To Kill A Mockingbird Perspective Essay

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The Importance of Perspective in To Kill A Mockingbird

In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee includes many contrasting perspectives that provide an understanding into each character’s attitude as well as what was anticipated of people at the time. The book is the story of a young girl, Jean Louise, her father, Atticus and brother, Jem, in a small town called Maycomb, which is racially segregated during the time of the great depression. As Jean Louise, otherwise known by her nickname Scout, reflects on her childhood with her brother, Jem, the reader is able to see and hear the story as she relives the events in her memory. Scout tells the story around the time she was almost six years old, and she is living with her ten year old brother, Jem, and her father Atticus, “the lawyer who defends Tom Robinson” (Saney). The quarrels between characters regarding racial oppression and gender roles throughout the novel cause tension and uproar in the town, as each person has their own perspective on a situation. The novel opens with Jean Louise reflecting on past events with her brother Jem, and it leads into the first perspective of a child against the adult perspective. …show more content…

The novel’s narrator, Scout, gives the reader insight into the point of view of a child contrasted by adult perspectives, as well as Jem and Scout giving the reader a view of male against female, and finally the case of Tom Robinson and Mayella Ewell shows us the white and black perspectives. The contrasting perspectives allow the reader to see the reasons for the characters acting out in certain ways, allowing for the ability to relate to characters. Harper Lee raises the question, What is the right way to raise our children in America?, as she discusses the morals that children are given in the

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