The Sin in Ideology

The act of prejudice is one that everyone experiences. Whether it be, a person who is distributing hate, or a person who is receiving hate, everyone has contact with it. Although it is present all over the globe, it is prominent in the United States. Both in the present and the past, endless acts of discrimination have taken place and left a monumental impact on the country. The effect that it leaves can be seen in the novel “To Kill A Mockingbird” by Harper Lee. In this story, sexism, racism, and isolation, are demonstrated in the small Southern town of Maycomb, Alabama during the 1930’s. As the story progresses, Lee compares these concepts to one another and uses them to make a statement about the problematic nature in America.

To Kill A Mockingbird is an important book that has continued to teach people about race and prejudice for over 50 years. Harper Lee’s message is the harsh reality of how prejudice is built into society and is one of the most important messages of the 20th and 21st centuries. This book teaches us to stand up to prejudice and spread more love. It teaches us to look at things from another person's point of view and to be accepting of those who are different from us. Even to this day we face issues involving prejudice such as police brutality, the achievement gap, homophobia, and equal

To Kill a Mockingbird is a witty and well-written account of the realities of a “tired old town” (4) where there was “nothing to buy and nothing to buy it with” (4). Purposefully, it comes across not merely an innocently portrayed, yet eye-opening, story of a young girl start to grasp the inequalities of her society. Rather, it is accompanied by recollection of the unfortunate pillars of hate of the places Harper Lee matured in. We now perceive this account as an ‘archaic” and “ancient” recount of some historically frowned upon mindsets in an enthralling atmosphere upon which we pin historical quantities of prejudice, racism and most of all, bigotry. The unfortunate reality is that we look at history in a vacuum and ignore the occurrences of our own times. So although we, like Scout’s teachers teaching about the horrible acts of the Holocaust while being outspokenly racist, are able to analyze social inequalities in other places in time or the world yet refuse to open our eyes to the same prejudice, racism and bigotry today. To instance, when reading To Kill a Mockingbird , we often frown upon citizens for judging “folks” based on their family name and race, although, everyday, some member of our current society, such as police officers and employers, do the same thing and no one bats an eye. Alternatively, the issue which we definitely desperately desire to avoid, racism, is explicitly tackled in To Kill a Mockingbird to the point of viral awareness of the problem in

What it Means to Kill a Mocking Bird: an in depth analysis of the morals in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird

“‘Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit'em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird”’(Lee 90). Atticus Finch tells his children it would be a sin to kill a mockingbird because the act would be taking away the purity or life of something so innocent. In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Lee uses an extended metaphor to reveal the theme of not everyone is as they seem, by comparing Boo Radley, Tom Robinson and Atticus Finch to mockingbirds.

“Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit ’em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird (119).” In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird this quote from Atticus Finch alludes to one of the central themes the novel focuses on. The mockingbird is an innocent creature that does not cause harm, it is purely for the enjoyment of others. When killing a mockingbird it symbolises destroying this innocence. There are many incidences in this novel which display this theme, as several characters are unjustly persecuted by the people in Maycomb. The significance of the title To Kill a Mockingbird is a main theme throughout the novel. It shows that in a society that carries prejudice, innocence is easily destroyed and good does not always triumph over evil. This can be supported through the characters of Arthur “Boo” Radley, Jeremy “Jem” Finch, and Tom Robinson.

The title “To Kill A Mockingbird” is taken from a quote in the book, where Atticus says "Shoot all the blue jays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird." (lee Later, Miss Maudie Atkinson states that "Mockingbirds don't do one thing but make music for us to enjoy." (p.177). This shows that mocking birds are innocent, and that is why Atticus strongly forbids his children to kill them. To Kill a Mockingbird novels theme is how prejudice affects the town of maycomb,alabama. Also, the mockingbird symbolizes innocence. All the birds do is sing for you and give you pleasure in what is natural and enjoyment to them (singing for you). Theydont harm,. They are fragile,loveable, weak, and helpless birds. In the

In Harper Lee’s To Kill A MockingBird, Atticus states that, “‘[y]ou never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view … until you climb into his skin and walk around in it’” (Lee 39). The literature Harper Lee presents to society touches many universal themes of society mechanics from the past and still connects to the present. Throughout the novel there are various forms of prejudice that evoke in the presence of social inequality, racism and loss of innocence.

