Aleksandra Mitrovic Mrs. Bolton ENG 2D May 2, 2014 Appearances lie, but the truth only lies within in To Kill A Mockingbird Optical illusions can appear to be moving, but really are not. At a certain angle they seem different than in actuality. The same is true about people. It is part of human nature to self deceive as some do not necessarily see the truth from both the outside and inside of a person. On the surface appearances are misleading as it does not take any depth into consideration. In Harper Lee's novel "To Kill a Mockingbird" Scout, the protagonist innocence leaves her naive to the harsh realities of Maycomb. As she involves herself more with the town, people's true colours begin to unravel. Her eyes begin to open to the mirage of her pure life by rumors and actions of the people around her. Along with the verdict of Tom Robinson. Scout learns that reality is different than it appears through her unassuming neighbors, father and the trial. To begin with, Scout learns reality is not how it appears through her neighbors. Surely Mrs. Dubose is not as heartless as she first seems to be. Mrs. Dubose poses as a high maintenance old lady that interrogates Scout's and Jem's behavior on a daily basis. She seems callous and inhumane with her spiteful remarks about how she is an "ugly girl" (Lee 99) and how her "father's no better than the niggers and trash he works for" (Lee 102). After the destructive encounter with her precious camellia bushes and endurance of a reading punishment Scout sees her in a new light after her death. Despite her initial depiction of the fowl mouth of Mrs. Dubose she finds out that "She was the bravest person [Atticus] ever knew" (Lee112) and simply "died beholden ... ... middle of paper ... ...e not as fair as they seem to be. If the ones in power are blind to the evidence and only rule with racism the person will always be guilty of something. People's true character is hardly ever fair and hides their ignorance to do anything to get what they want. Not all of the characters, or circumstances are the way they first appear to Scout. In reality a person may look dangerous, and mean but can have a sweet soul deep down. The people in an individual's life can hold surprises about who they really are and sometimes situations are depicting. The author, Harper Lee of "To Kill A Mockingbird", expresses the contrast between appearance and reality through the eyes of Scout. People look different to others than how they truly are. Appearances lie, but the truth only lies within. Work Cited Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird. New York: Warner Books, 1982.
In 1960, author Harper Lee wrote a book titled “To Kill a Mockingbird”, which has become a well-known classic. The main theme of the story, represented various times, is the significance of empathy for others as well as recognizing evil and fighting against it. Jem and Scout both learn that their hometown is not as pleasant as they once thought, and that no one is truly evil unless if they make an attempt to change themselves.
To Kill A Mockingbird tells the story of a young girl, Scout, who comes of age and eventually comprehends that not all people are open-minded, or kind. Scouts interactions with other people help to shape her and allow her to accept that not everyone has the same thoughts and opinions as her. Scout and Jem’s interactions with Atticus help the reader clearly understand that he is a responsible, courageous, and non judgmental man.
One of the first lessons taught in Mockingbird is the power of understanding other people’s perspectives. Initially, Scout has trouble empathizing with other people, especially her first Grade Teacher, Miss Caroline, whom Scout becomes frustrated at for not understanding Maycomb’s complex social structure. After hearing his daughter complain, Atticus tells Scout that she'll “get along a lot better with all kinds of folks [if she] considers things from [their] point of view” (39). After ‘standing in the shoes of another person’, it is much harder to be prejudiced towards that person. Indeed, this may be because a key tenet of prejudice is disregarding the views of whoever is being judged. Nevertheless, it proves difficult for Scout to grasp this relatively simple concept, who begins to hear rumors of Boo Radley, an enigma who has not been seen outside his home for over 30 years. Thus begins Jem and Scout’s quest to make Boo Radley come outs...
To Kill A Mockingbird can be read as the story of a child's growth and maturation. Almost every incident in the novel contributes something to Scout's perception of the world. Through her experiences she grows more tolerant of others, learning how to " climb into another person's skin and walk around in it." On her first day of school she finds that there are both social and poor classes in society, some are respectable and others not. She also learns that her father is an extra-ordinary man, fighting for a Negro's rights in court. At the trial of Tom Robinson Scout learns about equality and inequality, about justice and injustice and finally about racial prejudice.
“‘Old Mr. Bob Ewell accused him of rapin’ his girl an’ had him arrested an’ put in jail---’” (Lee 164). To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, takes place in a settled town called Maycomb in Alabama. It is based during the early 1930’s when the Great Depression hit. Poverty reaches everyone from families like the Finches to the “white trash” Ewells. Soon the settled town Maycomb gets into conflict characterized by poverty, racism, and domestic violence.
I chose to write a thank you letter because it seem to fit my writing style. This fits my skills because I’m not a big writing person and this feels like it was the easiest for me to do. The easiest part about writing a letter is knowing the characters well enough that you can talk about their personality and how they have impacted Maycomb. The most challenging part is going to be citing the story at least 3 times because I’m not going to know exactly where a character said something or remembering an episode. This project will help me with improving my skills by learning how to write a more complex letter and with higher level words. I want to improve my skills on citing the text by going back and finding 3 or even more events or dialogues from
“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.” Harper Lee identifies many charcters in the beginning of this book. She was very descriptive of all the characters in the beginning of the book. Each character was described from Scout’s point of view. Throughout the book, Lee lets the reader see some of the characters in their natural environments. They are still written through Scout’s eyes, but instead of passing by them on the sidewalk, Scout is in their home sitting with them, or hearing personal stories about them. Three of these characters that Scout points out specifically are Jem Finch, Aunt Alexandra, and Tom Robinson.
