To Kill A Mockingbird Analysis

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.

As the famous American author, Nerburn, says,“It is much easier to become a father than to be one”(http://www.wiseoldsayings.com/fathers-quotes). Nerburn writes about how hard it is to be an eligible father .He proposes the question, “Do people think their father is the person who is able to provide them a lot of guidance or help? In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Jem and Scout live with their father, Atticus, who is a lawyer, and regard him as an excellent example. However, Scout and Jem don’t value Atticus as a father with full diligence because he is elder than most of other students’ father and he is not able to do any sports. Due to the accident with the mad dog, atticus’s educations and the case of Tom Robinson, Jem and Scout come to understand, respect, and finally admire their father.

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.

“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 characters in, To Kill a Mockingbird, a novel by Harper Lee, often use prejudice against people of controversial issues. Many of the townspeople of Maycomb use prejudice on the families who are on the less wealthy end of the spectrum. Issues are still displayed because of the racial prejudice used against African Americans and those of other races. Lastly, gender is a clear issue in Maycomb because of women’s and girl’s rights and lack of respect towards them because they are female. All of the types of prejudice show that Maycomb has many problems all throughout the town between other families and townspeople.

“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”...

Many people have experienced racism or prejudice at least once in their lives, but they are not aware of the different ways it could take place. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee demonstrates how racism and prejudice presents itself in many ways in the town of Maycomb. This is shown in the characters Tom Robinson, Walter Cunningham Jr, and Scout, who are all victims of prejudice or racism. These characters are subjected to all kinds of prejudice and from all kinds of people, sometimes so much it would change their lives.

In Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, the idea of prejudice is evident in Maycomb County, Alabama. Three main characters from the novel fall victim to prejudice throughout the story. Atticus Finch, Boo Radley, and Tom Robinson all face challenges that disable them from living a normal life. These character’s stories of social injustice are narrated by Scout Finch, a young girl who discovers many ugly truths while growing up in a town full of inequality.

Harper Lee’s Novel To Kill a Mockingbird details the life of young Scout Finch and brother Jem Finch, who is growing up in a time of racial uniqueness. Jem and Scout Finch are what most would call a typical family growing up in the small Alabama town of Maycomb. They encounter many different obstacles during their childhood missions with many characters making the novel an interesting read. Throughout the book, Lee is showing Jem and Scout grow up and become mature young adults. This novel, written by Harper Lee, demonstrates the themes of growing up, Innocence and most importantly, racism.

Another hypocritical scene occurs in the novel when the people of Maycomb make untrue judgements about the Radley Place and its inhabitants. For instance, Scout states, “The shutters and doors of the Radley house were closed on Sundays, another thing alien to Maycomb’s ways: closed doors meant illness and cold weather only” (11). It is duplicitous of the townspeople to scrutinize the Radleys based solely on town gossip and the appearance of their home. The Radley home is intentionally used as an excuse by the townspeople to isolate the Radleys since their way of living is not considered “normal” in their eyes. Overall, numerous reasons can be found why people tend to be hypocritical; it is evident as to why many possess this quality in Maycomb.

In the novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, by harper lee, the setting is based on a little town, Maycomb, as scout grows up she sees the changes in her society, role of women, and courage. Scout learns more about the world as she grows up and she starts to see the discrimination between the blacks and the whites. Scout hears a lot about Boo Radley but never sees him. She knows how her society is bad from the day Tom Robinson’s trial and from all the rumours that were made of Boo Radley.

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.

“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.

Upon Scout’s dismay, Alexandra explains, “…he—is—trash, that’s why you can’t play with him” (Lee 301). The Finch’s are seen as a high-class family who consequently do not associate with those on the bottom of the social scale. Along with the poor lower-class families are the Ewells, but rather than farm they receive their income through relief checks and live in a rundown shack by the dump. The eldest child, Mayella, has no friends due to no one wanting to associate with her because she is ‘trashy’; as a result Mayella lives a miserable existence. Another local family, the Radley’s, had not been lower-class; however, the youngest Radley, Arthur, had a spat with the law as a youth, and his Baptist father hid him from the public for the next 15 years out of shame. The townsfolk assume that this abnormal behaviour suggests that Arthur is evil and cruel. Among the folklore and myths generated by the townsfolk include “…he went out at night… and peeped in windows… Any stealthy crimes committed in Maycomb were his work” (Lee 10). Clearly, social discrimination is shown through the attitude of the townsfolk of Maycomb towards those who are different; those who are poor and those who are unusual are discriminated by the middle class folk within the town who either disassociate themselves from them or create morbid gossip.¬¬

Harper Lee's ‘To kill a Mockingbird’ explores the prejudicial issues which plague over the town Maycomb. Harper Lee uses the trial of Tom Robinson a black man accused of rape on a young white girl, Mayella as a central theme to portray the prominence of racial discrimination in Maycomb. The racial prejudice is also widely shown through the characterisation of Atticus. Having Scout as the narrator allows Harper Lee to highlight the gender inequity through a youthful unbiased perspective. The chauvinistic attitudes and prejudiced views of most of the town’s folk leaves Maycombs social hierarchy in an unfair order, victimising many of the town’s people due to their socially non-conforming habits some ‘socially unaccepted people’ including Boo