Literary Elements In To Kill A Mockingbird

In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Lee leaves the reader astonished as she takes them on a journey to the past teaching people life lessons and using her writing to establish an emotional connection to the characters as the different events occur. The novel To Kill a Mockingbird was published on July 11, 1960. The author Lee Harper uses a variety of literary elements to write a novel that won not only the heart of America but the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction award as well. In the story a young girl, her brother and a new friend that they meet in their early childhood learn unforgettable life lessons. They experience the harsh realities that occurred during that age in time, and they felt as well as started to understand the importance

of family. By the end of the story the three children mature into teens and their perspective on other people and the world is changed. After reading and allowing Harper Lee to take the reader on a journey to a different time and place, the reader can say that their opinion on the novel To Kill a Mockingbird is that it was heart-warming and that it changed their perspective on life and history. The author used the literary elements setting, flashback and symbolism to take the reader into a different time era.
The use of the setting in Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird helped the story and the characters to come to life. By using the time and place to write this, it helps the story and the characters to come to life by turning it into something more realistic. For example, an author wouldn’t write a story about dinosaurs in the year 2000. It doesn’t make sense because it wasn’t possible for dinosaurs to exist in the year 2000, they were already extinct by then. It helps for the story to be realistic because it establishes a deeper emotional connection between the reader and the author. The reader can find the year that the Finches were living in when Atticus says, “There is a tendency in this year of grace, 1935, for certain people to use this phrase out of context, to satisfy all conditions” (274). This is a quote from Atticus while he was making the closing statement during the Tom Robinson trial. Although the year was never really mentioned throughout the story, Atticus refers to the year that they were currently in as 1935. The author writes, “There are no clearly defined seasons in South Alabama; summer drifts into autumn, and autumn is sometimes never followed by winter, but turns to a days-old spring that melts into summer again.” (79) The narrator, an adult version of Scout, acknowledged the place that she called home as Maycomb County in South Alabama. The author uses the setting to provide a clear example of an event that was very common and very likely to have occurred during that place and time. While reading the novel it is understood that the Finches reside in South Alabama during the 1930’s. One of the biggest national events in the 1930’s was the Great Depression. Many people were out of work and money was scarce, just like how in the book the farmers were poor and money was hard to come by. We also know that in the 1930’s racism was still seen throughout the country, especially in the South where most of the white people had no problem treating colored people as lesser individuals. Scout resides in South Alabama which explains why racism was one of the biggest themes in this story. In 1932, a trial known as the Scottsboro boys trial was brought to attention. Nine boys who were looking for work were accused of raping two white women on the train. Although the nine boys were innocent and the two ladies later on admitted that the men hadn’t assaulted them, the nine boys were still either put to death or imprisoned. Events like what had happened in the novel to Tom Robinson did occur in real history, and the Scottsboro boys are an example of that. We also know that Tom Robinson’s trial occurred in the year 1935, which was still before laws were enforced to ensure the equality of all men and women.
One of the first things that the reader understand about the novel To Kill a Mockingbird is that it is one big flashback. The author uses this technique all throughout the story. “When enough years had gone by to enable us to look back on them, we sometimes discussed the events leading to his accident.” (3) “When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow.” (3) These two experts from the novel are examples of how the narrator started the whole story as a flashback. In the beginning of the story, the reader can understand that this story is basically one flashback on the narrator, Scouts, life. The author looked back a few years to her early childhood to tell a story about how her brother Jem had broken his arm. The way that the author was able to create a smooth transition throughout the story between the past and the present was well done. The flashbacks also gave the reader a feeling like the story was a mystery. The reader understands that they are reading about Scout and the events that occurred throughout her childhood, and they are able to understand it is a flashback that they are reading about. However, it is hard for the reader to see the bigger picture. Where were all of these events leading to? How is this relevant to understand how her brother broke her arm? The mystery of the flashbacks is what keeps the reader interested in the story and makes them want to keep reading to find out what will happen. Once the reader finishes the novel, there is a bittersweet feeling and the author leaves the reader with a new connection to the different characters after going through the emotional rollercoaster that the plot takes them through.
Symbolism is used throughout the whole novel of To Kill a Mockingbird.

Even the title of the novel is a symbol that the reader has to think about with careful consideration in order to understand. “Your father’s right,” she said. “Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don’t eat up people’s gardens, don’t nest in corncribs, they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” (119) Miss Maudie when asked about her opinion on why it was a sin to kill mockingbirds says that they do not cause any problems to anyone. Actually they do the exact opposite. Their purpose in life is to sing and bring joy and music to the world. “He likened Tom’s death to the senseless slaughter of songbirds by hunters and children, and Maycomb thought he was trying to write an editorial poetical enough to be reprinted in The Montgomery Advertiser.” (323) Mr. Underwood thought of Tom being shot seventeen times as a senseless slaughter. He compares it to the killing of songbirds by hunters and children. It is a symbol comparing Mr. Tom Robinson to a songbird and the Ewell’s and the guards that shot Tom as the hunters and the children. There was no point to killing him, there was no reason to kill him. When the reader thinks about the title and the deeper meaning behind the words to kill a mockingbird, they start to realize there is something more to that. If they are not really thinking about the title, then they start to wonder why the author used that title when the book wasn’t even about birds. When the reader first made a prediction about what the story would be about they said about mockingbirds. In Miss Maudie’s description of why it is a sin to kill a mockingbird, the reader gets the idea that mockingbirds are innocent and don’t do anything to hurt anyone. They can start to feel as though this represents the characters in the story that are known as innocent. They don’t see the bad, only the good. Some of

these characters who can be compared to mockingbirds are Scout, Jem, Dill, Atticus, Heck Tate and Judge Taylor. The title of this novel is meaning that someone killed the innocence. Somebody killed the belief in the good. One of the hardest parts to read was when Atticus lost the trial and reading about how hurt Jem was. Throughout the trial he listened to the evidence and knew that there was no way Tom did that and he really thought they had won. So when they lost and Tom was convicted as guilty, Jem was heartbroken over how a jury could convict an innocent man. To kill a mockingbird is to kill innocence which was the outcome of the trial and of this book.
Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird is a heart-warming novel and it changes a person's perspective on life and history. The literary elements that Lee uses during this essay was setting, flashbacks and symbols. Her use of the different literary elements made her story so much more interesting to read and when it is compared to other novels that puts her at an advantage over other authors. To Kill a Mockingbird is a book that should be continued to use as a literary piece to educate people of all ages. Reading this book and being able to escape from reality from a moment to experience what life was like for people during that time really can change a person's perspective on the past and they are able to start to understand more about what kind of events had occurred. Nobody really knows about how unjust the court system was during the time when colored people were looked down upon. After reading this novel the reader starts to have a better idea. When people look back on history and how cruel some people were treated, sometimes it feels so unreal. It almost seems over-exaggerated because of how hard it is to believe that people can be that horrible to one another. But reading this book teaches the reader that what had happened was unfair, but it was also expected because that was just the way life went. No one was surprised by the outcome of the trial because they knew that a colored man had no chance against a white one. It is amazing and leaves the reader speechless when comparing events that occur today and the events that have occurred in the past. This novel leaves the reader to question their morals and their outlook on life. Lee influences you to want to be kind to all and to be better than humankind in the past.