Outsider In To Kill A Mockingbird

To kill a mockingbird can mean many things. It’s the title of a book that has been bought 40 million times. But, it also has a definition. To kill a mockingbird means to destroy innocence. The theme of my literary analysis is mockingbirds. Mockingbirds in TKAM are innocent things tainted by the skewed society of Maycomb. Some of these mockingbirds are Boo Radley, Tom Robinson, and the children. To Kill a Mockingbird is a book set in a small Alabama town in the 1930’s. The main character and narrator is Jean Louise Finch, but is almost always called by her nickname, Scout. Scout, her brother, and her summer friend Dill get into all kinds of mischief while living in the racist society of a 1930’s Alabama town. Scout’s dad, Atticus, is a prominent lawyer in Maycomb and is appointed to a controversial case, and is defending a black man. Scout and her brother, Jem go through many troubles and learn many lessons from the days leading up to, and during the trial. The trail makes their family some friends and a lot of enemies. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is a story of courage and despair. Throughout TKAM, mockingbirds are used as an example of something innocent being tainted by the skewed society of TKAM. Some great examples of these are Boo Radley, Tom Robinson, and the children.

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.

Aristotle holds that anger is “a desire accompanied by pain for an imagined retribution on account of an imagined slighting inflicted by people who have no legitimate reason to slight oneself or one’s own.” (1-3). “Anger is a complex emotion since it embraces pain and pleasure; the pain is produced from injury while the desire of taking revenge is somehow results from the injury. Anger is a strong feeling of being upset or annoyed because of something wrong” (7) . It is also energy it can be positive or negative; if it is used positively, it can lead to a magnificient changes but if it’s used negatively it probably could be devastating. Aristotle emphasizes that anger is pleasant and in that sense constructive and linked to hope, so may be anger at the end is not a bad feeling it can give results and leads to a quite good change. To

“It takes a village to raise a child”, is an African Proverb. In other words, it can take more than just a child’s nuclear family to make her grow into who she will be as an adult. This lens is true because even though parents and siblings have a major effect on a child, and how they turn out later on in life, society and a child’s surrounding are what really shapes, and makes them who they are. What a child sees when he or she is new to the world, and doesn’t know everything, effects their behavior, and outlook on their life ahead. This lens is illustrated in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by

'To Kill a Mockingbird' is a novel that was written in the 1960s, but Harper Lee decided to set the novel in the Depression era of the 1930s in a small town in Alabama. Lee provided her readers with a historical background for the affairs of that time and in doing so she exposed the deeply entrenched history of the civil rights in South America. Like the main characters in this novel, Lee grew up in Alabama; this made it easier for her to relate to the characters in the novel as she would have understood what they would have experienced during the period when racism, discrimination and inequality was on the increase within the American society.

This use of alliteration shows the importance of family standards which is why the letters are repeated. Lee uses alliteration when key details need to be noticed by the reader.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is a multi-faceted novel which explores the principles and morals of people in the South during the 1930s. Mockingbirds are symbolic of the people that society abuse. Lee narrates the events of the novel using Scout’s voice and uses this technique to add emotional context and develop themes. Themes of racial and classist prejudice are developed by Lee to challenge the reader. These techniques are all powerful ways to alter the views of the reader.

Yet Perry’s childhood bliss was taken from him, somehow creating his current disposition, the true purpose is the falling of unity from inside the people of Holcomb, therefore; pinning every person against another. A dark curtain that falls over the children, parents, farmhands, hunting regulars, and police officials. A curtain that keeps them apart from one another because they are lost in the infinite blackness that surrounds them, an evil they let seep into their minds and imaginations.

People always wondered what a mockingbird represents. In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the narrator Jean Louise Finch lives in Maycomb, Alabama, with her brother Jeremy Finch, her dad Atticus Finch, and her mother-figure Calpurnia. She learns many lessons in her life including “You never truly understand a person until you put yourself in their shoes ” and “It is a sin to kill mockingbirds.” This ties in that a mockingbird symbolizes innocence, which proves that one should not judge someone else until they truly get to know them because one must truly know another before deeming them as evil or innocent.

Atticus Hill cherished and fostered his role as the bad boy in the family. He always dressed in all black, rode a Harley, and had long, shaggy black hair. But now that all his brothers had found their Mr. Right he thought maybe, at age thirty-nine, it was time to look around for a partner. He thought the drummer at the gay bar was sexy, so headed off there to check him out.

Why is the novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee named such? Much of the symbolism within this novel and the title directly relate to the scuffing and poisoning of the good and innocent people of this world, a.k.a., the slaughter of mockingbirds. As you can tell from the title, one of the major symbols in this novel is mockingbirds. There are several mockingbirds with Tom robinson being the most obvious one, and others being Atticus Finch, Arthur Radley, Mr. Avery, Helen Robinson, and Jean Louise Finch.

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.

To kill a mockingbird written by Harper Lee. Themes are the subject of a talk, a piece of writing or a person's thoughts. There are many themes present in this great American classic such as courage, racism, prejudice, morality and of course coming of age. Lee communicates these themes with characters, events that unfold and the scenarios that Jem and Scout have to face.

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee is a book thick with symbolism and metaphors. It is a debatable fact that Scout, the female protagonist, is a symbol for innocence. Though the validity of her symbol is in doubt, I am certain that the symbol in this novel for injured faith, or broken innocence, is Boo Radley. That puts in question the reason why Boo continues to amble down the same road of apathy while Scout is being led down the path to unbiased maturity. I believe that Atticus, the father figure in the novel, is the subtle influence that raises Scout to be aware of the immoral actions around her but not to accept them. Prejudice corrupts a child’s progression of innocence to maturity, but Atticus keeps his children from assuming the attitudes of the townspeople.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee takes place in Maycomb, Alabama in 1903. This novel is basically a coming of age story for a young girl named Scout and her older brother named Jem. Who grows up in a time where racism is normal. They soon learn to stand up for what is right, just like their dad, Atticus.