To Kill A Mockingbird And Great Expectations: Character Analysis

Great Expectations tells the ultimate rags to riches story of the Orphan Pip. Dickens takes his readers through life changing events that ultimately mold the identity of the main character. Dividing these events into sections will provide the basis for interpreting which events had the most profound effect on Pip’s identity towards the end of the novel. These life-changing events provide the catalyst for the development of Pip’s character from childhood, his adolescence, maturing into a social gentleman, and finally becoming a self-aware man of society.

Many would agree that Lee demonstrated her motifs extremely well. The motif of a mockingbird shows how innocent people get hurt at the fault of others. Courage is important because it shows the good in people and if you try you may be able to succeed, even if it's hard. Lastly, the motif of walking in someone else’s shoes shows how you can not fully understand someone and their actions until you see if from their point of view. Harper Lee uses these motifs with great skill to help show how human life is valuable and how you should respect

Imagine you are a lawyer tasked with an impossible case, and everybody in your community is against you, but still there is a shred of hope you cling to. What might that be you ask? That to which you cling are your morals. In To Kill a Mockingbird Atticus Finch had been given the Tom Robinson case, where a black man was convicted of raping a white woman. As a single father of two children, he continues to reinforce his values throughout the trial and during his daunting task of raising his children. In To Kill A Mockingbird what Harper Lee suggests about the nature of morals is that you should try to stand up for what you believe in even if people oppose or reject your ideals. Even when faced with an insurmountable opposition you should stand up for your morals because in the end if your don't follow your beliefs you are just contributing to the problem. We should try to create a voice for what we believe in and impress that upon the next generation so they can continue to exercise their beliefs to make the world a better place.

Throughout Great Expectations, the main character, Pip, undergoes immense changes in character as he matures and time passes. At the beginning of the story, Pip is just a simple boy who cares little for personal advancement and status, and is perfectly content with his simple life. However, a new trait of Pip arises when he meets Estella and Miss Havisham. They look down on him as common and criticize his low social class and lack of manners. This leads to Pip entirely rethinking what he finds important, and his desire for personal advancement quickly overshadows his kindness and generosity. He begins to look down on his closest friend, Joe, for being so common, and he abandons all of his older dreams for

No matter what book people read, there will always be symbols that play roles all throughout the book. Most of the time, the symbols are small, underlying things that aren’t noticeable in the story unless you go back and analyze the book. However, there is one novel where the symbol is so big, that it is almost impossible to read the book without seeing the symbol. Not only is the symbol in the title and mentioned several times in the novel, but the symbol also takes the form of three of the characters in the book. In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee portrays the symbolism of a Mockingbird through the characters of Tom Robinson, Boo Radley, and Atticus Finch.

Harper Lee’s renowned book To Kill a Mockingbird is highly praised for the lessons it teaches, it’s persuasive humor and how it tells a story of growth. It tells the story of Scout Finch as she learns and and grows in the small town of Maycomb, Alabama in the 1930’s. Scout has a brother, Jem, who leads scout on adventures and through trials as they are taught about racism, empathy and courage. Scout's perspective allows a look into how growing up in her circumstances has affected her personally. (need another sentence here to lead to thesis) Harper Lee uses the characterization of Jem to show an alternate insight to growing up through the way he strays from being moral, how he tries to be more independent, and by when he reaches his breaking point.

In the first several chapters of To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the novel develops in its characters, plot, conflicts, etc. which are influenced by setting and theme, among other factors.

There are many significant symbols used to represent the different themes in To Kill a Mockingbird. Throughout the book Harper Lee transmits a message to the reader using examples and symbols to get her point across. Some of these symbols include the dresses, Tim Johnson, and dependencies.

The Mockingbird reference serves as a parallel to the audience, but to the characters as well. There are many symbols that are worth discussing such as that of the Tom Robinson case and the irony of the title of the novel. After seeing and hearing about a situation so vast, it causes one to look back and reflect on oneself. Many back then, even today in society, are misunderstood as a projection of evil which were conceived by others, but in reality, are just good individuals. Harper Lee is trying to convey this message to us by showing us who we are aware of that are seen and unseen, just as she shows us what is projected and not projected in society and in individuals. To Kill a Mockingbird is a film, a book, a play, a story, that can make us feel different about ourselves and the world we live in. It is a definite presentation of the past and the present that is worthwhile to watch over and over

There are many symbolisms in to kill a Mockingbird, such as the Radley place symbolizing the fears of children and the feeling to want to face it, or the mad dog symbolizing the unjust punishment the world gives out to its creatures. But what about the most important, the Mockingbird? In to Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee it shows the undeserved treatment to the ‘Mockingbirds’, or Tom Robinson, Boo “Arthur” Radley and the Finch children, Scout and Jem.

