Imagine everything was perfect. Not a single person had any problems. Now imagine everything wrong in the world. In Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, a little girl grows up without a mother. The little girl, who prefers to be called Scout dresses up in overalls. In this time period most girls are expected to wear dresses. Scout’s father, Atticus, brings her up in his beliefs, no matter who tells him differently. In their hometown Maycomb County, people are extremely judgmental. Scout, along with her family, must defeat evils of racism, oppression of women, and getting through the struggles of growing up. Some could say that racism is humanity’s greatest problem. Racism is an extremely touchy topic. People try their best not to be …show more content…
There is plenty of racism in Maycomb County. White people treat black people with disgust. “ I don’t know, but they did it. They’ve done it before and they did it tonight and they’ll do it again and when they do it- seems that only children weep”(Lee 285). This quote is talking about how a jury convicted an innocent black man of a crime he did not commit. All of the white folks are overjoyed that the black man will possibly be put to death. In the quote it mentions that only children weep. This is to bring up the fact that only the children of Maycomb understand how terrible this is. Aunt Alexandra is holding a missionary tea in the Finch’s house. The ladies involved in this missionary are well-intentioned, although several racist comments are aforesaid. The ladies involved in this are trying to help children in Africa, though they have African - Americans in their town. The Africans in their town are treated with almost no respect.“If we just let them know we forgive ‘em, that we’ve forgotten it, then this whole thing’ll blow over”(Lee 310). When “them” is mentioned in this quote, they are talking about the Africans. The ladies are saying that the white folks have forgiven …show more content…
Women are equal to men, so why are men often paid a higher wage than a women receives for the same job? Scout is often wants to hang out with her older brother. Her brother is reluctant to play with her on a account of her being a “girl”. “I was not so sure, but Jem told me I was being a girl, that girls always imagined things, that’s why other people hated them so, and if I started behaving like one I could just go off and find someone to play with”(Lee 54). Scout is not allowed to play with the boys for awhile. The boys want nothing to do with any girly behavior and refuse to play with Scout if she cowards out of any activity. How can Scout who is a girl not act comparably to a girl? That is not possible, a girl will function as a girl. Jem, Scout’s older brother, is telling Scout that being a girl is not wonderful. Women in mans eye are remarkably delicate creatures. Women need to be sheltered from all that is terrible. Looking at Scout, a tomboy, clearly women are not always delicate creatures. “I guess it’s to protect our frail ladies from sordid cases like Tom’s. Besides,” Atticus grinned, “I doubt if we’d ever get a complete case tried-the ladies’d be interrupting to ask questions”(Lee 296). Scout shows us that not all women are delicate. Scout asks Atticus why women are not on jury’s. Atticus’s response implies that women cannot handle what happens in court. Scout believes women are just as capable as men and can
“You can't delete racism. It's like a cigarette. You can't stop smoking if you don't want to, and you can't stop racism if people don't want to. But I'll do everything I can to help”-Mario Balotelli. This quote applies to “To Kill a Mockingbird” because racism is common throughout the novel and a select few characters don't fall to the common influence of racism.
Childhood is a continuous time of learning, and of seeing mistakes and using them to change your perspectives. In the book To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee illustrates how two children learn from people and their actions to respect everyone no matter what they might look like on the outside. To Kill A Mockingbird tells a story about two young kids named Scout and her older brother Jem Finch growing up in their small, racist town of Maycomb, Alabama. As the years go by they learn how their town and a lot of the people in it aren’t as perfect as they may have seemed before. When Jem and Scout’s father Atticus defends a black man in court, the town’s imperfections begin to show. A sour, little man named Bob Ewell even tries to kill Jem and Scout all because of the help Atticus gave to the black man named Tom Robinson. Throughout the novel, Harper Lee illustrates the central theme that it is wrong to judge someone by their appearance on the outside, or belittle someone because they are different.
What does it mean to be a good parent? The most common definition of a good parent is one who makes their children feel valued and loved, by teaching them the difference between right and wrong. At the end of the day, the most essential thing is to create a nurturing environment where your children feel like they can mature into confident, independent, and caring adults. Harper Lee’s novel To Kill A Mockingbird defines what a true parent really is thought hardships and struggles throughout the book. The story is set in the Depression era of a little town in southern Alabama that is struggling with thick prejudice on a colored rape case. The story is told through a character
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.
Scout lives in Maycomb County where she has to discover the unfair realities of society alongside prejudice people and some honest, accepting, and compassionate people. Her father, Atticus, is a lawyer who teaches her life lessons to help her understand different perspectives. In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee illustrates how people’s ignorance results in prejudice against others and can only be stopped through understanding and compassion. Lee exemplifies the ignorant people in a society and their effect on others using the people in Maycomb County.
“You’ll never leave” is carved faintly into the brick wall of the small jail cell, probably from its last guest. Every day, I started to believe the phrase more and more. I lay on the uncomfortable cot, pretending to be asleep. I’m lonely, but I’m not alone. I can hear him breathing and slowly flipping the pages of the newspaper; I assume it’s Mr. Heck Tate.