In 1960, a novel was written to outline injustices and racism against those who were innocent, though unfairly judged because of social expectations and prejudiced beliefs. This novel not only presented these issues, but is also considered a revolutionary piece of literature, still being read by many people today, more than 50 years later. The novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, has caused some controversy about the intents of the book and the way certain people or groups are presented. Whether To Kill a Mockingbird as a narrative outshines the issue it presents is a debatable argument. However, I believe that the narrative of the novel supports the concerns exhibited for numerous reasons. In what follows, some of these are presented: the historical
Fortunate was I, to grow up in a rural community where almost everybody was the same. I blended in, was like almost all others. I have always felt I received a good education that prepared me fairly well for college and later family life. However, I had no idea how others in the world lived. I grew up in a nice part of town, where everybody I knew was married, middle-class, went to either the “big Lutheran” or Catholic church in town, and the vast majority had occupations relating to agriculture. Fast forward, I’m now a junior high social studies and science teacher living in that same small town. Here, a few ideals guide my teaching practice. The first is to instill a quality work ethic in the students; the second, to teach them to do
There are many books in the world that introduce the theme of prejudice using not only the racial standpoint, but also the way society looks at people as a whole. Not many of these books look at this touchy subject through the mind of a child. The book To Kill a Mockingbird takes that theme and runs with it. Harper Lee, the author of the book, decided to put aside all normal writing styles and take on a challenging and touchy subject of predigest and unjust in the norms of society from the eyes of the most innocent, children. The reason Lee decided to take this complicated viewpoint is to show the effects on a child’s behavior and the responses you could get out of such an impressionable mind. Writing in the eyes of a child also lets the reader get a new perspective in a way that the mind of an adult would not be able to understand. There are many examples of predigest in the eyes of a
To Kill a Mockingbird "I simply want to tell you that there are some men in this world who were born to do our unpleasant jobs for us. Your father's one of them." – Miss Maudie The quote above states that Atticus Finch was a man who did unpleasant things, but this quote is false. Miss Maudie had every good intention when she told Jem and Scout this and her point was taken in the way she intended it to be taken by the children. Her point could have been better worded if the portion that reads "our unpleasant jobs" were replaced with "what is right." Atticus did unpleasant things only because he knew that they were the right thing to do. Miss Maudie told the children about their father in this way only to avoid saying that the rest of the town was wrong.
This is because she experiences first hand of how the society conforms others to be racist and negative. The novel began with her point of view to be innocent and pure toward the society. Later on throughout the novel, she began to witness corruption in the town of Maycomb beginning with the trial of Tom Robinson and how others were treated differently, such as Dolphus Raymond. Scout learns the meaning of appearance vs. reality, a theme portrayed in the novel. The whole novel is based on Scout’s point of view because of her ability to view everyone equally without any hatred or resentment towards anyone. Jem tells Scout near the end of chapter 23, "I think I'm beginning to understand why Boo Radley's stayed shut up in the house all this time...it's because he wants to stay inside" (Lee 304). This represents how the townspeople of Maycomb are judgemental and filled with hatred toward each other that even Boo Radley, a character who is presumed violent, does not even want to take part in the society’s unethical way of mistreating others simply for living in their own skin. Throughout the novel, Scout has a glimpse of the society’s true nature, and uses the moral lessons she gathered from multiple characters in the novel and use it to assist her to become mature, understanding, and have an open
The illusion of innocence is deeply instilled in the outlook of children. Reality soon takes its grip as kids begin to grow and mature, and they lose their pure qualities that they have once possessed. Their father Atticus shelters Jem and Scout from the town’s disease, teaching them the act of sympathy and how to distinguish the good aspects over glaring at the imperfections of people. The loss of innocence portrayed in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is exposed as the lives of Jem, Scout, and Dill go through their racist and prejudice society, learning how the worlds dreamlike qualities is nothing more than just a childhood fable. The children’s judgment of people and society quickly sheds as Lee displays the harsh realities to Jem, Dill,
In the past, I have done reviews on John Adams, Rudy, Grease, and The Butler. For my fourth quarter movie review, I decided to watch To Kill A Mockingbird because I have already read the book and wanted to see the film adaptation of it. This movie focuses on the Finch family in the fictional town of Maycomb, Alabama around the time of the Great Depression. It is based off of the book of the same name by Harper Lee. Both focus on Scout and Jem Finch growing up in the deep South and struggling to figure out how to act in the world around them.
To Kill a Mockingbird “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view. Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it” (Lee 30). Atticus Finch teaches his children to look at life and people in a different way, and he also practices what he preaches to his children. By focusing on the coexistence of good and evil, the importance of moral education, and the existence of social inequality, one could argue to prove these points and how they form the themes of Harper Lee’s, To Kill a Mockingbird. Throughout the novel, readers see the good and the evil come out of most people.