To Kill A Mockingbird Character Analysis Essay

To Kill a Mockingbird is the story of the trial of a black man, Tom Robinson for the raping of a white woman, Mayella Ewell, in racist Alabama in the 1990’s.

From this, one can see that Scout is still in a juvenile state of mind. Furthermore, one can see how the beliefs of the townspeople have been transferred to Scout, who had taken them as they are considered the social norm. She unknowingly accepts their racism when she thinks of Dolphus Raymond as a “sinful man” because he associates himself with black people and “…had mixed children and didn’t care who knowed it.” (201) She does not understand why he freely displays his transgression to the town when it is acknowledged as a wrong thing to do in Maycomb. However, Scout slowly starts to develop her own sense of right and wrong and create her own judgments of others. Boo was once the monster of her childhood, but after witnessing his cordial and courageous actions, she realizes that “he hadn’t done any of those things…he was real nice.” (281) In the end, Scout matures and sheds her childhood nickname to become the young lady called “Jean Louise” by family and friends. (211, 224, 229) This change in Scout is a result of her loss of innocence and is a focal point in the novel to give a thought-provoking perspective on the events of the book.

Atticus, the father of Scout and Jem, plays an immensely important role in the children’s maturing by teaching them valuable life lessons that benefit their character and knowledge of how to live in the world. When telling Jem and Scout why Mrs. Dubose acts the way she does, and how he thinks she is one of the most courageous women he knows, he says, “Courage is when you know your licked before you begin but you begin anyway”(128). The children learn that Mrs. Dubose was not a mean, old, wicked lady; she was a person trying to get rid of an addiction, even though it would cause her pain to do so. This entire conversation shows Scout and Jem that people are not always what one perceives them to be, and that one needs to understand why someone does the things they do before they judge

During part one of the novel, Scout and Jem are still only 6 and 10 years old, respectively. Both still believe the people of Maycomb are the best people in the world, and they are incapable of doing bad things. In an exchange with Atticus about Tom Robinson’s case, Scout goes on to say, "Atticus, you must be wrong...most folks seem to think they're right and you're wrong...." (Lee 11). This quote shows both her innocence and to what extent it clouds her world view.

During chapter 10 of To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Scout and Jem Finch’s opinion of their father Atticus changes from them being embarrassed by him to them feeling admiration and pride for him and his hidden talents; this teaches the children that there are many things that make up a person and they should not have a narrow or single view of people. In the beginning of the chapter Scout realizes all their schoolmates’ fathers are much younger than Atticus, and this is embarrassing for her. She wishes he could be normal, especially now with all the attention on her father from the trial in which he will be defending a negro. According to Scout’s narrative, “Jem underlined it when he asked Atticus if he was going out for the Methodists

Essay Prompt: In a 1-2 page character analysis, explain what makes Atticus such a good parent, using quotes and evidence from the text to back up your claims.

In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee illustrates a child named Scout living with her family in the racist town of Maycomb. Scout and her brother Jem work through the conflicts of life together with their father Atticus as a role model. In the beginning of To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout is characterized as a naive little girl who does not fully grasp how to empathize with people’s emotions. However, by the end of the novel, Scout learns how to put herself in other people’s shoes to really understand them. Scout's sense of morals on what’s right and wrong were not yet polished in the beginning and she did not understand what her actions meant to others.

Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird demonstrates organic unity through the use of literary tools to create, maintain, and amplify the central theme. Lee constructs and develops the theme of social inequality by employing dialogue, irony, and an extended metaphor. Through dialogue, the townspeople show contempt for blacks, viewing them and anyone who treats them as equals as inferior. This is evident in the analysis of the conversations of Bob Ewell, Mrs. Dubose, and Francis Hancock where they refer to black people as uncivilized savages. Not only does Bob Ewell, contribute to the theme through his dialogue, but his full name of Robert E. Lee Ewell provokes irony that clarifies the racist undertones of the novel. Moreover, irony functions

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, Harper Lee articulates coming of age in a town struck by racism. Scout begins the novel as a six year old girl who does not fully recognise how skewed her world is until she is nine and sees what it really means to kill a mockingbird due to the actions of a shy Arthur Radley. In the passage Jem and Scout are attacked by Bob Ewell; the father of supposed rape victim Mayella Ewell, in response to Jem and Scout’s father Atticus embarrassing Bob during the trial of Tom Robinson. However, Arthur Radley comes out to save them, inevitably killing Bob. This means he will have to go through the burdensome court process, but the county sheriff, Heck Tate wants to change that and Scout needs to understands why. Furthermore Scout realizes what it's like to be Arthur Radley, always watching. Within the final two chapters, To Kill A Mockingbird conveys the theme that there's good and evil in coming of age throughout the book by utilizing symbolism, conflict, and character.

