preview

To Kill A Mockingbird Analysis

Decent Essays

The Influence of Setting on Themes and Events in To Kill A Mockingbird Vs. A Time to Kill
A setting is used in literature to highlight the major themes and also shape the events of the narration. Though set in different time periods, the settings of To Kill a Mockingbird by Lee Harper and A Time to Kill by Joel Schumacher serves to reinforce various themes that highlight various aspects of American history. Racial segregation and issues associated with it such as the lifestyle of the Southern state are some of the historical aspects of the American society have captured in both the novel and the film. In To Kill a Mockingbird, an African-American man is convicted because of racial prejudice while in A Time to Kill an African-American man …show more content…

Similarly, in the film A Time to Kill, the setting is in Mississippi at a time when Confederate states influenced much of the supremacist ideals and lifestyles of the Southern people. The film starts with Ray Cobb and Pete Willard driving a truck which displays the Confederate flag (A Time to Kill). This scene serves to highlight the lifestyle that existed at the time which upheld slavery and segregation as symbolized by this flag. Both the novel and the film, therefore, feature aspects of lifestyle in the Southern states during the segregation era.
Furthermore, the setting associated with Southern American states in both the novel and the film highlight the theme of racial intolerance especially against the African-Americans. The African-Americans suffered at the hands of the White through unfair treatment. In To Kill a Mockingbird, it is proven beyond doubt that Tom Robinson did not commit the crime as he is physically incapable of causing bodily harm as evident from Scout’s narration, “his left arm was fully twelve inches shorter than his right and hung dead at his side. It ended in a small, shriveled hand and from as far away as the balcony I could see that it was no use to him” (Lee 248). This implies that Tom Robinson is physically damaged and could not have harmed Mayella Ewell. The fact that he is black denies him a fair trial alluding to the existing racial intolerance that exists. On the other hand, his lawyer Atticus Finch is aware of this intolerance when

Get Access