To Kill A Mockingbird Analysis

The first reason why Scout is interesting is because she’s very smart for someone her age. Right from the beginning when she first got to school, Scout’s teacher named Miss Caroline Fisher made her read the board and when she figured out that Scout can do it with ease, she made Scout read quotes from The Mobile Register. Scout is only in the first grade so, it’s quite surprising that she can read that. So, Miss Fisher claimed that Scout’s father was teaching her and she quotes, “If he didn’t teach you, who did? Miss Caroline asked good-naturedly. Somebody did. You weren’t born reading The Mobile Register” (page 22). Scout keeps saying that her father doesn’t teach her but Miss Fisher doesn’t believe her. I personally think

“Courage doesn’t mean you don’t get afraid. Courage means you don’t let fear stop you,” stated Bethany Hamilton, an American professional surfer, who survived a shark attack, when she was only 13 years of age. This quote relates to the book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, on account that plenty of people in the book had fear, but did not let it stop them from doing what they needed to do. A few of these courageous people were Mrs. Dubose, Atticus, and Boo Radley.

“Remember, it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird,” (Lee 119). In To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, this is the quote that Atticus, one of the main characters, says to his kids. Atticus is a lawyer who takes on a tough case in his town, Maycomb. His kids are Scout, and Jem. Throughout the book, they grow and mature. They don’t mess around with their neighbor, Boo, as much as they used to. But, luckily because of him, they live to see the next day. In To Kill a Mockingbird, it shows that because of prejudice, innocent people can be harmed. This is shown through Tom Robinson, Boo Radley, and Jem.

“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

The ambition of oneself to pursue justice and righteousness may result in prosecution. In the novel "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee, and movie "A Time to Kill" by Joel Schumacher, each demonstrate one’s open-mindedness and forward thinking leads to penalization through protagonists Atticus Finch and Jake Brigance. Both egalitarians take the position as an attorney for an African American and are prosecuted in the process.

Racism is taught, and Scout has been taught and shown by Atticus and Calpurnia to treat black people with respect and kindness. She sees them as equals and can't understand why anyone would feel indifferent towards them, because she has been taught the

She is curious about the vocabulary others use and wants to learn more in order to comprehend and fully indulge. She also is very curious about places she has never been to before, which explains her openness to attend the “First Purchase” on Sunday with Calpurnia. When Calpurnia offers them the chance to attend, Scout eagerly asks “Really?” (Lee 156). After the trip to the church, Scout is excited and wishes to learn more about the community, so she asks Calpurnia if she could come to her house: “”Cal, can I come to see you sometimes?” She looked down at me. “See me, honey? You see me every day.” “Out to your house,” I said. “Sometimes after work? Atticus can get me.” (Lee 168). This again shows her eagerness to explore the world beyond her home and the “white borders” of Maycomb. Scout continues to investigate the world that she can, and matures quickly due to her curiousity.

Equally important, Calpurnia acts as Scout’s motherly figure throughout the novel. First of all, Calpurnia disciplines Scout to respect people’s differences. Most significantly, Calpurnia reprimands Scout when she criticizes the eating habits of a house guest in the following quote: “There’s some folk who don’t eat like us but you ain’t called on to contradict ‘em at the table when they don’t” (32). Due to scolding from Calpurnia, Scout learns that it is unjust to scrutinize others. Next, Scout inherits the skill of relating to others through Calpurnia’s offerings of comfort. For instance, Calpurnia offers Scout company when she felt lonely in this quote: “So you just come right on in the kitchen when you feel lonesome” (154). Since Scout is an impressionable child, she will absorb Calpurnia’s trait of comforting others. Scout also learns how to efficiently handle situations from Calpurnia. This is illustrated when Scout observes Calpurnia warning the neighborhood of an incoming danger in this quote: “Calpurnia’s message has been received by the neighborhood” (124). From studying Calpurnia’s operative actions, Scout will pick up on how to handle situations properly in the future. Scout puts others under less scrutiny and is more adapted to dealing with the world around her because of

