To Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee: Character Analysis

Jem and Scout, throughout “To Kill A Mockingbird,” learn to consider things from other people’s perspectives. Atticus, Jem and Scout’s father, says “you never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view – until you climb into his skin and walk around in” (Lee 39). They learn this through experiences with their neighbor Boo Radley as they mature beyond their years. At the beginning of the novel, Jem and Scout make fun of Boo and assume that all of the rumors going around about him are true. However, later on in the story the children grow an admiration for Boo and learn to understand him. As they matured, Jem and Scout naturally learned many life lessons of appreciation, respect, and courage

“Maycomb was an old town, but it was a tired old town when I knew it. In rainy weather the streets turned to red slop; grass grew on the sidewalks, the courthouse sagged in the square. Somehow, it was hotter then: a black dog suffered on a summer’s day; bony mules hitched to Hoover carts flicked flies in the sweltering shade of the live oaks on the square. Men’s stiff collars wilted by nine in the morning. Ladies bathed before noon, after their three-o’clock naps, and by nightfall were like soft teacakes with frostings of sweat and sweet talcum...There was no hurry, for there was no where to go, nothing to buy and no money to buy it with, nothing to see outside the boundaries of Maycomb.” (Lee 6) In Harper Lee’s classic story To Kill a Mockingbird,

1. (56-59) Scout admires Ms. Maudie because she’s honest and kind to them, even though they are just children. On page 59, Harper Lee writes, “She had never told on us, had never played cat-and-mouse with us, she was not at all interested in out private lives. She was our friend.”

To Kill A Mockingbird: The purpose behind Atticus defending an African-American Advocating for one’s diverse morals and ideology is what makes an impact on society. In To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee illustrates this idea through the noble character, Atticus Finch. As the father of two young children, Jem and Scout, Atticus tries his best to raise his children adequately. By schooling them to not judge based on one’s race or background, the children accumulate a considerable amount of wisdom. Their father’s character is persistent, calm, and patient when facing most situations, which may be a result of his line of work.

A kind, caring father and friend shows a great role model. He is a mature person who is loyal and has amazing values. As the main character in To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus Finch represents everything that someone working in the justice system should. Harper Lee shows the reader that Atticus is focused on justice, courage, and compassion with the special unique talent to every situation. Learning the character of Atticus Finch, he has a respectful personality and shows loyalty to all the people he talks to and the people who live in the town Maycomb. The character of Atticus embodies Harper Lee’s belief that all people

By combining real life problems and at the same time creating entertainment and suspense the book To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee is one of the most influential and best books of the 20th century. Throughout the story and the conflicts that reside in it, a clear message or theme presents itself as the story unravels. As Lee uses point of view, tone, and conflict the message that innocence should be preserved and never killed by force is conveyed. This message is the clear theme of this story.

In the book "To Kill a Mockingbird," Harper Lee writes about the importance of the mockingbird. It is stated in the story "It is a sin to kill a mockingbird," because they only produce beautiful music and do not cause the trouble that other animals do. Harper Lee presents this theme through several characters including Atticus, Tom Robinson, and Boo Radley. These characters represent the mockingbird because they were discriminated and attacked for no reason. Also, they sacrificed their good images in order to help other people face their conflicts.

In the 1900s, all over America, discrimination and cruelty was commonplace. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus Finch is an outcast of sorts in the society of Maycomb, Alabama. He is fair, level-headed, and just overall a man of true character. His personality is important in the development of Scout and Jem. In the story, a mockingbird is described as innocent, peaceful, and harmless. Through his words and actions, Atticus Finch’s symbolic representation of a mockingbird is illustrated throughout the novel.

After Mrs.Dubose died in To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus explained to Jem and Scout why he admired Mrs.Dubose’s courage even though she never showed courage physically,she showed courage morally by stopping her addiction. “I wanted you to see what real courage is instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand”(93). Atticus is trying to teach Jem and Scout that being courageous can be illustrated in other forms other than physical courage in order to be considered a hero. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee uses characterization to reveal heroism is not only about showing physical courage but it is also about showing moral and intellectual courage. Mrs.Dubose showed moral courage when she stopped her

People can inflict different emotions on others based on who they are and what kind of people they surround themselves with. The same could be said for characters in a story. One of those kinds of characters is Atticus Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Atticus is one of the most respected people in Maycomb County. He functions as sort of the “moral backbone” of the county, a person to whom others turn in times of doubt and trouble.

Harper Lee’s fictional construct of lawyer Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird is portrayed as a potential racial hero and advocate for equality. In the text, Atticus was one of the only characters that take action against racism in the Southern American town of Maycomb –a representation reflective of a time during which Jim Crow segregation was prevalent. His actions during these times can be perceived by other characters and readers of the novel as heroic, in particular by Scout as the narrator, Miss Maudie and the Ewells who offer differing perspectives of Atticus’s heroism.

While Maycomb is experiencing hard times, Scout and Jem has learned lessons, and people start to stand up for what they believe in.To demonstrate, Atticus was worrying about the case of Tom Robinson but Jem , “said Atticus didn’t worry about anything. Besides, the case never bothered us except about once a week and then it didn’t last”(Lee 156). This demonstrates that Atticus wants Scout and Jem to stay poised when handling challenging situations. The lesson he was trying to teach to them was to not be worrisome when things don’t go your way, rather figure things out and work around your problems. On another occasion,Scout realizes that after observing Mayella, she was, "the loneliest person in the world…she was sad I thought… when she stood

In Harper Lee’s “To Kill A Mockingbird,” Mayella Ewell, a young woman as well as the daughter of Bob Ewell, lives a life of insolence and isolation in the town of Maycomb. As a Ewell, which they are familiarized as being vulgar, uneducated, and indigent, Mayella is disrespected by the people of Maycomb as well as by her father. During the court case, Atticus shows courtesy towards Mayella by addressing her as a miss and a ma’am, which is not surprising for his values of equality. Mistaking his manners with sarcasm, she replies with, “Won’t answer a word you say as long as you keep mockin’ me” (pg.181). Harper Lee is demonstrating the amount of disregard Mayella faces in her life, so much that courtesy can’t be identified as just that. Mayella finds that Atticus is ridiculing her for what she doesn’t have, respect from others. With a reputation such as Mayella’s, people treat her like an outcast. Her lonely life can be a reason to explain why she always asked for Tom Robinson’s company, she wanted to experience friendship and perhaps love for the first time. Her loneliness was so clear to see, even Scout, who still has their childhood-innocent mind, can see through it. Scout compares Mr.Dolphus Raymond’s “mixed children” to Mayella because they both don’t know where to stand in their social class, “white people wouldn’t have anything to do with her because she lived among pigs; Negroes wouldn’t have anything to do with her

That night I went to the jail with my friends for we had planned to kill Tom Robinson for what crime he had done but, Atticus Finch’s daughter made me change my mind about it. She told me about my legal entailments and to tell my son she had said hello. I felt ashamed and so small in front of my friends I had to leave the jail. I may be racist toward blacks because I’m so mistreated by Maycomb’s part of society.

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.