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Use of symbolism to kill a mockingbird
Role of racism in killing a mockingbird
Use of symbolism to kill a mockingbird
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Reading a book such as “To Kill a Mockingbird”(TKMB) can help you realize the struggles of many different kinds of people during the Great Depression. The book TKMB, written by Harper Lee-July 11, 1960, takes place in Maycomb County during the Great Depression. The two main characters, Jem and Scout Finch, go on their adventure to coming of age. It is also centralized around symbolism and Atticus Finch’s struggles of being a lawyer, father, official, friend, and a well-known and important person of the town of Maycomb. The theme of “good vs evil” and the “righteous right and the wicked wrong” are present and is portrayed by many elements. Good vs evil, this is a dominant theme portrayed in the novel in the earlier stages of the book when both Jem and Scout are in their innocence. Jem and Scout learn that life is not pure and is stain with hatred, prejudice, segregation, evil. Jem learns about the evil of racial segregation and that it is portrayed in many different ways, whether it be people or through the notorious Jim Crow Laws. “Now don’t you be so confident, Mr.Jem, I ain’t ever seen any jury decide in favor of a colored man over a white man…” (Chapter 21 pg 279). On the other hand, Scout learns that there is good in all people and that the some rumors are false and can be considered evil in a sense. …show more content…
The main concept of this theme is to analyze the right and wrong, and what consequences come with either choice. Jem performs the wicked wrong by lying to Atticus about where they have been the night they went to the Radley’s, “We were playing strip poker,” (Chapter 6 pg 73). A righteous act is portrayed when Jem and Scout invite Walter Cunningham, of whom is povertised, to their house for dinner, “Come on home to dinner with us, Walter,” “We’d be glad to have you,” (Chapter 3 pg,
In addition, Scout learns about morality from Atticus after she is taunted at school. Cecil Jacobs begins giving Scout trouble at school because Atticus is defending a black man. Scout isn’t sure what he means by that or why it is such a bad thing, so she consults Atticus to learn more about the matter. Atticus explains to Scout that he is defending Tom Robinson, a black man, in a trial. Atticus says he has to do it although he knows he isn’t going to win, he says “‘ If I didn’t I couldn’t hold up my head in town, I couldn’t this county in the state legislature. I couldn't even tell you and Jem not to do something again’’’ (100). Atticus wants to fight for what he believes is right, even if there is almost no chance of him winning. In addition, Atticus asks Scout not to fight when someone makes comments about him or this case. Through Atticus actions, Scout learns to have integrity, even if it means making tough decisions. For example, Scout walks away from a
By providing a precise example of the times it is set in, To Kill a Mockingbird effects the readers opinions on today's society making them think of ways to better it. For example, in the novel, Lee describes what life in Maycomb, a southern town in Alabama, was like during the 1930's: “ a day was twenty-four hours long but seemed longer. There was no hurry, for there was no where to go, nothing to buy, and no money to buy it with...” ( Lee 6). People have a hard time imagining what life in a big depression was like, and this provides them with a description that not only helps the reader think about living during those times but broadens their knowledge about the history in general. This new insight helps them to see how far today's society has come and how many obstacles mankind has faced and overcome on their journey to today. In addition, Catherine Bernard explains through her book, Understanding To Kill A Mockingbird, that: “ While Lee's novel is set in the 1930's, the themes of discrimination and toleranc...
Through the development of Scout’s relationship with Arthur Radley, Scout develops and becomes more empathetic. Atticus Finch, Scout’s father, is her most consistent role model and used by Lee as the moral compass. Atticus is a firm believer in teaching by example, and his respect of his children is such that he treats them almost as adults, emphasised in the line ‘he played with us, read with us, and treated us with courteous detachment’ pg. 6. This refusal to shelter Scout from the harsh realities of life in Maycomb allows her to learn from experience. The strong moral guidance offered by Atticus allows Scout not only to learn from experience, but also to develop her personal integrity. Atticus exemplifies his strong beliefs, as illustrated when he says ‘Shoot
One thing that Scout learns is not to believe that everything she hears as the truth. This is a very good lesson because if you did, you become very confused because people can rarely agree on how a story went. For instance, when Scout wants to know more about Boo Radley, Stephanie Crawford gets excited because she sees this as an opportunity to open her mouth and goes on to tell Jem that, " she woke up in the middle of the night and saw him looking straight through the window at her .... said that his head was a skull" (13.) Then Jem goes further into what he heard by saying, " he dined on raw squirrel and any cats he could catch" (13.) This shows how the town compensates not knowing things about others by making up stories. Also Scout sees lies getting passed off as truth when Atticus takes on Tom Robinson as a client. Mean things are spread about Atticus and his credibility is questioned. Since Scout has a short temper and ears that hear everything she is easily offended at the comments that are said, such as the comment made by Mrs. Dubose, " Your father father's no better than the ni**ers and trash he works for." This angers Scout and Jem very much. It also shows that the town isn't happy with the moral decision's that Atticus makes and feel the need to bash him in unfair ways. Scout learns that if she keeps listening to what is said, she would go insane from not hitting anyone.