She learns about race and how it can be very complicated and unfair since she matures and understands the world better around her because of the Tom Robinson Trial. For example, when Atticus has to leave for two weeks and Scout and Jem go to Calpurnia’s church. There they experience racism first-hand and they understood how just because of your skin color you don’t have the same opportunities. In the church, there were no hymn-books because the people couldn’t read as they never got an education, and Scout was very surprised by this: “‘Can’t read?’ I asked, ‘All those folks?’”, here she realizes how such a simple thing as reading even for older people can be so difficult because of their status. In addition, when Lula came up to them and told Calpurnia that she shouldn’t bring white children to a black church Scout felt unwelcomed because of their skin tone “I agreed: they did not want us here”. Sh starts to understand that people judge you so quickly before getting to know you because of your skin tone just like they did to Tom Robinson. In this visit to the church Scout also notices: “There was no sign of piano, organ, hymn-books, church program-the familiar ecclesiastical impedimenta we saw every Sunday” this showed scout how different and unequal life is for blacks compared to whites. Overall when Calpurnia brings Scout to the church she learns a lot of thing about race about the town and the

“Shoot all the Bluejays you want, if you can hit’em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird” (Lee pg. 90). The bird, mentioned nearly twice, seems to show little importance to the story. Nonetheless, it resembles the perception of some characters. The one time Scout had ever heard Atticus say it was a sin to do anything was when referring to the mockingbird. He advised his children when hunting to never shoot a mockingbird. Miss Maudie followed with further detail by explaining 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” (Lee pg.90).

Charles Lamb once said, “Lawyers, I suppose, were children once.” The author of To Kill

Mayella Ewell is an abused young woman in Maycomb, Alabama who accused an African American man Tom Robinson of rape during the Great Depression in the early 1930’s. Mayella took advantage of the Jim Crow laws so she could end the mental and physical abuse her father caused. Since Mayella is white and female, she has power. Although she lives behind a dumpster this still provides a significant amount of power for her. In the book “To Kill A Mockingbird” Harper Lee shows Mayella’s power for class during the trial.

Over the three year lapse of To Kill A Mockingbird by. Harper Lee, scout has changed more than any character. After everybody found out that Atticus was defending a black person everybody started talking about it at school and she chose to not fight at school. “The school buzzed with talk about him defending Tom robinson, none of which was complimentary. After my bout with cecil jacobs when i committed

Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel that takes place throughout the 1930s in a small town in Alabama called Maycomb. During this time period, people dealt with large amounts of discrimination, along with the effects of the Great Depression. Harper Lee is able to develop various themes using this setting, such as the stereotyping of gender roles, loss of innocence, excess violence, superstition, and prejudice. Some readers believe that the theme of innocence is most relevant to the novel as its message directly relates to Scout and Jem Finch, two major characters in the story. However, the theme of prejudice and superstition is more prevalent. This theme creates a well-developed storyline for the different “mockingbirds” in the novel while also projecting the actual struggles that came with living in the 1930s. Readers should understand these themes because it is important for them to realize that prejudice leads to injustice, negatively affecting society as a result. Not only that, readers will become more aware of the fact that these problems are still impacting people to this day. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee expresses the theme of prejudice and superstition through several characters, including Tom Robinson, Dolphus Raymond, and Boo Radley, to reveal how these judgements ultimately lead to the downfall of Maycomb.

How would you feel if you had done all you could to help someone that you felt sorry for, but they twisted the story and now you are sitting in court waiting to go to jail because no one will believe your side of the story? With this situation, an honest man’s innocence has been lost. As Scout grows up, she realizes there is more to the story than she is told. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout is forced to believe other people’s perspectives due to living in the 1930’s. Through the loss of innocence of a respectable African American Tom Robinson, her brother Jem Finch, and the town hermit Boo Radley, Scout is able to understand the reality of what society is all about.