and Jean Louise Finch (Scout) were white, they were still treated unjustly as a result of helping and supporting Tom Robinson. Scout, Atticus’

Imagine a world without law, surrounded by anarchism and people who can do whatever they please. A world without law would result in a corrupt and unfair society, ruled by the authoritative elite. In the narrative, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, law is a major theme in society that controls the actions of the people and the destiny’s of the wrongdoers. A world without law is a world of chaos and calamity; therefore, laws are established to keep order and safety in the world that God created.

Throughout the book, To Kill a Mockingbird, author Harper Lee challenges the societal norms of gender roles, within the character “Jean Louise,” also referred to as her tomboy name “Scout.” Scout battles the society-defined roles in many ways throughout the text. Many factors lead to Scout redefining femininity, including Jem and Dill’s coming-of-age dilemma. An exploration of gender roles and inequality throughout the text and this time period will allow one to understand how Scout was able to overcome gender stereotyping.

One of the most interesting characters in To Kill a Mockingbird is Atticus Finch. He is a good representation of someone that is strong while keeping in mind other’s feelings. Throughout the book Atticus is show as a kind man who really cares for the people of Maycomb County. However, he still demands justice when someone is treated unfairly, even for the likes of a black man. Atticus Finch is very influential and yet still listens to what needs to be heard. In “To Kill a Mockingbird,” Harper Lee portrays Atticus as a man who values justice, wiseness and fair-mindedness.

To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel that takes place during the depression and in the Deep South where racial discrimination is prominent. Hamlet is a tragic play, written about the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, involving incest, murder, and dishonesty. The above literatures are written during different periods of time and are contrastive in numerous aspects. However, both literatures are comprised of numerous scenes where the main characters deal with situations that test their morality and values. Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird and Hamlet in Hamlet, are asked to determine the fate of someone else’s life. Atticus and Hamlet are heroes of justice, but their justices are contrasting. Atticus is called to save a life and Hamlet has the duty to take a life. Although both of their duties regarding another person’s life are different, they exude the same type of heroic abilities through their struggles with justice.

“‘...Mockingbirds...don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us [anyone and everyone]. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird…’” (Lee 119). In the Pulitzer Prize winning novel of 1961 To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee tells the story of a young girl by the name of Jean Louise (Scout) Finch and her older brother Jeremy Atticus (Jem) Finch, and what their lives were like growing up in Maycomb, Alabama during 1933-35. Scout and her brother Jem are both children of the morally passionate lawyer, Atticus Finch, and both are exposed to the same experiences that shape their sense of right and wrong. Yet Scout and Jem come to dramatically different conclusions about good and evil and the essential nature of humankind.

The symbolic scene with the mad dog exemplifies the important role racism plays in the town of Maycomb. The mad dog is a symbol for racism, also referred to as “Maycomb’s usual disease” (Lee 100). This racism can be found all over Maycomb, no matter what is done to try and stop it. The mad dog is “just as dangerous dead as alive” (Lee 111), like the racism that it represents.

The text type of To Kill a Mockingbird is a fiction novel which deals with the racism the author observed as a child in her hometown of Monroeville, Alabama. To Kill a Mockingbird was written by Harper Lee, who wrote her novel in a retrospective point of view. There were numerous aspects of historical, personal, cultural and social context in To Kill a Mockingbird. Harper Lee was born on the 28th of April, 1926, in Monroeville Alabama. Monroeville was a close-knit community that has many similarities with Maycomb, which is the setting of To Kill a Mockingbird. Harper Lee’s father was a prominent lawyer, whom she drew inspiration for the protagonists father, Atticus Finch. Among Lee’s childhood friends was Truman Capote, from whom she drew inspiration to the character Dill. These personal details help portray Harper Lee’s own childhood home, where racism and segregation was highly evident. Another example of context which helped shape To Kill a Mockingbird were the events that occurred during Harper Lee’s childhood. In 1931, when Harper Lee was five years old, nine African-American men were accused of raping two white women near Scottsboro, Alabama. After a series of lengthy, highly publicised, and often bitter trials, five of the nine men were sentenced to long term imprisonment. Many prominent lawyers and various members of the general public saw the sentences as spurious and believed that it was motivated by racial prejudice.

To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel written by Harper Lee and published in 1960. It was a very successful book, winning the Pulitzer Prize and becoming a modern American classic. Ostensibly, the title of To Kill a Mockingbird has scant literary connection to the plot of the story, but the recurring mockingbird motif symbolizes the innocent and good characters in this novel. Miss Maudie explains to Scout why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird: “Your father’s right. Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don’t eat up people’s gardens, don’t nest in corncribs, they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” To Kill a Mockingbird likens three characters, Tom Robinson, Arthur “Boo” Radley, and Atticus Finch, to mockingbirds.