“It was Jem’s turn to cry. His face was streaked with angry tears as we made our way through the cheerful crowd. ‘It ain’t right,’ he muttered…” (Lee 284). The realistic fiction novel, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, and the historical fiction novel, Mississippi Trial, 1955 by Chris Crowe, both share many characteristics. Both novels take place in the Civil Rights Era American south and revolve around the unjust trial of an African American character. By the events that take place in the two novels, a universal theme is revealed: “Changing Attitudes Through Knowledge”. Through common experiences in Southern towns, both Jem and Hiram exhibit similar views on the treatment of African Americans, experience comparable changes in the way they view their role model, and are forced to surrender their optimistic attitudes towards justice and individual integrity. Hiram of Mississippi Trial, 1955 and Jem of To Kill a Mockingbird both show a dislike towards the prejudice and poor treatment that some people give to African Americans. They do not understand how white people can treat Negroes with so much contempt and hatred. After the trial of Tom Robinson, in which a guilty verdict was announced in spite of the utter lack of incriminating evidence, Jem shows disagreement with the verdict. The outcome deeply affects him, and he is profoundly afflicted by the injustice of the verdict. “Jem was suddenly furious. He leaped off the bed, grabbed me by the collar and shook me. ‘I never
Today’s society is damaged with the results of people doing terrible things to each other. Peoples actions can make or break lives.The novel To Kill A Mockingbird, is about a little girl, her Brother, their Dad, and the negro they all fight to defend. The main character scout and her older brother Jem, get into all sorts of dilemmas in the small town of Maycomb, Alabama. As they learn new valuable lessons about life, they also pick up that the small town they grow up in is not as clean and safe as it seems. The father, Atticus Finch is a kind hearted soul who was given the case of Tom Robinson, a negro accused of Raping a white woman. As soon as Atticus was given the case he aimed to defend Tom but a faulty jury made sure it did not happen.To
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.
A chapter on Harper Lee's now-classic To Kill a Mockingbird deiûy analyzes the novel's ideological contradictions, showing that Lee's insistent locaLIsm at once acknowledged the continuing impact of the Scottsboro Narrative and undermined its significance as a register to the injustices of the American legal system. In a trenchant epILogue. (Foley 768)
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.
Given the harsh circumstances that involved discrimination and racism during the 1900s, the understanding and empathy of a young Jem Finch shines through the plot of To Kill A Mockingbird like a star. Under the spectacular influence of Atticus Finch, Jem’s compassion always seems to prevail, no matter what the situation may be. This is used in great effect to justify the ethical theme of the story. That being that everyone deserves the same rights and freedoms. In the book specifically, this is conveyed through the unequal privilege of a “fair trial”. It was shown that the black society stood no chance in court when Bob Ewell, a poor white man, accused Tom Robinson, a black man, of raping
As children grow up, they open their eyes to the harsh truths in the world around them that they once did not understand or question. This is experienced by the main characters of Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird. The story is of a girl called Scout and her older brother, Jem, who go through the trials of growing up in the fictional small Southern town of Maycomb, Alabama in the 1930s. Racism is rampant in the mindset of the townspeople, shown when the children’s lawyer father, Atticus, takes the case of an obviously innocent African-American man and they convict him in their hearts before the trial even starts. Through this all, we can see the theme of loss of innocence in the children. Lee uses characterization to portray
When Harper Lee was writing about the trial of Tom Robinson in “To Kill a Mockingbird,” she had a very real case to look to for inspiration. The trial of the Scottsboro Boys was a world renowned case in the 1930’s in which nine black youths were accused of raping to white girls in Alabama. Lee’s novel took this case and created the fictional case of Tom Robinson, a black man accused of raping a lower class white girl in a small town in Alabama during the Depression-era. The Scottsboro trials were the main source of inspiration for Lee’s novel, and although the circumstances of the novel differed from the real-life scandal, the similarities between the two cases are quite abundant.
