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.”

Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird perfectly depicts a town succumbed to the racism that existed in the deep south during the time. Lee shows how there are good-hearted people who want change, but there are also ignorant people who will try to do anything to go against it. Some residents of Maycomb hope to push for a change because they understand the way people do things is wrong. Tom Robinson is a man who represents the change people want to pursue due to his false conviction; yet, some people are too scared to be the change, so they hide behind fake problems. Mr. Dolphus Raymond is a perfect representation of those who want change but instead flock and hide since he says “[secretly], Miss Finch, I’m not much of a drinker” (Lee 170). This

“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

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.

In Harper Lee’s, To Kill a Mockingbird, Mayella Ewell is powerful and gains power as the story goes on. Mayella Ewell is a poor white woman who lives in a dump, her mom left her family when she was young. Mayella has stepped into the mother role in her family. In the story Mayella is abused mentally and physically by her father Bob Ewell. Mayella Ewell is a woman no one wants to associate with, she is white so on African-American man will talk to her and she is poor so no white man will. Characters that are a higher class are treated with more respect especially if they are a white male. In Maycomb it is very segregated and many characters are placed into harsh stereotypes.

Racism in To Kill a Mockingbird In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee focuses more on the aspect of racial discrimination rather than “poor white trash” discrimination (Hovet 187). It is so conspicuous that a man loses his life because of it. Racism is very prominent in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, as well as the South as a whole in the 1930s, but becomes crucial when Tom Robinson, a black man, is accused of raping Mayella Ewell, a white woman, causing the lives of their families, the Finch family, and the citizens of Maycomb County, Alabama, to be changed forever by death and overcoming prejudices. Atticus Finch is an upstanding lawyer, father, and citizen of Maycomb who must overcome the obstacle of defending Tom Robinson

In Maycomb’s society, black men and women were considered far inferior to a white man or woman. Atticus, the protagonist’s father, mentions that, “the Ewells have been the disgrace of Maycomb for three generations,” (Lee 40). Despite carrying a

Atticus is an example of a character that tries to bring equality to Maycomb, while Bob Ewell and Aunt Alexandra are two characters that think Maycomb is fine the way it is now. Atticus believes that all people should be equal, in the court at least. He says "But there is one way in this country in which all men are created equal--there is one human institution that makes a pauper the equal of a Rockefeller, the stupid man the equal of an Einstein, and the ignorant man the equal of any college president. That institution, gentlemen, is a court. . . Our courts have their faults, as does any human institution, but in this country our courts are the great levelers, and in our courts all men are created equal" (205). Bob Ewell is a man that does not think everyone is equal and thinks that Maycomb is fine the way that it is now. It can be seen through this quote he says; “Why, I run for Tate quick as I could. I knowed who it was, all right, lived down yonder in that nigger-nest, passed the house every day. Jedge, I’ve asked this county for fifteen years to clean out that nest down yonder, they’re dangerous to live around ‘sides devaluin’ my property” (177). Aunt Alexandra is similar to Bob Ewell, but hides it more. This can be seen through this quote; “Grandma says it's bad enough he lets you all run wild, but now he's turned out a nigger-lover we'll never be able to walk the streets of Maycomb agin. He's ruinin' the family, that's what he's doin'" (85). Through these characters, Harper Lee shows the racial stereotypes in Maycomb and how they affect the

This is apparent when Scout explains how “the older citizens… were utterly predictable to one another: they took for granted attitudes, character shadings, even gestures, as having been repeated in each generation and refined by time. Thus the dicta No Crawford Minds His Own Business, Every Third Merriweather Is Morbid, [etc.]” (131). This shows how people in Maycomb stereotype those in a certain family. The town factors out the person’s individuality and discriminates against them from other people based on their last name. It can be easy to think that this family discrimination rule applies only to the older generation of Maycomb since it's stated in the quote above. But when you look at the younger population of Maycomb, we can see many examples of familial discrimination. For example take Cecil Jacobs, a mean boy at Scout’s school who teases Scout because her father defends a black man in court. Another example of discrimination from family is how Maycomb treats the Ewells. When Atticus, Scout’s father, tells her how “the Ewells had been the disgrace of Maycomb for generations”(30). This explains how Maycomb treats the Ewells, with a blind eye just like the garbage dump they live in. Atticus views them as a “disgrace” compared to normal people thus treating all Ewells poorly because of their family name. Based on the examples above, Maycomb discriminates members of certain families compared

Prior to the Civil Rights Movement, most literary accounts of the South demonstrated that blacks were considered lower than whites, To Kill a Mockingbird explored classism as well as racial inequality. Atticus described the Ewells as, “the disgrace of Maycomb for three generations” (Lee 33). The town of Maycomb, Alabama, had a complex social hierarchy with the Finch family, being white, wealthy, and educated, were socially above the other white families in town. The farmers, like the Cunninghams, were less educated and thus below the townspeople. The Ewells were below the Cunninghams because of their immorality, lack of an education, and their unwillingness to work to improve themselves. Nevertheless, Bob Ewell was considered above the blacks, even they who were morally upstanding citizens. In contrast, Atticus describes the Finches as “not from run-of-the-mill people” (Lee 151) and the “product of several generations of gentle breeding” (Lee 151). For the most part, people during this time judged each other based on their lineage. Throughout the book the characters generalized about each other based on their surname and

The theme of racism in Maycomb is furthered through the Ewell family. The Ewells, being uneducated and at the bottom of the social hierarchy cannot find a clear distinction between their social class and the black’s, therefore turning to racism and insulting the black community to feel superior. Racial prejudice has been prevalent as a

Can you recollect a person that you resent 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 poverty-stricken White people that don’t contribute much to society and sometimes even degrade the society. 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

Famous philosopher Niccolo Machiavelli stated, “I’m not interested in maintaining the status quo; I want to overthrow it.” This is the mentality that everyone should strive to advocate. People uphold the status quo because they are comfortable within the community and fear that not abiding by it would lead to being outcasted by the community. Society is quick to judge others when they have a unbreakable mindset about a group someone may come from, the color of their skin, or who they associate with. In To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, many people are victims of prejudice in the town of Maycomb. Atticus Finch takes on case involving a black man accused of raping a white woman, and throughout the novel, the inhabitants of Maycomb are revealed to have prejudice views on numerous residents of the town. Maycomb exhibits long standing prejudice, which shows that people will ostracize others to maintain the status quo despite their individual morals.

To kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee has been banned by some school districts since its publication in 1960, but it is also loved and treasured as a classic “full of wisdom” (Greitens) by millions. It is a story of learning to accept others, learning to compromise, learning to be uncomfortable in certain situations. Governor Greitens of Missouri writes to his sons about To Kill a Mockingbird: “part of the wisdom of the book is how the characters respond to… troubling words. But you can’t appreciate their actions without feeling the discomfort. The author wanted you to wince.That kind of discomfort is how you grow….Discomfort is the warm-up act of growth.” Lee helps Scout, Jem, Dill, and readers grow through the themes of social expectations, rumors, and racism.

In life, all individuals form an identity that is shaped by the family in which they are raised. Proper morals, ethics, perspectives, and opinions shared by a family as a whole, are essential in the developing of a well mannered, sophisticated being. Opposite to this, family influence may shape an individual to be vulgar and discourteous, which certainly is not ideal. A poor family influence shapes an unhealthy identity, which may lead to future disorder and struggle for an individual. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, author Harper Lee illustrates through the Finches, the way in which an individual should be influenced by family. However, Lee also illustrates through the Ewells how individuals should not be influenced by family, and how a poor influence may lead to the destruction of identity.