Criticism comes easy to Ms. Dubose for she yells and degrades those around her. Jem and Scout look upon her as an evil woman with no respect for the society. Little do they know she is fighting her own battle each and everyday. As Atticus has said many times before “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 it.” Children never quite understand the complexity of life as a whole. They see what the want to and choose what to believe. This is the case for Jem and Scout, understanding Ms. Dubose’s cruelty does not come easy. Atticus sees the light in her and was able to foresee what she put forth towards the children. Throughout the novel she unveils her true colors and proves she is not merely evil. Being a morphine addict turns her bitter and forces her to become somebody she is not.

Jem and Scout judge their neighbour Mrs. Henry Lafayette Dubose very negatively, along with many other’s in Maycomb, except for Atticus Finch. He is the one who encourages Jem to bring Scout along to visit and read to the old lady, so that they may treat her just as their father does; with respect, kindness, and empathy. Atticus even admits that they have differences by explaining, “She had her own views about things, a lot different from mine, maybe…”, but proves that you can still understand a person with different morals and values (149). He spoke positively of Mrs. Dubose by stating to Jem, “According to her views, she died beholden to nothing and nobody. She was the bravest person I ever knew” (149). Atticus is one of the few people in town to think this way, because he understands how she wants to live her life. Mr. Finch’s encouragement for Jem and

Jem and Scout make a judgement about Mrs. Dubose that she was a terrible lady without knowing anything about her. They hated her because she was rude and yelled at them, even though she wanted to change her ways before she died. They later realized that she was a lady trying to do her best and try to make up for her past mistakes in her life.

Dubose wants Jem to come read to her even though Mrs. Dubose clearly despises him. However through Mrs. Dubose Lee provides the reader with evidence as to why it is incorrect to form impressions of people hastily without thought and consideration. Lee does so by revealing that Mrs. Dubose was not necessarily as vicious as the reader first thinks. In fact she asks that Jem read to her, and he does so every day for an entire month. However Jem continues to strongly dislike her because she still continues to criticize him and his family; however, he persists. Despite his personal hatred for Mrs. Dubose, Jem battles his emotions and continues going to read to her. Jem learns from Atticus that Mrs. Dubose passed away and she had left him a camellia flower inside the candy box she gave him; his initial reaction is one of utter confusion and he is unable to understand the reason behind her actions because he had always believed that Mrs. Dubose disliked him. He is surprised when she leaves him something. Atticus explains to Jem that Mrs.Dubose was a morphine addict and her erratic behavior was a result of withdrawals. Jem never knew this, and this information overwhelms him both physically and emotionally. What Jem thought he had seen on the outside as bitter hate and anger was in reality just a thin layer of pain, which was hiding the true strength and courage, which she had within her. Mrs. Dubose had

Learning from Scout, we can ruminate about how her life slowly changed as a result of the people she was around. With this information to apply to our life, choosing who we want to hang out with would be represented through our personality and how we choose to carry ourselves. After listening to advice from Atticus, she exhibits development when she later in the future recalls Atticus’s advice and applies it to her life. She also shows a negative development when she decides it is better to lie to her father when she understood how grand her punishment could be, exhibiting that her situation was something that an adult should have handled and not something she should have interfered with if it was

Throughout the book, there are many racist jokes/comments and inferences about people that they do not even know. There are also many problems that occur in the book. People throughout the book criticize human beings by the color of their skin, and not how they are as a person. As Jem and Scout grow up, they begin to understand many complicated events that they did not know about when they were younger. The theme of understanding other people from their perspective plays a key role in the book To Kill A Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee. The book shows this topic by revealing who African Americans, Boo Radley, and Atticus are as people, not by what people say about them. These three elements of the story reveal that understanding what another person is feeling, and what that person is like by their point of view is important because the person can help other people.