To Kill A Mocking Bird Essay
Many people as well as Suzanne Swan think that the novel To Kill A Mocking Bird is outdated and should not be taught in schools nowadays. However, she is incorrect. This old historical literature is very educational and useful for high school students. Even though some novels get put aside, they teach students a lot about our history and life lessons. To Kill A Mocking Bird has been the most popular novel taught in high schools all around North America since 1970. I believe this novel teaches us a lot about racism, prejudice, and the way different races were treated in the 1930’s.
To Kill A Mocking Bird is still relevant to many different people. Such as people who live in a small town or village,
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Discrimination, racism, prejudice, and maturity are just a few things taught throughout the novel and most of us will experience or have experienced throughout our lives. Aunt Alexandra does not allow Scout to play with Walter because he is lower class, poor white boy. “But I want to play with Walter, Aunty, why can’t I?” She took off her glasses and stared at me. “I’ll tell you why.” She said, “because-he-is-trash, that’s why you can’t play with him.” – Aunty Alexandra (pg.257) This is an example of how prejudice people were in the 1930’s because, she would not let her niece have some fun and be a kid with another kid in town just because he is white. This proves how wrong things were back then. Aunt Alexandra is a great example of prejudice throughout the novel. To Kill A Mocking Bird isn’t just about the racism and prejudice; there are great and memorable things and characters that develop throughout the novel. Atticus Finch, He is a father, brave, well rounded man, hero and role model for any man but particularly model of integrity for any lawyers. “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.” (pg.30)
To Kill A Mocking Bird is a fun novel to read and it is purposeful. The author Harper Lee wrote this novel to demonstrate the way people of the world should be living all together peacefully,
To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel of great sweetness, humour, compassion, and of mystery carefully sustained. The novel provides several literary devices, such as motifs, themes and symbols that help make a broader impact and understanding to the reader. To Kill a Mockingbird also, takes place in a poverty-spread time period, known as the Depression, and includes many powerful and symbolic messages that add onto the different ways the story can be considered educational, and why it should be in the grade ten english curriculum.
To Kill A Mockingbird is an important book that has continued to teach people about race and prejudice for over 50 years. Harper Lee’s message is the harsh reality of how prejudice is built into society and is one of the most important messages of the 20th and 21st centuries. This book teaches us to stand up to prejudice and spread more love. It teaches us to look at things from another person's point of view and to be accepting of those who are different from us. Even to this day we face issues involving prejudice such as police brutality, the achievement gap, homophobia, and equal
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee has been challenged/banned countless times since it’s original publication in 1960. The reasoning people could have behind banning it is that they feel that the racism, language and subject matter in the book is offensive, inappropriate, immoral and that it encourages and condones such things. To Kill a Mockingbird takes place in Maycomb, a small town in Alabama, during the depression from 1935-1937, and is told from the perspective of a little girl named Scout. In the book Scout’s father Atticus teaches her and her brother Jem many valuable lessons. The things Atticus teaches Scout and Jem are things we all need to know. To Kill a Mockingbird is an inspirational book that teaches valuable moral values,
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee has been banned and/or challenged over thirty times since its publication in 1960. Effectively preventing many students from enjoying the novel and benefitting from its message. To ignore racism is no different than denying it ever existed. To Kill a Mockingbird is appropriate for mature adolescence/students and should not be banned from schools. Despite its sexual related content, or profanity, a valuable lesson remains that should be taught to students.
In this essay I will be describing and telling you whether or not To Kill A Mockingbird should or shouldn't be taught in the 9th grade. To Kill A Mockingbird is a very good and intellectual book to read. It is a winner of the pulitzer prize and a wonderful book it talks about this family(Atticus, Scout, and Jem) back in the day when black people didn't have many right and privileges. They live in a little town called birmingham Alabama, the kids father is a lawyer and is defending a black guy(Tom Robinson) that got accused of Rape. The reason for the father (Atticus)defending this man is because he knows that Tom Robinson didn’t rape this girl. Overall this book shows how you should act toward someone if you know they are not guilty even if they are black(Everyone Is Equal). So in my opinion this book should be taught in the 9th grade because it shows how white people acted toward blacks back in the day.
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is a multi-faceted novel which explores the principles and morals of people in the South during the 1930s. Mockingbirds are symbolic of the people that society abuse. Lee narrates the events of the novel using Scout’s voice and uses this technique to add emotional context and develop themes. Themes of racial and classist prejudice are developed by Lee to challenge the reader. These techniques are all powerful ways to alter the views of the reader.
‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ by Harper Lee explores several different issues which are still relevant in today’s society. Harper Lee uses conventions within the novel to convey these ideas. The three main issues Lee explores are; Importance of Moral Education, Prejudice and Bravery and Courage.