People who do nothing but good are often tainted with rumors and harmed by other people. Harper Lee explores this idea in her novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. To Kill a Mockingbird is a story about a seven-year-old girl named Scout growing up in the nineteen-thirties, her ten-year-old brother Jem and her friend named Dill who is the same age as she is. She lives in a very tight knit county called Maycomb in Alabama where everybody knows and hangs out with each other. However, there is one house where the inhabitants never come out of, the Radley house, where an old couple lives with their two adult sons.

The Growth of Pip The goals and values of a person are what allows them to become motivated to succeed in life. During Pip’s childhood, Pip wanted to live a simplistic life as he was an innocent child unaware of what people would think of him until he went to the Havisham manor. During Pip’s adolescence in London, he lived a relaxed life and his only worry was his debt and wooing Estella but that all changed when his benefactor arrived. The visit to Miss Havisham’s manor and the return of the benefactor both lead up to when Pip gets out of debtors jail. Afterward, Pip is freed from his jail and rekindles his relationship with his broken family and creates his future.

“Why do you identify as Ethiopian-American?” my 10th grade English teacher asked me, a valid question I would not forget anytime soon. Our class was discussing how the protagonist in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout, struggled to find her identity. To engage the class, our teacher asked what we identify ourselves as and why we labeled ourselves as such. Never the one to miss the chance to boast my east African heritage, my right hand soared up. After I told him, the usual set of questions followed: “Were you born there...but you were raised here?” And then he asked the million-dollar question.

Pip’s mindset regarding classes and success in life is drastically altered after his initial visit to the aristocratic Miss Havisham. “She said I was common” (69) spurs the realization in Pip that he is indeed innocent but unfortunately much oppressed. Pip is very distraught with his birth place into society, to the point that he “was discontented” (130) -- he increasingly desires to be a gentleman. He primarily desires this as a means of impressing Estella and winning her over. At this point in the novel, Pip is willing to give away what he loves (Joe – family setting) to obtain a superficial and insulting girl. One day Pip receives word that he now has the ability to grow up to be his ultimate dream, to be a gentleman. Pip awakens to a new world and those he once loved are no longer good enough for Pip. Moving to London, he becomes far more sophisticated, but at the same time loses his natural goodness. (Chesterton 142). Pip is leaving happiness and his real family to attain a life he thinks will make him more content. Before departing, he dreams of “Fantastic failures of journeys occupied me until the day dawned and the birds were singing” (148). This relates the dream that Pip has just before he sets out to London for the first time, with all of his "great expectations" before him. Pip’s dream is permeated with the sadness and guilt caused by his imminent departure from Joe and Biddy and his aspirations for a new social station.

There are salient junctures in Pip’s upbringing that make him who the person he was; this is a tale that in which Pip was soliciting for awareness of himself, as well he realized that his life had major elements of obscurity; due to the fact, he was presented clearly, two radical different lifestyle choices; one, involving a life as a blacksmith and the other; involving the path as life as am affluent prosperous gentleman. Dickens carefully wrote in the periods of Pip’s life and how those set of circumstances; affected by choice, as well affected Pip’s later choices he had made. The temptation of class and wealth perverted the actions of Pip and other people around him; Pip is therefore contemplating on how he was saved by reminiscence of the stages of his life. In the first stage; Pip encounters Magwitch; by accident, this affects the outcome of later events of his life; Pip is than introduced to Miss Havishism and Estella, he fell in love with Estella, and was dramatically persuaded by the promises he made to himself, from his encounters with Miss Havhishism and Estella. Dramatically; Pip than learned the truth about his wealth and that Magwitch was Estella 's father; this collapsed Pip’s vision of reality and forced him to alter his exceptions concerning the truth; Pip than had to save himself from his own selfishness, as well as his malice actions, to the ones who were faithful to him; finally, at the end Pip is a full grown adult and had gain