To Kill A Mockingbird Character Analysis

The perspective of a child is very much different to the perspective of an adult. A child with their lack of experience in the world have their naive outlook and irrational fears of life. On the other hand, an adult, who have had more experience with life, have more rational explanations and cynical aspect of life. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the readers go through the story in the eyes of a child Scout Finch, an unreliable narrator, trying to explain the conflicts of the world of adults. The book is about the Finch family against the prejudice and discrimination of the South when the father of the family Atticus, a lawyer, is defending an African American wrongfully accused of a crime. In Part 1 of the book, Harper Lee

Strength doesn’t come from what you can do. It comes from overcoming the things you once thought you couldn’t.”

As children grow up, they open their eyes to the harsh truths in the world around them that they once did not understand or question. This is experienced by the main characters of Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird. The story is of a girl called Scout and her older brother, Jem, who go through the trials of growing up in the fictional small Southern town of Maycomb, Alabama in the 1930s. Racism is rampant in the mindset of the townspeople, shown when the children’s lawyer father, Atticus, takes the case of an obviously innocent African-American man and they convict him in their hearts before the trial even starts. Through this all, we can see the theme of loss of innocence in the children. Lee uses characterization to portray

Atticus decides to take on a highly controversial case in Maycomb, where Mayella Ewell, a 19 year old white female, accuses Tom Robinson, a black man in his thirties, of rapeing her. During the trial, Mayella, Bob, and the sheriff state that Robinson hit her on the right side of her face; however, Atticus contradicts the Ewell’s story by showing the jury that Tom Robinson only has one useful hand. Jem then whispers, ‘We’ve got him’” (Lee 202). Although, Maycomb’s society would never allow for Tom Robinson to win the trail, Jem’s innocent perspective enables him to believe that race does not come before the facts. Shortly after the trial, Jem says, “‘Doesn’t make it right. You can’t just convict a man on evidence like that-—you can’t’” (Lee 252). Jem displays an understanding of the racism and divisions in society within Maycomb in this quote. He knows that the conviction of Tom Robinson is bias and that the treatment of all blacks is unfair. Jem shows moral growth in this quote and has a more mature mindset about equality than most of the folks in Maycomb.

“To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee is an exceedingly powerful novel. It includes many significant minor themes such as racism and hatred which leave the reader to have grown more attentive to the past once they complete the book. The book takes place in Maycomb County Alabama during the great depression. During this period there was a great deal of hate and prejudice towards people of color, in addition to a great regard to social class. The novels protagonists, Atticus Finch a well-respected lawyer and his children Jeremy “Jem” Finch and Jean Louise “Scout” Finch are a few of the towns occupants who respect others regardless of social class or race. For this reason, Atticus has no objections

Maturity often goes hand in hand with change. Whether it is just growing up or learning from one’s mistakes, change brings new perspective that helps people for the better. The main characters in Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird go through a series of such changes throughout the story such as losing their innocence, growing up, and coming to the realization of their town’s unfair prejudices. The transition from being innocent and oblivious to more mature and aware is extremely evident in several identities in the novel. The novel approaches the question of whether or not the people of Maycomb need some change and new perspective by dramatizing Scout, Jem, and Dill’s transition from a perspective of childhood innocence.

In the real world, there are harsh realities that all children must face one day to finally mature into an adult. Jem and Scout, in To Kill A Mockingbird, face situations like seeing an unjust trial with Bob Ewell, a white man, falsely accusing Tom Robinson, a black man, and being attacked by Bob Ewell, that put them face-to-face with hatred, partisanship, and racism. Through characterization and the conflicts that the characters face, Harper Lee shows the theme that innocence is lost through the confrontation of evil.

Tom Robinson is an African American who is symbolic in this novel for the test of racism in the town of Maycomb. Tom is accused for an attack of Mayella Ewell and is seen as a typical black man, but it turns out that he is very kind and gentle. This trial of Tom Robinson affects Jem more than any other young child. He knew that this man was innocent, but “Jem, moving into adulthood, also feels Tom’s despair” (Bruell, page 45) He feels this every time the jury announced him guilty and felt as if there was another stab at Tom. “You just can’t convict a man on evidence like that—you can’t.” (Lee, page). Jem feels that the evidence that was given was not convincing enough as he was on the side of Tom. There is no chance for Robinson in this situation as a black man in a primarily white town attacks a white woman. Jem feels that society is lost and ultimately Jem loses his faith in humanity and is “…marked forever by this experience” (Bruell, page 45). Boo Radley was accused of horrible things and Jem finally realizes the bravery of Boo and his reasons to stay inside his home. “Scout, I think I'm beginning to understand something. I think I'm beginning to understand why Boo Radley's stayed shut up in the house all this time... it's because he wants to stay inside."(Bloom, page 32) Jem feels that Boo’s isolation is necessary and not a negative thing at all. Many would believe that Boo Radley exiling himself from society was

