Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Ways how racism effects events in to kill a mockingbird
Effects of racism to kill a mockingbird
The effect of racism on killing a mockingbird
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee portrays racism that Scout a young girl, witnesses in Maycomb during the 1930s and demonstrates how her father , Atticus Finch influences his daughter in a positive manner of viewing the world in the novel . Thanks to moments of inspiration and acknowledging racial differences , Scout develops as a person both mentally and physically by the guidance of her dad. Thus, she gains understanding about the world around her through her lens of life as being a little white girl in the South. Harper Lee's portrayal of herself as a girl encountering racism and being influenced by others while experiencing new aspects of life , inspired her to write To Kill A Mockingbird. Racism affects how Scout treats people of color. She encounters racism throughout the novel and none more significant than Atticus telling her advice about how to treat others, especially people of color. Scout initially judges people by the color of their skin, but her father gives a lesson on how it's not right to degrade others and that she can't say comments about people the first time they are met . “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of …show more content…
She was shocked that Tom Robinson got found guilty of a crime he didn’t commit. The idea of treating Blacks unfairly confused her. As Atticus gave life advice, this concept became a bit more understandable, “Atticus was right. One time he said you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them. Just standing on the Radley porch was enough.” (p.321) Scout’s lack of understanding about life, was enough to move into a quest of understanding about life. She moved towards empathy and transcended into her own stereotyped assumption regarding time on Earth due to that
Harper Lee's novel To Kill a Mockingbird was published in the year of 1960, and is one of the few American classic novels awarded the Pulitzer Prize. The racism that is prevalent in many southern American towns in the 1930s is brought to life with profound imagery in To Kill a Mockingbird. There are several characters in the book, yet the true main character is the narrator's father, Atticus Finch. He is a man of great integrity and intelligence. A very heroic figure in more ways than one, Atticus possesses traits like being principled, determined, and, more importantly, he teaches others. When looking at To Kill a Mockingbird, one can see that Lee uses lots of description, dialogue, and actions to portray Atticus as a heroic individual.
Being very young in the beginning of the book, her views of racism have been guided by the people she's around. Before the trial, Scout’s life was relatively sheltered. She knows that blacks are segregated, but their lives do not touch Scout except for Calpurnia. Scout really isn't exposed to the harsh realities of racism until the trial. Here, Scout encounters the taunting of kids and adults. She endures remarks about her father being a "nigger lover" and then finally the travesty of injustice that happens to Tom. Here father provides her with many answer to all the questions she has on the subject, and helps her understand that black people are just regular people, and they need to be treated as regular people.
To Kill A Mockingbird is a heroic tale of leadership and courage during racial times. In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Atticus, To, Jem and Scout are unfortunately exposed to a really racist and prejudiced society and town. Which ends up causing them to lose a case and really confuse Jem and Scout when they are young. In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill A Mockingbird, it uses characterization to help show a theme of loss of innocence when people are exposed to surprising and unfair situations.
Even though To Kill a Mockingbird was written in 1960’s the powerful symbolism this book contributes to our society is tremendous. This attribute is racism (Smykowski). To Kill a Mockingbird reveals a story about Scout’s childhood growing up with her father and brother, in an accustomed southern town that believed heavily in ethnological morals (Shackelford).
She does this because Francis called Atticus a n*****-lover. On page 114, when her Uncle Jack asks her what Francis called Atticus, she replies, “A n*****-lover. I ain’t very sure what it means, but the way Francis said it- tell you one thing right now, Uncle Jack, I’ll be- I swear before God if I’ll sit there and let him say somethin’ about Atticus.” Even though she does not know what it means, she knows what Francis said is an insult. As a result, Scout decides to dive head first into the problem and chases Francis. She is aware of all the consequences she will face, but she does not care. She wants to stand up for Atticus and do what is right according to her. This is her stepping into level three of Kohlberg’s stages. What she does conflicts with the rules, but it lives up to the higher rules of morality depicted in level three of Kohlberg’s stages. The last event that influences Scout’s personal growth is when she escorted Arthur/Boo Radley home in chapter 31. On page 372 and 373, Scout says, “...if Miss Stephanie Crawford was watching from her upstairs window, she would see Arthur Radley escorting me down the sidewalk, as any gentleman would do.” She does this
Harper Lee once said, “The book to read is not the one which thinks for you, but the one which makes you think…” In that case, To Kill A Mockingbird is the perfect fit with its detailed incorporations of imagery and symbolism in which makes the reader think about its significance. The novel focuses on the childhood of Scout Finch in the town of Maycomb, Alabama, during the 1930’s. Throughout the story, lessons and morals are given by the community resulting in the maturity of not only the children, but everyone involved. The combination of topics tied into one makes this novel a classic to American literature. After reading the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, it is clear that Harper Lee purposely continued to keep symbolism relevant throughout the story to help contribute to the central topics of the novel.
