To Kill A Mockingbird Chapter 4 Analysis

As Stephen King once said, “The trust of the innocent is the liar’s most useful tool.” In the book "To Kill a Mockingbird", by Harper Lee, Jean Louise Finch, a young girl who also goes by Scout, experiences many things such as racism, friends, and family. Her father, Atticus Finch, is a lawyer who is sacrificing his reputation to defend a black man, Tom Robinson. Scout and her friends take it upon themselves to uncover the mystery of Boo Radley. In this book the mockingbirds represent innocence. Many characters take on the role of the “mockingbird". Exploring Lee’s title, to kill a mockingbird is to kill innocence.

Lee implies that people learn lessons through life experiences that school can ever teach. Throughout this novel, Atticus taught his kids many lessons that was hard for them to hear at times, but it later on helped them in the story. Or it helped them grow up and mature. On page 40 of To Kill A Mockingbird, Atticus was explaining to Scout that Miss.Caroline was new and didn’t know anyone, and she especially didn’t know the Cunningham’s story, Atticus states, “Atticus said… but if Walter and I had put ourselves in her shoes we’d have seen it was an honest mistake on her part” (40). This quote by Atticus is meant to explain to Scout that Miss. Caroline just made an honest human mistake. He tried to get Scout to realize that if he put herself in Miss.Caroline’s shoes then she might better understand the confusion. Obviously you can’t really be in her shoes, but he said it figuratively to show her why it was important to give her another chance, or at least try to be nice and listen. Atticus taught this to Scout at home later on that night. At her school after that she tried to just get by in her class. Lee also shows mainly throughout that the school system doesn’t help when it comes to teaching children life lessons. As shown in the earlier quote Atticus, had told Scout to jump in Walter’s shoes, and walk around in it. This other quote shows how Scout actually takes into consideration of Atticus’ words, and chooses to not bother Jem because she tried to imagine what it had

Mockingbirds will only sing their hearts, not cause any damage or give their lives to pleasing others. Throughout To Kill a Mockingbird great examples are shown of different types of mockingbirds. Atticus Finch, Tom Robinson, and Arthur (Boo) Radley are great examples of representing a mockingbird.

The conflict was when they did not listen to the rules when they were in the book. And then both of them were not the same but they were all most the people tried

The black characters act justly throughout the novel by treating every one with equality and respect. In Chapter 12, when Jem and Scout visit Calpurnia’s Negro church for the Sunday service, Lula, a hostile Negro woman tells them impolitely to leave. Calpurnia defends the children and contradicts Lula by saying, “It’s the same God, ain’t it?” Amidst an argument over the antagonistic rifts between black and white regimes, Calpurnia acknowledges that all people, no matter the race, worship the same God, and are therefore equal. During Chapter 12, after the church service, Reverend Sykes takes up an extra collection of money that is collected towards Tom Robinson's wife, who has not been able to find work since her husband is sent to jail since he allegedly rapes a white woman. Reverend Sykes tells the attendees of the service, “I want all of you with no children to make a sacrifice and give one more dime a piece.” The Revenant shows justice by being equal and respectful towards everyone. In order to be fair he asks those who don’t have a family to feed and shelter to donate an extra dime, and not forcing those who have a family to donate extra money. During his testimony in Chapter 19, Tom Robinson states a different story than that of Mayalla’s; he is then questioned on whether he is accusing Mayella of being a liar. Tom refuses to accuse Mayella of lying, but persistently says that she is "mistaken in her mind." This shows Tom’s unrelenting respect and honest living; even though Mayella is unjust to him, he continues to treat her with justice and respect because he knows that she is just a little girl who is lonely and even though she sent him

“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”...

In chapter 11 Walter didn’t want to work at the garment center. Walter had wanted to be a lawyer at the age nine. Walter would simply memorize a passage and recited it. A coach had asked Walter to come for track his junior year. In chapter 12 Walter missed three weeks of school. Walter lusted three weeks before he stopped going to school again. In chapter 10 the idea of what it meant to be poor changed in the late sixties. Most of Walter life had been divided between school, reading, and ball playing. The second burden of that summer came in the form of Walter grandfather. William Dean was a tall, ramrod-straight man with mannerisms that seemed more appropriate for the nineteenth century than for 1951. After the civil war the former

Conflicts are the driving point of most writing. Identifying them is very important to understanding the work itself. In order to get the full meaning, you must dissect the conflict and see how it works. Look at what made it happen and its results. Then, you can see what was really going on.

In Chapter 16, it is the next morning and the family is eating breakfast (day of the trial). Atticus states that he is grateful for having his children disobey rules to help him and notes that Mr. Underwood never liked Negroes, which is odd that Underwood was there at the jailhouse. In addition, Jem claims that Mr. Cunningham would have killed Atticus the night before, yet Atticus defends his relationship with Cunningham by stating that he has “blind spots” like everyone else. The vast majority of Maycomb are heading for the courthouse, which include Baptists (Miss Maudie talks about these harsh people). Though, Miss Maudie proves that gardening is actually something beautiful in God’s eyes. Albeit that Atticus tells the children not

The outcome of conflicts between characters vary due to the drive each character has. Each character’s drive is shown in how passionate they are about how they want something to end up. The more you are driven to do something, the more likely that what you want will happen. However, if two people have the same drive, the conflict will resolve itself in a different way. Conflicts arise in different ways in each individual story, but most conflicts are introduced during the rising action in the literary piece.

An example of this conflict is between people and nature itself. As we know, the narrative takes place during the infamous Dust Bowl. The Dust Bowl ruined thousands of families’ source of incomes, and in a sense ruined their lives. While other factors came into play as well, the Dust Bowl was foundation of a large majority of the issues that would arise later on in the book. In the beginning chapters, we get

In Tom Robinson’s circumstance, he is an innocent individual despite many claims and inaccurate testimonies. Tom Robinson had a relatively moral-filled life, providing affection and comfort toward his wife and children. However, it seems as though he has been in trouble with the law before due to disorderly conduct. In defiance of this minor conviction, Tom Robinson had not performed major unethical practices towards anyone in the town. Tom brought nothing but joy and delightfulness to the world. Unfortunately, allegations brought forth by Bob Ewell, framed Tom Robinson of raping Bob’s daughter. This occurrence was declined by evidence and even Robinson himself, but to no avail. In the end, Robinson was convicted guilty despite the numerous amounts of information suggesting that Bob Ewell was the real criminal in the situation. Later in the novel, it is learnt that Tom Robinson is killed by authorities whilst trying to escape from the prison. Through Tom Robinson’s story, the indications leave to believe that Tom himself was metaphorically, a mockingbird. As Miss Maudie had explained it, it is a sin to kill a mockingbird, due to its innocence in the world.

In chapter 9 there seems to be a lot of conflict especially with Scout. The book starts with Scout fighting Cecil Jacob because he said her daddy defends “nigger” (I’m only using this for education purposes not to offend anyone). Scout then ask Atticus if he defends “niggers”. Atticus tries to explain the racial complications in Maycomb. Atticus then tells Scout no more fighting.

Harper Lee uses her novel to teach us important lessons from the characters presented in To Kill a Mockingbird. Atticus, a fair and moral character, whose parenting style is unique, lined with honest and example, teaches us to follow his ways. Scout, an innocent girl who teaches us what’s important in life. Tom Robinson, someone who is ostracized for being African American, can teach us the importance of equal treatment and awakens us to our surrounding society. Lee’s construction of characters gives us perspective to issues in our society today, how they still matter and what we can learn from the novel such as compassion, justice and understanding.