Most the story in To Kill a Mockingbird is about a trial about a black man, Tom Robinson, being accused of raping a white woman, Mayella Ewell. There was not any evidence that Tom actually raped Mayella but since he was caught running away from the “crime scene” and he was black he was accused of rape. Mayella was not actually raped by anybody but beaten by her father when he found out that she wanted to be with a black man. Learning about the racism during the time period of the novel can help the students get a better feel for what it was like during the 1930s. Being educated about racism is important to teens because they are going to see it throughout their lives and by making them aware they are about the mistakes of the past, to not make the same mistakes in the future. Racism is a hard concept for most teens and people and by exposing teens to it early they are able fully understand the effects it has. This book is also relevant to society today because society still experiences racism and when teens are educated about it in high school they are more capable of making rational decisions about how to handle it. Racism is a touchy subject and by learning about it early in life teens will be able to get a full grasp of the effects it has on
To Kill a Mockingbird is as relevant today as it was in 1930; significant changes have occured since then, but we still have a ways to go. In the novel people people judged others depending on their social class. In the novel people looked at Mr.Dolphus who was upper class
“To Kill a Mocking Bird” is not only a great book but also a book that portrays a clear and concise message. This book is about the murder, immense persecution, and hatred towards an innocent man, Tom Robinson. This book Written by Harper lee is about a rape case against an African American man during the years of 1932 to 1935 in Maycomb, Alabama. These years were filled with racism, hatred, and segregation. A rape charge against a black man, Tom Robinson, with the victim being a white woman, Mayella Ewell, was ultimately a death sentence during these times no matter the actual truth to the incident or if it even occurred in the first place. This story portrays the truth of racism and the extreme level of tyranny directed towards African Americans. Lee lays out in detail the entirety of Tom Robinson’s case from the
Harper Lee completed the novel in 1957 and, after revisions, published it in 1960, just before the peak of the civil rights movement. John Hiett called it “a nuanced indictment of racism, [which] helped trigger the Civil Rights Movement and forced many Southerners to reexamine their attitudes.” While the critical responses to To Kill a Mockingbird were mixed: a number of critics found the narrative voice of a nine-year-old girl unconvincing and called the novel overly moralistic. It is a coming-of-age story focusing on the importance of empathy, perception, bravery, and acceptance and the book remains a staple of high school and college reading lists, beloved by millions of readers worldwide for its appealing depiction of childhood innocence, its scathing moral condemnation of racial prejudice, and its affirmation that human goodness can withstand the assault of evil. The novel has never been out of print and sells over a million copies each year (Sparknotes.com). This American classic, has been influencing readers for decades and will continue to do so.
The novel “[Deals] with pathetic loneliness, an accusation of rape, the strangely sexual content of bigotry, a complete failure of justice” (Gerson 2). These are mature topics that can make many uncomfortable. Additionally, teachers say they, “can teach the same lesson with other books,”(Nelson 1). Therefore, they believe if other materials can be used to convey the same learnings without making kids uncomfortable the other materials should be used. However, To Kill A Mockingbird confronts us with our history that can not be changed, and although the novel may make some kids uncomfortable that is not necessarily a bad thing. By being uncomfortable, one is forced to go beyond their comfort zone and forced to think for themselves. If children are shielded from the unfortunate prejudices and inequities of our past, they cannot learn from them, and we are at risk of them being repeated. To Kill A Mockingbird gives insight into American history and the language used during the 1930s, and although this history might make us uncomfortable, it is this uncomfortableness that will help us
Emily Noble Ms. Williams Advanced English II, 4th Period 15 May 2018 To Kill a Mockingbird Final Argument To Kill a Mockingbird was published longer than sixty years ago, and is still considered a huge hit, and a must read. People are curious as to why most students from 8th through 12th grade will be required to read, study, and be tested on Harper Lee’s novel. To Kill a Mockingbird is about a young girl and her brother who are faced with difficult situations when they realize racism in their town. To Kill a Mockingbird is still important to study in classrooms because it shows what life and racism was like in the 1930’s through a personal perspective of a child to make her circumstances more understandable through the readers eyes.
Classic works of literature often remain great because of their ability to teach generation after generation the same lifelong lessons. For example, Great Expectations by Charles dickens still teaches freshmen the same lesson it taught their parents and grandparents. To Kill a Mocking bird is certainly no exception, by integrating timeless characters in a coming of age novel that faces harsh challenges, Lee teaches five generations worth of readers that in the faults of justice close-minded people are often to blame. From Tom Robinson to the after math of Ferguson this theme is something we still see today.
Some believe that To Kill A Mockingbird is out of date, that it is no longer relevant and students cannot relate to it. To Kill A Mockingbird can relate to events that have happened not to long ago. An event happened at University of Massachusetts over racism. The NYPD has a long recorded of killing unarmed black men. Ferguson, Missouri has been through a lot in the past few weeks. To Kill A Mockingbird is still relevant to students today because racism still exists.