In To Kill a Mockingbird written by Harper Lee it is very evident that her life experiences when paired with the era in which she lived helped her develop this piece of iconic American literature. The themes and subtle critiques of the society she grew up in are reflected in To Kill a MockingBird, which is what made this book one of the greatest literary works of all time. She grew up in a time of great social inequality and prejudice towards African Americans.This is one of the many examples of her life that formed a major theme in this book, her foremost popular work.
In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee shows the reality of the world in the 1930s through the point of view of a little girl named Scout. She starts as a carefree tomboy, but learns to be more ladylike as the story continues. Her life really starts to change during a trial where her father is defending a black man. Also, she learns that killing a mockingbird is a sin.Overall, she grows up throughout the book, and starts to realize all the issues of Maycomb.
First of all, Scout allows the reader to focus more on the exterior of situations. Children tend to experience things differently from others. Events that take place in society may be of great importance to adults and mean nothing to children. Things of importance differ between children and adults. However, sometimes a child’s perspective may be the best way to look at things. In To Kill A Mockingbird, the whole town was talking about Tom Robinson’s trial, especially since he was African American and Atticus, a white man, was to be his lawyer. According to reviewer Edwin Bruell in Racism in Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird, “[To Kill A] Mockingbird, he tells us, is about the townspeople, not abou...
In the novel, To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the author writes about racism during a controversial time through the eyes of a young girl learning to see the world in a new perspective because her father, Atticus Finch, a hero. Atticus challenges the standards of society and teaches his children, Scout and Jem, to see the world in different ways then how society sees people, on a two color spectrum, black and white. In teaching his children both moral and ethical values, he allows them to be children but at the same time to have an understanding of how society works in an adult’s point of view. Atticus Finch challenges the federal court system by taking on a controversial case in a prejudice society that almost guaranteed him to lose.
As the story progresses certain events introduce new lessons for Scout to learn about segregation. A specific is when Atticus and the children visit Uncle Finch and Francis calls Atticus a “n***** lover,” to Scout. The importance of this quote is months later after Francis calls her this, Scout asks Atticus what it means aftering hearing Mrs. Dubose call him one. Atticus not wanting to tell young Scout the true meaning simply tells her that “trashy people use it when they think somebody’s favoring Negroes over and above themselves.” This not being the full meaning still gives Scout a better idea of how the colored people were treated in
A very important and evident reason for her difference on perspective on life is her age. At the beginning of the book, Scout is aged 6, and even by the end, she is still only 9 years old. This gives her a different viewpoint on life because she sees things only as being fair, and not as laws. What is important to her is having the right thing done, instead of what is expected in society. The way that Scout is looked at within the novel simply because she is young is quite undermining to her, especially when her teacher, Miss Caroline, tells her “[you] tell him I 'll take over from her and try to undo the damage--Your father does not know how to teach." (Lee, ?) What Miss Caroline is referring to here is the fact that Scout is too young by some peoples’ definition to be so advanced at her age, and that she must become more like someone in every-day society. To go along with Scout’s viewpoint and the viewpoint others have on her because of her age, her harshness of judgement is much less harsh than most people’s would be. She judges people much less, like Tom Robinson, and in her mind everybody is equal. After Tom Robinson has been convicted of rape in his trial, Atticus says “it’s not fair for you and Jem, I know that, but sometimes we have to make the best of things, and the way we conduct ourselves when the chips are
Life was hard for people of color in the South during the Jim Crow laws. More than l4,000 blacks were lynched in the South throughout this time, and racism was at its peak. The novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is set in the Jim Crow South during the 1930s. The novel tells the story of Scout Finch and her family in Maycomb, Alabama. Scout is the daughter of Atticus Finch, a white man chosen to defend a black man falsely accused of raping a white woman. In this coming-of-age story, a young girl becomes aware of the prejudice in the world around her and she changes over the course of the novel. She begins as innocent and naive them becomes confused, and finally understand the racism in the end.
First of all, Scout allows the reader to focus more on the exterior of situations. Children tend to experience things differently from others. Events that take place in society may be of great importance to adults and mean nothing to children. Things of importance differ between children and adults. But sometimes, a child’s perspective may be the best way to look at things. In To Kill A Mockingbird, the whole town was talking about Tom Robinson’s trial, especially since he was African American and Atticus, a white man, was to be his lawyer. According to reviewer Edwin Bruell in Racism in Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird, “[To Kill A] Mockingbird, he tells us, is about the townspeople, not about Robinson” (Mancini 101)....
I think that over the course of this novel Scout comes out to be quite clever and forever learning new morals and ways of life. By the end of the novel she has learnt one key lesson. That she must see thing's from other people's views. She shows this in the book in the last chapter when she is standing on Boo Radley's front porch. Here is the quote on what she said: "Atticus was right.