‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ is a novel that helps us view the world from a new perspective, by showing the audience that there is more to a person (or place) other than its outer appearance. Through great courage and empathy, we can build a picture and conclude that there are various dimensions that lie beyond a first glance. Through characters empathizing with one another, Harper Lee not only constructs a better image for the audience but shows them how there is more beneath a surface. By getting the characters to build an understanding for one another, we learn from watching their perspectives and their choices- how there are extra details that are missed. Maycomb is a small town that, at first, seemed like a very pleasant place. Everyone knew each other, they spoke casually like neighbours and it seemed like a perfect town. There was the typical old grumpy lady around the corner, the poor family, the outcasts, the spooks of the town- a good variation and everyone had a solid reputation. In the novel the narrator is Scout, a child. This helps us to fully grasp the knowledge about each and every character, as she learns about what is hidden, we do too. In one scene, Scout complains about Mrs Dubose being too cranky and how what she says is awfully nasty. While trying to explain Mrs Dubose’s condition Atticus gives Scout a piece of moral advice, saying that ‘You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view . . . until you climb into his
Many of the novel’s characters are highly relatable. Whether the readers inherit the role of Scout, Atticus, Tom, or Boo while reading, it affects everybody. Finally, Lee’s novel has obtained its continuous fame for over fifty years due to the fact that it teaches important life-changing lessons including the ‘killing’ of mockingbirds. A mockingbird symbolizes an innocent and harmless creature that has been a victim of prejudice or hate.
Strength doesn’t come from what you can do. It comes from overcoming the things you once thought you couldn’t.”
The novel To Kill A Mockingbird is successful in delivering the story in a manner that captivates the audience. The story began by setting the scene, mood and also by introducing each character, which familiarized the reader with the environment. The author wrote the story in a manner that flowed with real life events of a time relative to the story, such as the segregation, racism and any financial struggles. It also did well to give each character a realistic mindset and reactions based on each person’s respective characterization. In a similar way, the story was written from the perspective of Scout, and the story was effectively narrated with the innocence and a lesser knowledge coming from someone of her age. Additionally, the story did a particularly good job at introducing details that were important to the story as it progressed so there were no surprises based on a sudden law change, for example. This aided in building the story to its climax, and other peaks of action. Each element to the story worked in sync to maneuver easily through the plot in a well thought out and executed story.
Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is the greatest novel to Teach kids about diversity and the complex relationship with racism. It details the life of Jem and Scout, two siblings who grow up in a time of racial inequality and unrest. Jem Finch is what most would call a typical young boy; fascinated with sports, guns, and being tough. Scout Finch, on the other hand, is an Atypical tomgirl, tough enough to handle anything that comes her way. Yet, both of their childhoods are different from many of their friends and families that live in the town of Maycomb. Harper Lee creates these characters to portray the internal and external conflict that many young adults encounter when their morals clash with the cultural norm. We see that " you really don't understand a person till you climb into his skin and walk in it" (lee 30) Through Jem’s and Scout’s voice and characterization, Lee reveals how average day kids can change the course of people’s live.
“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.
Most readers portray Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird as a novel of social injustice and racial prejudice. However, the novel is so much more than just those two central themes. The power of the story is held in the way it is told and who tells it. It is told through the innocent yet mature point of view of a young girl named Jean Louise "Scout" Finch, who recalls memories from her childhood in Maycomb, Alabama, during the peak of racial tensions. In these memories her brother Jem, their friend Dill, and herself encounter two characters that completely change the way each of them view others and the world around them.
“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.
Through the eyes of scout (Harper Lee), Tom is the very personification of good being destroyed by evil. The purpose of the book is to criticize the prejudice between the African Americans toward the white Americans. Lees purpose is also to criticize how society judges and makes stereotypes towards people or groups without understanding the person, this is represented by what Scouts Father, Atticus said to her “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”. Harper Lee creates a commentary on the injustice of social/racial inequality that occurred during these times this, therefore, helps the reader look past the façade of race and colour of skin and instead think about the goodness within a person. The author uses the metaphor of the now iconic Mockingbird to represent and or comment on the distasteful prejudice which was so present in America in at the time. The purpose of the book is to inform but also to educate the reader about the removal of ignorance and stereotyping which is something that even today many people face, the unsafe and perilous town of Maycomb is the representation of what a town/society with ignorance and prejudice would be like. This represents the purpose that the author was trying to portray throughout the book which is to explore the race relations between African Americans and White Americans in the south of the US in 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
In the book To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee, has created a complex story about racism, prejudice and family. Many have argued about the main, underlying message,but the message that resonates with me is about the necessity of character development and change influenced by society. Harper Lee shows us this through the eyes of a young girl who doesn't know much about the world and her views are ever changing. The author’s message is delivered to us through a mixture symbols, metaphors and a wide array of diction.
The vital themes explored in Harper Lee 's ‘To Kill a Mockingbird ' are still as relevant and confronting to the young adults of today as it was to the novels young central characters, Scout and Jem Finch. Through Lee 's understanding of the context, exhibited by her precise depiction of a prejudiced town, we are able to gain an authentic insight into the general disposition of the town and the unspoken codes and values of the people that make the prejudices in Maycomb so prominent and accepted. We see the growth in understanding and maturity in the children as they come to realise the hidden darkness in their hometown, as a result of the killing of Tom Robinson following the unjust court case. Scout and Jem 's altruistic father, Atticus Finch, demonstrates the values of courage and morality in the small but greatly prejudiced town of Maycomb. The themes of context, growing up, prejudice and courage studied in this novel appeal to young adults because they are still appropriate, as well as confronting, in our time.
Harper Lee sends many messages to the readers over the course of the book. They are hidden in the life lessons that Scout and Jem both learn, and Atticus’s advice to his 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.
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.