In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper, society’s darker aspects are drawn out on the form of racism and violence forced on two small children in Maycomb, Alabama during the 1930s who are going through great change in their lives and their country. As the story develops, Scout, the main character, has perceptions that change as time passes. Calpurnia, the family’s black maid, seen as mean and unfair in the beginning, and is seen in the end as someone with considerable skill and intellect. Atticus, her father is introduced as someone who seems old and simple and is later seen as very skillful and wise. In the beginning of the novel, Scout believes that Calpurnia is very mean because she does not let Scout get away with anything, and at …show more content…
When Scout is younger, in the early chapters of the novel, she thinks that Atticus cannot do anything impressive. When in conversation with Miss Maudie, Scout hears “Did you know he [Atticus] can play a Jew’s Harp?” and the novel then reads “This modest accomplishment served to make me even more ashamed of him”(Lee 120). Scout doesn’t understand the significance of her father’s skills because she is focusing on the skills that would be more pertinent to herself. When she is younger, she does not have the maturity to understand the real skills Atticus has. Going forward from this point, Scout begins to see that Atticus does have skills that impress her. After Atticus skillfully shoots Tim Johnson, Miss Maudie asks Scout “Still think your father can’t do anything? Still ashamed of him?” which is followed by “ ‘Nome’ I said meekly”(Lee 129). There are many things Scout still does not know about her father that can impress her because she is truly amazed by this feat, which is shown in the meekness of her reply. Scout also still lacks the understanding of her father’s more important skills because she is only impressed by his skill with a gun. As Scout begins to really mature near the end of the story, she begins to feel Atticus’ influence and how his true skills impact herself and her surroundings. After making a mistake at the country pageant, Scout is comforted by her brother, Jem, and she thinks “Jem was becoming almost as good at Atticus at making you feel right when things went wrong”(Lee 347). Scout is taking notice of her father’s skills and their effects because she remarks on how Atticus, and now Jem, make her feel good which would have been passed over in the earlier chapters. She is also noticing his skills in her surroundings because it is not Atticus
By utilizing character foil between Aunt Alexandra and Atticus, Lee was able to illustrate a contrast within the white society. In order to show how a typical white person would behave during that time, Lee introduces Aunt Alexandra to portray how most white people would act in Maycomb. “You all were coming back from Calpurnia’s church that Sunday? (Lee, 1960, p. 222)” This quote exemplifies how Aunt Alexandra is always discriminated against black people. She was shocked to hear about Jem and Scout going to black church with Calpurnia. While Calpurnia is portrayed as a well-mannered person who acts like a mother to Scout and Jem in this novel, Aunt Alexandra looks down on Calpurnia, because she was born with different skin color. In response to Calpurnia’s action, she told Atticus, “...you’ve got to do something about her... (Lee, 1960, p.224)” to discrete herself and to prevent Calpurnia from being in the same social class as her. While Aunt Alexandra symbolizes as a racial prejudice in this novel, Atticus is one of the characters that represents both a...
Childhood is a continuous time of learning, and of seeing mistakes and using them to change your perspectives. In the book To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee illustrates how two children learn from people and their actions to respect everyone no matter what they might look like on the outside. To Kill A Mockingbird tells a story about two young kids named Scout and her older brother Jem Finch growing up in their small, racist town of Maycomb, Alabama. As the years go by they learn how their town and a lot of the people in it aren’t as perfect as they may have seemed before. When Jem and Scout’s father Atticus defends a black man in court, the town’s imperfections begin to show. A sour, little man named Bob Ewell even tries to kill Jem and Scout all because of the help Atticus gave to the black man named Tom Robinson. Throughout the novel, Harper Lee illustrates the central theme that it is wrong to judge someone by their appearance on the outside, or belittle someone because they are different.
Scout is a young girl growing up in the south, she is intelligent, thoughtful, and good natured. Her identity is somewhat uncommon during the time she lives in. She is characterized as a tomboy, who doesn’t always act “lady like” or proper by southern standards. Scout most likely became the type of person she is by the care of her father, Atticus. He shapes her mind, while trying to protect her from a dangerous world and preserving her childhood.
In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird three characters, Scout, Jem, and Atticus Finch, experience the many hardships and difficulties of human inequality in their community, Maycomb County. Scout, the narrator, gives insight to readers about the many different characters of Maycomb, yet two are alike in many ways. Mayella Ewell is a 19-year-old girl who is considered white trash and lacks education, love, and friends. Dolphus Raymond is a wealthy white man who is married to an African-American and has mixed children. Although these characters may seem different, they share many of the same advantages and disadvantages of human inequality.