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.
The novel of To Kill a Mockingbird is set in the timeline and era of the 1930s which was synonymous for the renowned Great Depression. A tragedy in which social and economic change was urgently required yet old traditional beliefs and racial hierarchies including the Jim Crow laws were kept firm in position. These beliefs along with other aspects including behavior are clearly represented in the novel which leads the reader to infer that the time and setting of To Kill a Mockingbird is the 1930s. There are various methods and pieces of evidence that we draw upon that leads to the conclusion that the setting of the novel takes place in the
In the beginning of the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Scout Finch is a good-hearted, innocent five-year-old who has no experience with the evils of the world. However, throughout the novel, Scout has her first contact with the evils of the world in the form of prejudice. Arthur “Boo” Radley — one of the two cases — is a harmless human-being who falls victim to this evilness. Regarded as an evil person, Boo is the “ghost” of Maycomb and is used as the scapegoat for anything bad which happens. However, growing up in the house of Atticus Finch, Scout learns that humanity is evil at times, but there is also a lot of good humanity has to offer. Not only is there good, but what may seem evil at the time, if approached with an outlook
Effective Conventions Made : Research shows that children are more susceptible to commit crimes, develop depression and ___ psychological disorders from the effects of bad parenting. In fact, many people grow up treating others just like how their parents treated them with reference to their parents’ values, behaviours and attitudes. Harper Lee, an American author expressed her childhood experiences in Alabama through writing the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. This book makes a reference to how society views in the Great Depression (1930s) changed to be noticeably racist impacting the life of a widowed father and lawyer named Atticus and his children Jem and Scout. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee conveys that Atticus Finch is a great
As a result, this dramatic and deeply moving novel takes us into the world of Jem and Scout, in a journey that teaches both the characters and the readers about lessons in life that we witness everyday and learn from, growing and maturing, day by day. The main problems that were faced in the book were of: prejudice and hate, people judging others, and the inequality between the treatment of men and women. These are problems that are faced in places by people, everyday, even today, and together we must work to overcome these problems and unite, every person equal to any other.
Has evil always been around, or did man create it? One could trace evil all the way back to Adam and Eve; however, evil came to them, but it was not in them. When did evil become part of a person? No one knows, but evil has been around for a long time and unfortunately is discovered by everyone. In many great classics in literature evil is at the heart or the theme of the novel, including Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird. This classic book demonstrates the growing up of two children in the South and illustrates the theme of evil by showing how they discover, how they deal, and how they reconcile themselves to the evils they experience.
Jill McCorkle's Ferris Beach, a contemporary novel, shares numerous characteristics with Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, a novel written in the 1960's. Like To Kill a Mockingbird, McCorkle's novel documents the life of a young girl in a small southern town. The two narrators, Kate Burns and Scout Finch, endure difficult encounters. A study of these main characters reveals the parallels and differences of the two novels. Jill McCorkle duplicates character similarities and rape from Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird to show the reader how young girls think and develop.
In Harper Lee’s book “To Kill a Mockingbird” she takes on themes like social inequality, moral educations, and the existence of good and evil. In the book, Scout Finch, and her brother Jem Finch, learn through events like an unfair trial and a murder attempt on them, they learn that sometimes good and evil can often be disguised as the other. The first event that shows this theme in the book is the night after the lynch mob visited the jail to kill Tom. Mr. Cunningham was seen by the Finch family as a good person, but after he was seen as a part of the lynch mob, they changed their opinions. For example, these quotes show how Scout was confused why the Cunningham was at the lynch mob,“I thought Mr. Cunningham was a friend of ours.
To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, takes place in Maycomb Alabama during the Great Depression when racism was active, the stock market crashed, and asylums for the mentally ill were not sufficient. In To Kill a Mockingbird, the narrator named Scout Finch, her brother, Jem, and her father, Atticus, have multiple encounters with three characters dealing with three common issues found during the 1930’s. Tom Robinson is an African American man who was wrongly accused of rape solely because of the hatred towards African Americans during the 1930’s (“Historical Context”). The Cunninghams are a family of farmers living in the South who suffering from the stock market crash that began the Great Depression (“Historical Context”). Boo Radley is slightly
Growing up and maturing is a tough process, it’s an important process that is reoccuring throughout every human’s lifespan. It’s occurrence provides wisdom, a chance to improve and learn from mistakes that you may have regretted. To Kill a Mockingbird has survived for the lifespan of a novel as it is a masterpiece in the literature sector. It has taught many exceptional life lessons and provided remarkable words of wisdom throughout the numerous years that our society has grown. It is a novel written by Harper Lee in 1960, taking place in Maycomb, Alabama, from 1933 to 1955, during the years of the Great Depression, when poverty, unemployment and racism were widespread throughout the United States.
One of the many life lessons that Scout and Jem learn is that you can not judge people based on what you hear about