To Kill A Mockingbird Analysis Essay

To Kill a Mockingbird is the story of the trial of a black man, Tom Robinson for the raping of a white woman, Mayella Ewell, in racist Alabama in the 1990’s.

The intriguing novel, To Kill A Mockingbird is written by the prestigious author Harper Lee. Lee has utilised the lifestyle and attitudes towards ‘African-Americans" in the 1930's to create a novel which presents the reader with Lee's attitudes and values. The dominant reading of the novel is focused on the issues of racial prejudice, but there are also a number of other alternative and oppositional readings. Examples of this are the Marxist and feminist readings which can be applied to the text.

Mockingbirds will only sing their hearts, not cause any damage or give their lives to pleasing others. Throughout To Kill a Mockingbird great examples are shown of different types of mockingbirds. Atticus Finch, Tom Robinson, and Arthur (Boo) Radley are great examples of representing a mockingbird.

“It's right hard to say," she said. "Suppose you and Scout talked colored-folks' talk at home it'd be out of place, wouldn't it? Now what if I talked white-folks' talk at church, and with my neighbors? They'd think I was puttin' on airs to beat Moses, "But Cal, you know better," I said. “It's not necessary to tell all you know. It's not ladylike—in the second place, folks don't like to have somebody around knowing more than they do. It aggravates 'em. You're not gonna change

Growing up is a difficult task, especially when the town around you doesn’t offer to help you understand what’s going on around you. Using many examples of the loss of childhood innocence, Harper Lee shows us that a corrupted society leads to growing up faster and one’s childhood is stripped away. Through Jem, the eldest of the Finch children, and Scout, the youngest, the readers see how a trial in 1930 Alabama takes a toll of young minds. In Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird, she implies that growing up leads to loss of innocence, especially in troubling times.

Chapter nine of Harper Lee’s ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ begins with Scout fighting a classmate named Cecil Jacobs. It starts when Scout reflects what happens that day at school when she fought Cecil Jacobs at school and her cousin Francis later on. We also learn more information about the family of Atticus and his relatives. Lee’s style of writing is extremely coherent and uses imagery and figurative language in her writing. She uses these writing techniques to demonstrate human action and story development throughout ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’. She also uses metaphors as a literary device. Using these writing techniques, she gives the story a unique perspective as the plot develops.

Essay Prompt: In a 1-2 page character analysis, explain what makes Atticus such a good parent, using quotes and evidence from the text to back up your claims.

Purpose: To get readers to understand that although Mayella is guilty of causing an innocent man’s death, she still deserves some sympathy.

On March 4, 1933, Franklin D. Roosevelt stated in his first inauguration speech, “So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself, nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance," (Baughman). This quote translates to a confusing concept at first, but once discussed is practical: the fear of an individual should not be the concern, yet it should be the damage fear itself has on one. Little did we know at the time that this quote, "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself” would turn into “the very symbol” of Roosevelt’s Presidency (Baughman).

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, Harper Lee articulates coming of age in a town struck by racism. Scout begins the novel as a six year old girl who does not fully recognise how skewed her world is until she is nine and sees what it really means to kill a mockingbird due to the actions of a shy Arthur Radley. In the passage Jem and Scout are attacked by Bob Ewell; the father of supposed rape victim Mayella Ewell, in response to Jem and Scout’s father Atticus embarrassing Bob during the trial of Tom Robinson. However, Arthur Radley comes out to save them, inevitably killing Bob. This means he will have to go through the burdensome court process, but the county sheriff, Heck Tate wants to change that and Scout needs to understands why. Furthermore Scout realizes what it's like to be Arthur Radley, always watching. Within the final two chapters, To Kill A Mockingbird conveys the theme that there's good and evil in coming of age throughout the book by utilizing symbolism, conflict, and character.

As children, we often copy our parent's values and beliefs. In the novel ”To Kill a mockingbird” by Harper Lee the author demonstrates that parents pass down their ideals and values to their children through their actions . This leads to their children inheriting their character traits. In the novel, Atticus and Bob Ewell demonstrate their kind and abusive parenting style through their actions that influence the values and beliefs of their children.

Racism is a part of human nature; everyone judges their surroundings and the people living in it through a secret lens. Since the beginning of time racism has occurred, but during the Great Depression this lens was most clear to all. This goes hand in hand with the story of “To Kill a Mockingbird”, written by Harper Lee. This book is based on Lee’s childhood during the Depression. Some of the characters in the story are portrayed in her actual life; Atticus is based off her father who was also a lawyer, Dill was in reference of her friend Truman Capote, and Jean Louise is referring to Lee herself telling the story of her life experiences (Baddeley). Throughout the novel, Lee expresses the events that went on around her during the

“To Kill a Mocking Bird” is a 1962 film based off Harper Lee’s 1960 prize winning novel. The movie revolves around Atticus Finch, a widowed father and lawyer in Maycomb, Alabama during the early 1930’s, and his children, Jean Louis “Scout” Finch and Jeremy Atticus “Jem” Finch. The movie is actually a span of three years, during which we watch the children go from spending their summers playing outside and spying on the mysterious but widely rumored Author “Boo” Radley to attending school and learning about the prejudice in their community. Although Atticus is an attorney in a southern community during a time of racisms and depression, he believes that all people, including african americans and the poor, deserve a fair trial. In the movie we even see Atticus accept hickory nuts and other produce from a local man to pay for his services.

Evil is found all around the world. In Maycomb County, the town consumes evil like a disease. Multiple characters in Harper Lee’s, To Kill A Mockingbird, are often robbed after they stumble across the atrocious sickness passed on from generation to generation. This sickness is identified as the evil in people and events because they all took some innocence from another person. Biased opinions impact many aspects of daily life essentially determining one's future. It left some characters in the novel without a significant other or even took parts of others childhood. Harper Lee suggests that the loss of innocence is caused by the exposure to evil changing one's mindset and life.

It can be argued that the customs and environment around a person can influence their thoughts and opinions. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee exposes the reader to characters who have prejudices against others because of their skin color or wealth. The novel is about a young girl growing up during the Great Depression in Alabama, being exposed to prejudices and racism in her community as she grows up. The protagonist, Scout, meets young, poor boy, Walter Cunningham, during the course of the novel, and she notices that he is treated differently by others. Throughout To Kill a Mockingbird, Lee uses the cultural customs and setting around the characters of Calpurnia, Atticus, and Miss Caroline to express their attitudes on social class by criticizing Walter Cunningham.