In the 1930’s many African American men were wrongly accused of rape and murder. The issue of racism is brought up in the book “To Kill a Mockingbird” when Scout overhears her teacher saying that it's a great thing that this is happening to Tom Robinson because the black men are getting too comfortable thinking that they’re mighty. Racism didn’t only affect Tom Robinson, but it also affected those who supported him. The lives of Scout and her family are changed when Scouts father who is a lawyer, steps in and defends Tom Robinson. Atticus’ lawsuit affects Scout and his children in several ways. As kids who were raised to respect everyone, and not judge people by their race they seem to be the outcast in school because of this. The children in Scouts, school are not accustomed to people respecting African-Americans and as a result they taunt and harass Atticus’ children. As a result of the violence towards Scout, Scout responds to violence with violence. However, Atticus is not happy with the way Scout is handling her problems. Racism is a reoccurring theme throughout the course of the story and affects all of the main characters in several ways. Maycomb as a whole is affected because of racism and many become outcasts such as in Mrs.Dolphus Raymond's
The novel "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee is a simplistic view of life in the Deep South of America in the 1930s. An innocent but humorous stance in the story is through the eyes of Scout and Jem Finch. Scout is a young adolescent who is growing up with the controversy that surrounds her fathers lawsuit. Her father, Atticus Finch is a lawyer who is defending a black man, Tom Robinson, with the charge of raping a white girl. The lives of the characters are changed by racism and this is the force that develops during the course of the narrative.
In the opening chapters of “To Kill A Mockingbird,” Harper Lee introduces several subtle instances of racism. However, when Jem and Scout are welcomed into Cal’s Church in chapter 12, the reader really gets to travel behind the false disguise of Maycomb County’s white society to see the harsh realities of the injustices suffered by the blacks. The black community is completely separate from the whites -- in fact, Cal lives in a totally different part of town!
The influence Atticus brings upon Scout is noticeable throughout the story. She changed her fighting self to a more passive and reasonable child. Although the story is told from a child’s point of view, which could completely change how Atticus is seen by the reader, Atticus throughout the story is a moral, and good person who would not be seen in the South at this time. Through To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee develops the character of Atticus Finch and shows his morality and nobility. Works Cited Althouse, Ann.
One of the reasons why Scout and Jem admire Atticus is because of his talents. In the beginning of the novel, Scout and Jem believed that Atticus had no talents or abilities and that he was just a normal man. Later on in the novel, they started to realize that Atticus is actually full of skills and abilities and was trying not the show them. “‘You’d be surprised’ said Miss Maudie. ‘There’s life in him yet.’” In this quote, Miss Maudie tells Scout that Atticus may seem old, but he has many talents that he hasn’t shown her. Scout was surprised to hear this because she thought that Atticus wasn’t able to do much because of his age. This lead Scout to start admiring Atticus because of his proposed talents. The next quote is another occasion where
Scout does not heed Atticus’ advice in Chapter 4 of To Kill a Mockingbird, as she continues to express her biased hatred for Calpurnia, and also openly contradicts Jem, without considering the perspectives to which they are taking. As stated by Harper Lee, “...Calpurnia’s tyranny, unfairness, and meddling in my business had faded to gentle grumbling of general disapproval (45)”. This quote expresses the many ways Scout thinks of Calpurnia, a great many of which as terrible and controlling. This biased description of Calpurnia shows how Scout is still unable to understand why Calpurnia consistently disciplines her, and from what standpoint she is doing so. Also stated by Lee, “Jem stamped his foot. “Don’t you know you’re not suppose to even
Scout looks up greatly to Atticus and will defend him even at her own cost as she has a deep respect for him. Atticus is a crucial figure when it comes to
The story “To Kill a Mockingbird” is about Scout Finch and her family and how they are affected throughout the court case of Tom Robinson. In chapters 12-15 of the novel Atticus is preparing for the court case of Tom Robinson. Aunt Alexandra also decided that she is going to stay with them for a while so she could give Scout and Jem a “feminine influence”. Jem and Scout go to church with Calpurnia and Aunt Alexandra doesn’t like it. Dill shows up after running away from home because he says his parents aren’t paying enough attention to him. Aunt Alexandra tries to push Atticus into getting rid of Calpurnia but Atticus refuses. A group shows up outside their house and talk with Atticus. Atticus goes to Tom Robinson's cell and the kids follow.
To Kill A Mockingbird is a novel of a young girl named Jean Louis (aka Scout) and her journey of growing up as an attorney’s daughter. Scout, her father Atticus, and her brother Jeremy (aka Jem) live in a small backwoods town of Alabama called Maycomb. Atticus tries his hardest to teach them what he believes is right, but since his wife's death, he has had trouble raising them on his own. He decided to hire an African-American housekeeper named Calpurnia. Calpurnia, along with a few other women, teach Jem and Scout many lessons to help them through life.
The novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee is about a family of three including their black cook Calpurnia. They live in a town called Maycomb in Alabama. Atticus Finch the widowed father is a lawyer and is outgoing, kind, and true to himself. This book is a very popular book throughout many states in America because this book tells a meaningful message. Atticus teaches his two kids Jem and Scout to always do the right thing no matter what the situation is. Harper Lee uses the character of Atticus Finch to teach values and beliefs from seeing things from another point of view, to do what is right all the time and to be integrative to yourself.
She and Scout get in a little fight about manners when they invited Walter Cunningham to dinner after school one day. Calpurnia fussed at her and told her she needed to quit talking and eat in the kitchen if she didn’t want to stop being rude. Scout takes that in offense and decides to be super stubborn and only talk to her if she had to and in a rude voice. This end in Calpurnia making up with her and apologising to Scout. Scout was confused and first not knowing what Calpurnia was doing as she said, “She had wanted to make up with me, that was it” (Lee 38).