Harper Lee’s novel, “To Kill a Mockingbird,” is set in a small, southern town, Maycomb, Alabama during the Great Depression of the 1930s. The story is told through the eyes of a girl named Scout about her father, Atticus, an attorney who strives to prove the innocence of a black man named Tom Robinson, who was accused of rape and Boo Radley, an enigmatic neighbor who saves Scout and her brother Jem from being killed. Atticus does his job in proving there was no way that Tom Robinson was guilty during his trial, but despite Tom Robinson’s obvious innocence, he is convicted of rape as it is his word against a white woman’s. Believing a “black man’s word” seemed absurd as segregation was a very integrated part of life in the south. The social hierarchy must be maintained at all costs and if something in the system should testify the innocence of a black man against a white woman’s word and win then what might happen next? Along with the prejudice amongst blacks and whites, the story also showed how people could be misunderstood for who they truly are such as Boo Radley. Without ever seeing Boo, Jem and the townsfolk made wild assumptions on what Boo does or looks like. Even so, while “To Kill a Mockingbird” shows the ugliness that can come from judging others, its ultimate message is that great good can result when one defers judgement until considering things from another person’s view. Walter Cunningham, Mrs. Dubose, and Boo Radley are all examples of how looking at things
To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, is a complex literary work exploring several aspects of the human condition. Lee’s story is one based in the 1930’s, shortly before the Civil Rights Movement. Her novel ventures into the societal issues, such as racism and gender stereotyping, in their fictional town, Maycomb. One recurring theme throughout the narrative is the social adjustment of the citizens of Maycomb and the human race as a whole. Lee showcases the progress in social justice matters by using symbolism and motifs.
Throughout the book To Kill A Mockingbird Lee discusses the effects of ignorance and the toll it takes on people such as Tom Robinson, Boo Radley, Scout herself, and many more. Through her examples of sexism, prejudice, and racism, from the populist of poverty stricken Southerners, she shows the readers the injustice of many. The victims of ignorance are the ‘mockingbirds’ of the story. A good example of this injustice is the trial of Tom Robinson, who is falsely accused of raping a white girl and is found guilty. The book is from the point of view Scout, a child, who has an advantage over most kids due to her having a lawyer as a dad, to see the other side of the story. Her father tells her in the story, “you never really know a man until
The novel To Kill a Mockingbird is a timeless American classic that has been appreciated and loved by readers for decades. Harper Lee explores the story of a lawyer and his family in the deep parts of the South who is given the task of defending a black man accused with the rape of an adolescent white girl. Atticus Finch, the father of the protagonist and narrator Scout Finch, represents an elite group of minds that see beyond the invisible lines of race and wish to treat everyone with respect and equality. Atticus faces a series of external and internal struggles that brings meaning to the novel and reveals the overarching themes of the novel. Through several
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.
In 2010, the U.S. Sentencing Commission reported that black Americans receive 10% longer sentences than white Americans through the federal system for the same crimes. Published in 1960, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is one of the greatest works of fictional writing in American history. Set in the 1930s in the fictional town of Maycomb, Alabama, this story is about a young girl, Jean Louise “Scout” Finch, and her family. Her father, Atticus Finch, is an attorney who has been assigned the job of defending a black man, Tom Robinson, in a trial. Although Tom is innocent, it is hard to get off the hook as a black man in 1930s Alabama. Tom is found guilty after a long and grueling trial. This leaves Scout and her brother, Jem perplexed. They don’t understand how the jury could find an innocent man guilty just because he is a different race. Throughout the book, Scout and Jem have to learn about the racism problem in America, and why it is dividing the country. To Kill a Mockingbird shows that racism has the power to negatively affect a community because it makes good people do bad things, creates hypocrisy, and it creates hatred.
As the United States “progresses” in economic, educational and technological advancements we still are fighting for racial equality. With more than 50 years since the brown vs. board of education case there is still incidents like Ferguson, Baton Rouge, and Phiando Castile where many questions are still unanswered. However, Harper Lee dealt with these same problems in 1960 when she wrote To Kill a Mockingbird. Lee created an emotionally confronting story. Lee writes through the eyes of “Scout” a lawyer’s daughter in a small sleepy town of Maycomb in Alabama during the great depression. Throughout the book “Scout” learns coming of age lessons from Atticus and her own experiences. But when Atticus takes on a case defending a black man (Tom Robinson) convicted for rapping a white woman (Mayella Ewell) and is found guilty. “Scout” her brother Jem begin to understand the effects of the prejudices in society. Therefore, Lee applies the literary concepts of diction and tone to revel the truth that prejudices in society negatively affect the way people treat each other in To Kill a Mocking Bird.
Through the course of the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, Jem encounters a series of events that cause him to grow up. During Tom Robinson’s trial, Jem’s eyes were opened to the racism and prejudice of the South: loss of innocence, a major theme in the novel, is a realization of the cruelty and injustice in the world, and that one must develop a tolerance for it.