Maycomb is a petite, sleepy town, however, the political side is vicious. Atticus selflessly decides to defend Tom, an African American, in court who was being wrongly prosecuted for rape. Despite Maycomb’s arsenal of verbal chastisement on himself and his children, continued to defend Tom. Because Tom was African-American, his rights were subconsciously removed due to racial bias. "It was just him I couldn't stand," Dill said…"That old Mr. Gilmer doin' him thataway, talking so hateful to him… It was the way he said it made me sick, plain sick… The way that man called him 'boy' all the time an' sneered at him, an' looked around at the jury every time he answered… It ain't right, somehow it ain't right to do 'em that way. Hasn't anybody got any business talkin' like that—it just makes me sick." (Lee 155-165). Although the treatment was harsh, Atticus continued to defend Tom because Atticus’s virtues abide by protecting the innocent. The overwhelming negativity crowding the court case that Atticus disrupts for Tom Robinson supports Atticus’s altruism in defending the
Harper Lee’s only book, To Kill a Mockingbird, is the stereotypical tale of childhood and innocence, yet it successfully incorporates mature themes, like the racism in the South at the time, to create a masterpiece of a work that has enraptured people’s minds and hearts for generations. According to esteemed novelist Wally Lamb, “It was the first time in my life that a book had sort of captured me. That was exciting; I didn’t realize that literature could do that” (111). Scout’s witty narration and brash actions make her the kind of heroine you can’t help but root for, and the events that take place in Maycomb County are small-scale versions of the dilemmas that face our world today. Mockingbird is a fantastically written novel that belongs on the shelves of classic literature that everyone should take the time to read and appreciate for its execution of style and the importance of its content.
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.
According to “Want to See Pay Discrimination Against Women? Look at the Top” by Bryce Covert, “Male-dominated fields pay nearly $150 more each week than female-dominated ones.” Women all over the world are treated differently because of their gender. This is clearly visible in To Kill a Mockingbird through Scout’s childhood. Scout’s aunt Alexandra encourages her to be calmer and more ladylike, but she doesn’t understand the appeal of being perfect. Throughout the book, Scout questions whether to be polite and refined or to run around with the boys. Atticus, her father tries to let Scout make her own decisions, but Alexandra is set on grooming Scout into the perfect little girl. Women in To Kill a Mockingbird are treated as fragile and sensitive
Harper Lee's novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, focuses on the maturation of a brother and sister in the "tired old town(Lee 3)" of Maycomb, Alabama, in the 1930ís. Maycomb, a classic southern town full of gossip, tradition and burdened with a legacy of racism, seems a strange place to stage a drama which encourages equal treatment and non prejudice. However, the narratorís fresh outlook on the sleepy town furnishes the reader with a multitude of viewpoints on civil rights. The traditional Southern racism of Maycomb is looked at through the eyes of our young narrator, Scout Finch. Scoutís innocent perspective compels her to ask questions about why whites treat blacks the way they do. These questions are crucial in Scoutís search for her own identity. Scout must come to terms with the racism of her town and how it affects the people in her life. She must find her own position and what role she will play in the whole racial game. A number of people greatly influence Scout. The two major role models in her life, her Aunt Alexandria and her father Atticus, pull Scout in two opposing directions. Through their dealings with Calpurnia, the Finch's black housekeeper, both the reader and Scout are able to distinguish what path each individual wants Scout to follow.
Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” takes place during the 1930’s in the fictional and quiet town of Maycomb, located in Maycomb County, Alabama. The town of Maycomb is described as a tired old town that moves very slowly and its residents have nothing to fear but fear itself. Being in set in the South during the 1930’s the story does tackle racism and inequality for African Americans as racism was becoming more and more prominent in the 1930’s. The fact that the story takes place in a backwater county in Alabama makes the the injustice even more prevalent. The story goes through the early years of the main characters Jem and Scout so the exact time is always changing, however, the more important and intense parts of the story takes place
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is an emblem of racial jurisdiction. All throughout the book it shows how the law applies to blacks as opposed to whites. Lee shows how unjust the treatment of blacks is and the disregard for their human rights. Though through the actions of the characters in the book; it can be said that their actions show a glimmer of hope for this very prejudiced society.
They are looked at as property instead of humans, and even though they are put one class above the negroes, they are still held below white men. “Sometimes you act so much like a girl it’s mortifying”.(Pg.39) This quote shows how scout can be looked down because she is a girl. Jem calls her a girl and mocks her for acting like a girl as an insult, stereotyping females as scared and weak. “”He staked me out, marked me as his property, said I was the only girl I would ever love and then neglected me.”
Scout Finch, the youngest child of Atticus Finch, narrates the story. It is summer and her cousin Dill and brother Jem are her companions and playmates. They play all summer long until Dill has to go back home to Maridian and Scout and her brother start school. The Atticus’ maid, a black woman by the name of Calpurnia, is like a mother to the children. While playing, Scout and Jem discover small trinkets in a knothole in an old oak tree on the Radley property. Summer rolls around again and Dill comes back to visit. A sence of discrimination develops towards the Radley’s because of their race. Scout forms a friendship with her neighbor Miss Maudie, whose house is later burnt down. She tells Scout to respect Boo Radley and treat him like a person. Treasures keep appearing in the knothole until it is filled with cement to prevent decay. As winter comes it snows for the first time in a century. Boo gives scout a blanket and she finally understands her father’s and Miss Maudie’s point of view and treats him respectfully. Scout and Jem receive air guns for Christmas, and promise Atticus never to shoot a mockingbird, for they are peaceful and don’t deserve to die in that manner. Atticus then takes a case defending a black man accused of rape. He knows that such a case will bring trouble for his family but he takes it anyways. This is the sense of courage he tries to instill in his son Jem.