To Kill A Mockingbird Theme Essay

Understanding perspective is essential to understanding people. Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird presents this idea in multiple passages of her writing. It can be seen in the rough, unknown troubles that people face despite their wrongful actions. As well as the rumours that are untrue and give complete false impressions of people. Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird uses these topics to illustrate the dangers of judging others before getting to know them.

“Character development is what I value most as a reader of fiction. If an author can manage to create the sort of characters who feel fully real, who I find myself worrying about while I’m walking through the grocery store aisles a week later, that to me is as close as to perfection as it gets” (J. Courtney Sullivan). In 1960, Harper Lee published the novel To Kill a Mockingbird. It can be rather hard for an author to develop a well built fictional character. Although, Harper Lee does a marvelous job on creating characters. For instance, Scout is a little girl full of energy and is more of a tomboy than most girls. She’s always around her older brother Jem who is respectful, kind, and a gentleman like their father Atticus. Harper Lee did a

Throughout most novels, characters encounter obstacles or events that once faced change their lives for the better or worse. In this book, that obstacle is racism. This is evident in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird when ... ____________________. Due to... ____________________. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Dolphus Raymond, Tom Robinson and Bob Ewell each encounter racism in different ways; however, they all suffer as a result.

Perspectives can change beliefs in many ways. In Harper Lee’s novel ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’, Bob Ewell hears and sees Atticus defending Tom Robinson who is black, therefore, he believes Atticus ‘loves niggers’. Jem, Scout, and Dill have never seen Boo Radley come out at day and they hear rumors that Boo only comes out at night. People believe rumors and their perspectives until they get the truth and change their beliefs.

Scout, Jem, and Dill work many summers to try to get Boo to come out of the Radley house for the first time in many years. Jem had been told many things about Boo in his short years in Maycomb, and he tells his sister Scout about the ‘monster’, saying, “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 rotten; his eyes popped, and he drooled most of the time” (chap. 1). Jem’s ideas about Boo are very biased toward rumors that can be heard around Maycomb. This shows how Maycomb’s people often judge before they know, seeing as no one has seen Boo Radley in over twenty years and people are prejudiced to believing the unknown is always bad. Prejudice and rumors can often not be trusted and Boo Radley is no exception. After Miss Maudie’s house catches fire and half the town rushes outside to watch it burn, Atticus tells Scout, “someday you should thank him for covering you up” then Scout asks, “Thank Who?” And gets a response from Atticus, “Boo Radley. You were too busy looking at the fire, you didn’t even notice when he put the blanket around you” (chap. 8). Boo Radley is not really a bad person, he

“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”. Discuss this quote from Atticus in relation to 3 characters from the novel.

In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird a major theme is the loss of innocence. Whether from emotional abuse, racial prejudice or learning, Boo, Tom, and Scout all lose their innocence in one sense or another. The prejudice that each character endures leads to their loss. Through the responses of Boo, Tom, and Scout, Harper Lee shows how each character responded differently to their loss of innocence.

Scout includes that “just standing on the Radley porch was enough” for her to understand how Boo felt about her and the others in the community (374). By standing on the porch and taking in what she had missed, Scout shows the courage that it takes to accept reality. She leaves her sheltered depiction of the world behind and begins to realize that the world is different to everyone. This truly shows the maturity that he did not have at the beginning of the novel. Scout’s actions at the end of the novel shows that she grows and is affected by courage throughout this

“Suddenly he was jerked backwards and flung on the ground, almost carrying me with him” (Lee 350). To save the kids, Boo jumps upon an attacker who tries to kill Jem and Scout, and stabs him in the back. Boo Radley, a man rumored as weird and reclusive, unexpectedly saves Jem and Scout, showing a sudden change in character, which proves that appearances don’t make a man. “Will you take me home?” (Lee 372). Meekly, Boo asks Scout to take him home after he saved them from the attacker. First portrayed as eerie, then as heroic, Boo discloses his true shy and timid personality. Lee uses Boo’s unexpected bashfulness as yet another unanticipated switch in character, which helps uphold the unreliability of first impressions. His stupefying debut to protect Jem and Scout from an attacker and his unforeseen timid personality authenticates Boo Radley’s startling shifts in character as part of the novel’s theme: initial manifestations frequently

As she explains this, it is becomes clear that Scout’s perspective of Boo Radley has changed. Boo radley isn’t the monster Scout thought he was, but

In Shankara’s Crest-Jewel of Discrimination, many themes of liberation are illustrated to show and expose the different aspects of liberation. Shankara was an incredible Hindu philosopher from the 7th century who wrote about his beliefs and liberation. Through this book, Shankara connects many themes and ideas to show the power of liberation and what it means to an individual.

The first book that Harper Lee wrote have very powerful themes. A theme makes a story good. The author picks the important themes and make a good story. A story can have many different themes, for example in her novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” there are many themes that make up the story. Some of these are Prejudice, Education, Growing Up, Innocence, the Mockingbird theme and a lot more.

     In my opinion theme with the most impact in 'To Kill a Mockingbird" is Hypocrisy as shown in three main incidents . These are the teachings of Ms Gates about the atrocities of Adolf Hitler whilst she hated blacks ; the missionary circle trying to show how Christian they are while believing that to be a brother of Christ you must be white and finally the hypocrisy of the American court system in the 30's by saying they stand for justice.

In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird, the mockingbird represents innocence and how Tom Robinson and Boo Radley are both guiltless people, who don’t intend to harm anyone. In this captivating novel, Boo Radley is seldom seen exiting his home, thus leaving the impression on children that he is terrifying. Atticus shows Scout that Boo is actually a kindhearted person. In the novel, Atticus talks to his daughter Scout about a mysterious blanket that was found on her after watching a neighbor's house fall down in flames, “...Boo Radley. You were so busy looking at the fire you didn't know it when he put the blanket around you.”(Lee 96). This reveals that Boo is a generous person and that he shouldn’t be harassed because

Many authors portray their literary works as microcosms for greater aspects of society, often relating them to universal themes. A theme is a central topic which conveys a meaningful message and is supported by many points in the work. Common themes include: “Coming of age”, “Experience is wisdom”, and “Everything is not what it seems”. In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, author Harper Lee uses characterization to make a claim that humbling oneself and maintaining good manners keeps one’s integrity and can bring great things. Lee also illustrates the effect of doing just that versus its antithesis. Lee presents the character Bob Ewell as the anomaly of this claim to best demonstrate the contrast between being hostile and respectful. Additionally, Lee uses Atticus as a classic representation of a gentleman through his life as a hard-working father, skilled lawyer, and contributing citizen of Maycomb County despite the criticism that he