Harper Lee presents the idea that as children grow up, they learn and experience the harsh truths about the world they once did not understand or question. The novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, encompasses the story of a girl named Scout along with her older brother, Jem, who go through the trials of growing up in the fictional town of Maycomb, Alabama. Racism is rampant in the mindset of the townspeople, shown when Atticus, both a father and lawyer, takes on the case of an innocent African-American man. Through this, we can see young character development in where main characters Scout, Jem, and Dill undergo the theme of innocence and experience. Lee uses characterization to portray Scout as the embodiment of innocence, and soon after shows the

Can you recollect a person that you hate all the time? Is this person rude, not sociable, emotionally abusive, or just plain racist? In To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the novel digs deep into the roots of Social Classes. One of these classes, in particular, is “White Trash.” “White Trash” is a class that has the poor white people that don’t contribute much to society and sometimes even make the society worse. There is one character that everyone loathes in Maycomb, and he is Mr. Ewell. Harper Lee portrays Mr. Ewell and his kids as uneducated, racist, murderous pigs because of three reasons. This family disrespects other members of the community in cruel ways, abuses their power by accusing a black man of rape, and tries to kill two

The characterization of Scout shows how naive childhood innocence can shield children from the harsh harms of racism. Before the court case, the three kids went to town to see where Atticus has departed with a light bulb. After searching through the town, they come across Atticus in front of the county jail sitting and reading a newspaper whilst protecting Tom Robinson inside the jail cell. Shortly after the kids’ arrival, a mob of Maycomb citizens drives up to the jail cell in an attempt to hurt Tom Robinson. Before anything got out of hand, the kids run in front of Atticus and unknowingly disrupt the entire mob. Scout gives a monologue with such quotes as, “Hey, Mr. Cunningham. How’s your entailment getting’ along?” (Lee, 129) and “Entailments are bad…” (Lee, 129) The oblivious declarations made by Scout help

“The ability to do something that frightens one.” This quotation shows that to have courage isn’t always when you are being brave but when you finish something that you start. In the book “To Kill a Mockingbird” By Harper Lee,  Many characters show the trait of courage throughout the book. It also shows many important parts of the book through these quotes that are shown. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper lee Atticus shows the trait of courage a lot in the book.  The next two quotes are ones that show that Jen is a person in the novel that shows the trait of courage when he tried to find boo.  these quotes are ones that show that Dill has courage because he travelled by himself and because he he is a daredevil. In my three

Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, To Kill a Mockingbird details the life and experiences of two children in a small town of Alabama. It describes how a series of events shakes their innocence, shaping their character and teaching them about human nature. In her novel, Lee demonstrates how these children learn about the essentiality of good and evil and the existence of injustice and racism in the Deep South during the 1930s. She describes the conscience and the loss of innocence that the two children experience and also details their individual development to maturity. Jem Finch, one of the children in the story, realizes the unfairness that exists around him and

In a town full of hypocrisy, prejudice, and racism, Scout is raised to be different from the norms. She finds innocence in two citizens of Maycomb, Tom Robinson and Boo Radley. She sees them as the mockingbirds Atticus refers to when he tells her that it is a sin to kill a mockingbird (90). These two innocent men are cruelly treated by society for being different. They’re treated with nothing but prejudice and unfair justice. They’re looked at and treated differently than the rest of Maycomb. Despite the two being similar in those ways, their lives are very different.

Tom Robinson and Boo Radley are very diverse yet similar in some ways. Both men face prejudice and unfair judgments that are being thrown at them. Tom Robinson is accused of rape even though he did not commit the crime. He was easily targeted because he was a black male. He was only convicted because of his race. Boo Radley has many ridiculous rumors that are said about him. He is seen as a monster and as an overall bad person by the town of Maycomb because of these rumors. These men are both accused of being people they are not by others who do not even know them or their stories. Tom’s absence and way of dying showed that he was not meant to be treated the way he was during the trial. Miss Maudie states, “The handful of people in this town who say that fair play is not marked white only; the handful of people who say a fair trial is for everybody…” (256). Miss Maudie is telling Aunt Alexandria that Atticus is basically representing the people who think that Tom should be treated fairly. This shows a turning point of the some of the Maycomb people. It is now revealed that there are others who think Tom was treated unfairly. Since everyone was afraid of Boo Radley and the Radley’s, everyone tried to stay away from their house as much as possible which was an effect to his absence in the community. Nobody knew the real him until the incident after the pageant. Scout realized that Boo Radley is not who she or other people think he is. Scout states, “Atticus was right. One