Similarities Between To Kill A Mockingbird And Tkam

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Introduction


Historical context comparison

‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ (TKAM) is a book that explores multiple social issues at the time the story takes place in. It was published in 1960 and set in 1936. The story took place when the author, Harper Lee, was 10 years old. This was an age close to that of both Jem and Scout throughout the novel. This allowed the author to really capture the themes portrayed in the book, as they would have been at the time but through the eyes of a child. Despite TKAM being a work of fiction many of the acts of prejudice and racism did really occur in those times. Not only did black men have less rights and were seen lower than the lowest white man. If a black man did something wrong, like in the book, mobs would …show more content…

In TKAM many times the quote “It is a sin to kill a mockingbird” comes up and many of the characters have been identified as mockingbirds since it was first released. The main mockingbirds being Tom Robinson and Arthur “Boo” Radley these characters like mockingbirds “Don't do one thing but make music for us to enjoy… they don't do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That's why it's a sin to kill a mockingbird." To paraphrase it is wrong to put harm towards someone who has done no wrong himself. Despite no wrong being performed by either Tom or Arthur, due to circumstance both of them are treated unequally to the ret of the population. Despite the concept of the mockingbird originating in TKAM, TBT also contains characters sharing the trait of the mockingbirds. Being set in Nazi Germany during the holocaust entire groups of people, especially Jews, could be seen as Mockingbirds however the story focuses on the character of Liesel, a little girl with communist parents who steals literature banned by the Nazi party. As well as Liesel, Max, a Jew hiding in her foster home from the Nazi’s could also be considered a Mockingbird. Both are either mocked, or in Max’s case hunted down due to what ‘category’ they were born into or what they do and/or believe in. Even Rudy is pushed down for making himself black to be more like Jesse Owens, a black American who won four gold medals in the 1936 Olympics held in Germany. Hitler was not pleased with Owens' triumph, but Rudy definitely was. To Rudy, black was beautiful, seeing past the propaganda surrounding him even at a young

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