Differences Between To Kill A Mockingbird Book And Movie

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To Kill a Mockingbird is a classic written by Harper Lee and published in 1960. It's a popular book that allows the reader to understand the racial prejudice black people went through in the 1930s. It opened the eyes of readers to understand what it means to kill a mockingbird, or in other words, hurt the innocent. This book has also been turned into a movie in 1962, starring Gregory Peck as Atticus and Mary Badham as Scout. Although the movie and book gets the same theme across, the plot and other story elements differ in the movie compared to the book.
The plot for both the movie and book is similar. It starts out with Scout as the narrator and the characters and Maycomb, Alabama is introduced to the viewer/reader. Jem, Scout, and Dill spend …show more content…

One obvious one is Jem Finch, or Jeremy Finch. Jem role is expanded in the movie. For instance, Jem finds objects such as pennies, gum, and dolls, in the tree hole by the Radley house by himself in the movie. However, the book states that Jem found most of these objects together with Scout. Jem also accompanies Atticus to inform Helen Robinson about the death of her husband, Tom, in the movie while in the book Calpurnia is the only that accompanies Atticus. Speaking of Calpurnia, while Jem role is expanded, Calpurnia role is shorten. In fact, both Calpurnia’s and Miss Maudie’s roles are shorten. The movie failed to point out how Calpurnia and Miss Maudie are both mentors in Jem’s and Scout’s life. In the book, Calpurnia scolds Scout and Jem for attending the Tom Robinson case in the courthouse and not going home for dinner. She often makes sure the children are in check and not causing trouble or disrespectful towards others. Miss Maudie is Jem’s and Scout’s informer. When they don't have something they don't understand, they other asked Miss Maudie for the answer. For instance, Scout questions Miss Maudie about Jem’s changing behavior which she answers as Jem is growing up. Miss Maudie also explains to the children why it was a sin to kill a mockingbird–because they didn't do harm and sang for people–and that not everyone was prejudice in …show more content…

One of them was Mrs.Dubose insulting Atticus when Jem and Scout passes by her house in which Jem responds by destroys her flowers. This results in Jem having to read to her for a whole month. The movie doesn't include any scenes of Scout in school other than the one scene in which she beats up Cecil Jacobs. Because of this, the movie viewers doesn't fully understand the Cunningham’s and Ewell’s conditions when it's explained to Miss Caroline, Scout’s first grade teacher, in the book. Although, the movie does show Mr. Cunningham paying back Atticus in other forms other than money, the movie doesn't show that the Cunninghams are so poor, they can't afford to buy shoes or send their children to school with lunch. The book also presents the Ewells as a poor family. They were unable to bathe consistently due to lack of money. The movie doesn't show the viewer the conditions the Ewells live in. Another school scene the movie cut out was when Miss Gates, Scout’s third grade teacher, spoke out against Hitler and the Nazis, saying they were prejudice and America was not. This causes Scout to question if Miss Gates was being hypocritical because Miss Gates was prejudice against black

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