To Kill A Mockingbird Analysis

Author uses Atticus teach these lessons through his wise words. Atticus teaches these lessons to not only the audience, but Jem and Scout too. Some of the main things he teaches his kids about are understanding people, using the mind instead of the body, the cruel reality of stereotypes, and true

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.

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

“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”...

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.

To Kill a Mockingbird (Lee, 1960), an insightful and gripping novel composed by Harper Lee in 1960. Originating in Alabama South America, based during The Great Depression. This didactic novel highlights the controversy of racism, dominant discourses and social inequality through the storyline of young ‘Scout’ who has grown up with these prominent social issues in her everyday life. Scout finds herself having to find a new perspective as her father takes on the risky case of defending a wrongly accused African American man of rape.

“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).

“Its a sin to kill a mockingbird” (Lee 103). This familiar statement expresses the meaning of the word mockingbird that is in the title of the novel. Arousingly touching the hearts of others, Harper Lee displays the innocence of a mockingbird and people who compare to a mockingbird. Maycomb county, a fictional setting in the book where innocent people were accused of wrongdoings and sometimes punished for crimes they did not commit or things they could not help. In To Kill a Mocking, Harper Lee used symbolism to compare Tom Robinson, Boo Radley, and Jem Finch to a mockingbird.

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.

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.

“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.

There has always been an argument if people are naturally good, or naturally evil? The answer lies somewhere in the middle. The characters in “A Time to Kill” by John Grisham and “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee show this by taking action into their own hands. In the book “A Time to Kill,” Carl Lee Hailey, the father of Tonya Hailey; sought vengeance on Billy Ray Cobb and Pete Willard for raping his daughter. Throughout the book, it shows the experiences Carl Lee has while being on trial against the state of Mississippi. He was ultimately successful in winning the case. In the book “To Kill a Mockingbird,” Arthur "Boo" Radley is a mysterious man who lives across the street from the Finch family. Jean "Scout" Finch, her brother Jem,

In “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee Atticus is a moral man because he shows courage by always doing the right thing when nobody is watching and he is always trying to set a good example for his kids and the town and to be kind to all living things. For Example when Atticus tells his children that they can shoot all the blue jays they want, but never To Kill a Mockingbird he does not elaborate which drove Scout to ask Ms.Maudie. She explains that, “Mockingbirds do not do one thing, but make music for us to enjoy, they do not eat up peoples gardens, do not nest in the corn cribs, they do not do one thing, but sing their hearts out, that is why it is a sin to kill a mockingbird.”(93). Miss Maudie explains to Scout that mockingbirds are innocent.

The story, in the eyes of two innocent children Scout and her brother Jem, of the discrimination and hypocrisy throughout the town. Maycomb County, Alabama, faces an African American’s injustice while the children learn valuable lessons from their father, Atticus and their housemaid Calpurnia, during the Great Depression. All the while, we are learning from it. To Kill a Mockingbird teaches us the lessons of morale, justice and equality.