One of the many things Atticus is passionate about is to teach his children that everyone is equal and not to judge others “until you consider things from his point of view…until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” Much of Maycomb believe that Atticus is wrong by taking the case of Tom Robinson and thinks he is an inadequate parent. Even Jem and Scout’s cousin Francis quotes, “I guess it ain't your fault if Uncle Atticus is a nigger-lover besides, but I'm here to tell you it certainly does mortify the rest of the family… t's bad enough he lets you all run wild, but now he's turned out a nigger-lover we'll never be able to walk the streets of Maycomb again. He's ruinin' the family, that's what he's doin'”. Scout attempts to understand the town’s disappointment towards her father and whether he truly is a ‘nigger-lover’ and receives the answer; “I certainly am, I try my best to love everybody…if I didn’t I wouldn’t be able to hold my head up in this town. ” Atticus best

Prejudice, in the 1930s, was an extremely relevant issue regarding the racism that was present throughout society – particularly in the south of the United States, which is where the novel To Kill A Mockingbird is set. Through the course of the novel, Harper Lee conveys the idea of prejudice to the reader in a variety of forms – mostly by use of symbolism. The most powerful examples of this symbolism are the use of the term ‘mockingbird’ - which is used to symbolise someone who does no wrong in the world, Boo Radley – who is a symbol of how communities and individuals can promote and maintain prejudice, and lastly the Snowman created by Jem – which

Symbolism is used extensively in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird. The theme of prejudice in the novel can be best perceived through the symbol of the mockingbird. Atticus advised his children that if they went hunting for birds to "shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird" (96). Miss Maudie explains this further by saying that "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" (96). Bluejays are considered to be the bullies of the bird world. They are very loud, territorial and

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, published in 1960, is a novel set in the context of the 1930s segregated southern United States. In the novel, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author examines the main issue of prejudice in the fictional small southern American town of Maycomb, Alabama. This central idea of prejudice is explored through Lee’s use of symbolism in reflecting the innocence of the characters who are treated unfairly by the community. In this process of reflection, racial injustice is conveyed through the false accusation of an African-American raping a white woman. In addition, the use of symbolism represents the community’s

“To Kill a Mocking Bird” is a novel which was written by Harper Lee. In my essay I will discuss how Harper Lee explores the theme of prejudice by looking at the writing techniques and how they affect people.

To Kill A Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee, is a tale of the reality of growing up in a community involving racial segregations and stereotypes. The story takes place in the 1930s during the early stages of the Great Depression in Maycomb County, Alabama. Scout Finch, the main character, lives with her brother Jem, widowed father Atticus, and Calpurnia, the house cook, in a cozy home that only allows love and happiness to seep through its walls and marinate in the streets that are filled with injustices. The title, To Kill A Mockingbird, represents a major theme in the novel, innocence. When teaching the kids how to shoot rifles, Atticus declares firmly, “Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it’s a sin to

“Shoot all the blue jays you want, if you can hit’em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird.” In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, people faced racial discrimination, as they lived in the time period of the Great Depression. To Kill a Mockingbird was set in a small town called Maycomb in Alabama in the 1930’s. In the novel, the town lawyer Atticus Finch, a single father of two children Jem and Scout, defended a black man charged with the rape of a white girl. Atticus was a man with great courage and honesty. Scout, the narrator of the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, was an innocent five year old girl who faced racial prejudice as she gets older. Friends and neighbors object when Atticus puts up a strong and spirited defense