To Kill A Mockingbird Character Analysis

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

In Harper Lee's novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, the author explores the issue of justice using the symbol of the mockingbird. Placed in, the 1930s, a time of great depression and inequality, the book presents injustice acts to the most kind yet blamed citizens of the town Maycomb. The symbolism of the mockingbird and the characters are essential for the message of Harper Lees novel because the kind, but African-American Tom Robinson is unfairly put on trial for the “rape” of Mayella Ewell. Also, Arthur “Boo” Radley is victimized by the rumors the towns people have created about him, forcing him to live alone inside his house with his brother, Nathan Radley. Lastly Atticus Finch, is known by the town for being a good human being and sticking

“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

In Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird, the character Arthur “Boo” Radley is portrayed as misunderstood, brave, and later on caring. The purpose of the character Arthur “Boo” Radley shows us not to judge a book by its cover. This novel follows siblings Scout and Jem; along with their dad, Atticus Finch. They are a family that lives in Maycomb County. Atticus is a successful lawyer, therefore, he is always busing. Scout and Jem spend most of their summer spying on their neighbor Boo Radley.

Boo Radley hates to create trouble, so he remains inside and lacks vitamin D causing him to be as white as a ghost. "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.” (page 259) The quote explains how Boo chooses to not interact with the outside world and not get in anyone’s business. The community speaks about Boo a lot and depicts him to be a juvenile delinquent. “Jem gave a reasonable description of Boo: Boo was about six-and-a-half feet tall, judging from his tracks, he dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch…” (page 14) Here Boo is characterized to be a wild animal and a monster even though there is no significant evidence to support Jem’s claim because of society’s influence Scout accepted it as being true. Boo in all these circumstances shows how he genuinely is a

To Kill a Mockingbird, author Harper Lee uses unhypocritical, more experienced characters like Atticus to expose Jem and Scout to adult knowledge. Their adult influence is what brings about the empathetic growth and maturity of Jem and Scout.

“She did something that in our society is unspeakable: she kissed a black man” (page 272). It is easy to interpret this character as a villian in To Kill a Mockingbird, but is she honestly a victim? This girl has grown up in poverty, has been beaten, and has had to take care of an entire household. Unfortunately, there is nothing that can be done to change that. She lives a painful lifestyle, and that lifestyle has transformed her into the person she will always be. Mayella Violet Ewell’s important character attributes, mistreated, skeptical, and melodramatic, have forged her into the villain that most people see.

In the exposition of To Kill a Mockingbird, the children see Boo Radley as a deranged monster. Jem describes him by saying, “he dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch, that’s why his hands were bloodstained—if you ate an animal raw, you could never wash the blood off” (Lee 14). They even refer to him as “Boo,” insinuating that he is a ghost who haunts children. Once they find the gifts in the tree’s knothole, Boo Radley becomes more familiar and less frightening. After this pivotal moment, Boo Radley mends Jem’s ripped pants and puts a blanket on Jem’s and Scout’s shoulders when they are outside due to a fire. In chapter 31, Scout finally refers to their formerly frightening neighbor as Mr. Arthur, suggesting amity and respect. She surprises herself by saying, “Come along, Mr. Arthur… you don’t know the house real well. I’ll just take you to the porch, sir” (312). These moments fuel the familiarity of Boo Radley and develop Scout’s

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 one thing that doesn’t abide by majority rule is a person’s conscience,” (Lee 120). This quote from To Kill a Mockingbird is a good representation of the book. The book is set in the fictional town of Maycomb, Alabama during the Great Depression. Jean Louise (Scout) Finch, narrates the story of herself and her family facing the racial prejudices of the time. When her father Atticus, defends an innocent black man in a rape trial, Maycomb turns on Scout's family. Atticus, Scout, and her brother Jem stand up for what they believe in even if their neighbors disagree. By analyzing Harper Lee’s use of symbolism and tone, the reader can learn that courage isn’t physical strength, you gain morals as you grow, and prejudice kills innocence.

At the beginning of the novel, Scout is a concrete thinker. She is a very judgemental and opinionated child who has little/no experience with the evils of the world. Boo Radley, one of Scout’s neighbours, had a troubled youth and so his extremely religious parents alienated him in their home. Boo became a figure for speculation and gossip. The hogwash stories told about Boo lead Scout to judge and fear him. The Boo Radley she thinks to be real is simply a frightening, imaginary, boogeyman-like presence who does not really exist. “Jem gave a reasonable description of Boo: Boo was about six-and-a-half feet tall, judging from his tracks; he dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch, that’s why his hands were bloodstained—if you ate an animal raw, you could never wash the blood off. There was a long jagged scar that ran across his face; what teeth he had were yellow and

Scout and Jem start by being frightened by Boo because of the negative rumors they hear about him. Jem believes that Boo is a monster and Scout describes him as “malevolent phantom.” It is shown that Scout and Jem do not understand Boo by their imaginative stories and games inspired by him for childhood fun. As the story develops, the children's obsession over seeing and communication with Boo becomes the recognition that Boo wants to be their friend by leaving small and thoughtful gifts for them as communication. When the knothole in the tree where Boo leaves his gifts becomes blocked, they realize that Boo is not a mysterious phantom, but a person oppressed by his brother, who takes away his opportunity to communicate to the children.

In her coming-of-age novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee, portrays the main character Jean Louise “Scout” Finch to reveal to the causes and effects of lies in the small southern town, Maycomb County. In Maycomb County, Alabama, the civilians of the town make “telling lies” a helpful thing to do. Most of the people who live in the town come up with lies to protect themselves and other, affecting the lives of innocents. This harmful and selfish act harms the town and its citizens in many ways. Through the use of characterization, rising actions, and falling actions, Lee portrays gossip spreading and telling lies have a big impact on the town, Maycomb.

“”To Kill A Mockingbird””by Harper Lee, is a story that centers on a girl named Jean Louise Bullfinch, but is nicknamed Scout, who is a curious and ambitious 6 year-old. The main idea is how Scout loses her innocence in the process of maturing and understanding the harsh realities of her world like inequality and discrimination in her community. Jem, her older brother, went through a broken elbow injury, but he healed, though he fears assuaged to never being able to play football ever again. Her father, Atticus is a lawyer and protective of her, fore he taught her all that he knows that's how she became such an intelligent 6 year-old. She did not know her mother an adequate amount of time and did not miss her as much, but her brother misses her very much, for he said that he adored her. The only kind of mother figure she ever had was Calpurnia, their cook, And Scout could feel her tyrannical presence as long as she remembered. Dill was a curiosity that came to Scout and Jem that summer and gave them the idea of making Boo Radley come out. The Radley place is possessed by an unknown entity that's minor description of whom would make Scout, Jem, and Dill behave for days on end.

People who live in false mindsets only face disappointments in life. Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird demonstrates through numerous actions of various characters, how a positive belief that people will do the right thing, only leads to disappointment. At one point in the story Atticus says, “Serving on a jury forces a man to makeup his mind and declare himself about something. Men don’t like to do that” (p.297). Knowing the events of the novel, everyone with a positive belief expects the men to make the right decision. While on the contrary, a pessimistic group acknowledges the fact that the right decision will not be made by the “white” jury. The guilty verdict of the jury shows that the belief that people are inherently good and if given the chance will do the right thing is a negative characteristic. This same idea is proven several times in the novel, such as when Atticus faces dangerous situations, Scout comes face to face with indirect racism, and finally in Jem showing dismay in negative occurrences.