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Interpret to kill a mockingbird
Kill a mockingbird interpretation
Literary analysis essay on to kill a mockingbird
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Chapter One • I learnt that Maycomb is a town in Alabama and that Atticus Finch is Jem and scouts father • The Radley place fascinates scout, Jem and Dill so much because Author Radley is a recluse figure and they are curious and want to find out more about him • The voice and view point from the novel is from scouts point of view Chapter Two • Scout is looking forward to starting school because she likes reading and she wants to do the same as Jem • Jem doesn’t want anything to do with Scout at school because she is young and doesn’t want her embracing him • I think of Miss Caroline Fisher is a good teacher but needs to learn the customs in Maycomb Chapter Three • Calpurnia is the care taker of the children and the maid of the household • …show more content…
Mayella is not used to this politeness because of the way her father and her family treats her. Chapter Nineteen • Tom walked past the Ewell house on the way to work every day. Mayella asked Tom to come in and look at a door that was ‘broken’. • I think that Mayella is abused by her father. This has gone on for so long she thought this was normal. • Dill cries in this part of the trial. He cries because of the treatment of Tom by Mr. Gilmer. I think that it is okay that Tom was treated because he has the right to tell his side of the story. Chapter Twenty • Mr. Dolphus Raymond is not a bad man but Scout thinks he is at this point in time because he had a bottle with a paper bag around it, which people assume had alcohol in it. • According to Atticus the things that Mayella has don’t wrong is lie and erase the crime she has done by claiming innocent Tom Robinson had raped her. Chapter Twenty-One • Jem thinks that Tom Robinson will go free, but Atticus knows that he is going to lose the case just because Tom is black. • It is unusual that the jury took so long to decide Tom fate, even though the verdict is very
With lots of children to take care of Mayella was only able to get two to three years of education and she had no friends. This is why when Atticus asks her about her friends she thinks he is making fun of her. After having to live a life like this we don?t know why Mayella would like to defend her hard-hearted father, but she probably did this because she was scared of what he would do to her if she told the truth. We feel sympathetic towards her at this point but there is still a sense of hatred towards her as she is letting an innocent person being jailed who actually helped her a lot when no one did.
It seems odd that the only important family in Scout's family would be a man who probably moved to the 13 colonies around the time of the American Revolution. It would make sense that he would be important because he would have been able to make a sizable wealth here during the American Revolution. Maycomb kind of reminds me of our town, New Baltimore in Macomb Country. New Baltimore is an old town, but obviously not as run down as Maycomb is made to sound. The similarities between our town and Maycomb really helps my envision Maycomb.
Imagine just two young kids maturing within a matter of years. Imagine that same two kids, experiencing or understanding things that they aren’t meant to at a young age. Jem and Scout were just like that. They have experienced many things that they shouldn’t have at their age. Scout on the other hand, seems to be the one maturing the most. Throughout this whole essay, you will learn about Jem and Scout’s attributes, personality, and how alike or different they are from each other.
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.
It was clear based on the evidence that Tom was innocent, but with the jury consisting of only white men in 1930's Alabama, they decided to convict Tom only because it was a white man's word against a black man's. This upsetted Jem and Scout as they were sure that Tom and Atticus would win the case. It made them realize that people with prejudice will make unfair decisions, even when it's clear that they are making the wrong decision: "...but in the secret courts of men's hearts Atticus had no case. Tom was a dead man the minute Mayella Ewell opened her mouth and screamed." (Lee 323). Seeing this changes Jem and Scout's perception of the people living in Maycomb, as they start to question whether the people of Maycomb were as good-hearted as they thought. Nowadays, there would not be racial prejudice in a courtroom, however the jury that was biased during Tom's trial could be the modern equivalents of people who use racial profiling, racial bias, and stereotyping. The kids and the reader learn that people who make judgements and decisions based on prejudice are people who should not be considered
Our first major character is Boo Radley, who is first introduced as Scout and Jem walk past the Radley house every day after school. Jem, Scout, and Dill are fascinated with the chilly stories of Boo’s past, spending many summers acting out his life and imagining what he is like. As the story progresses, the children come to realize that Boo was in fact an intelligent child, but was poorly treated by his “foot-washing Baptist” father, resulting in mental problems at a very young age. Boo Radley is one of the eponymous “mockingbirds” of the book, the other being Tom Robinson. Mockingbirds, as explained in the book by Atticus, “don't do one thing but make music for us to enjoy... but sing their hearts out for us. That is why it is a sin to kill a mockingbird." (90) The analogy holds true for Boo, a young boy damaged by his father’s ambitions, and is partially the reason he has shied away from society. He is already experienced the harmful effects of a racist/judgmental culture and realizes how evil society is. Towards the end of the book, Scout ...
verdict of the trial, Jem and Scout see the hate in jurors for blacks, for it is obvious that Tom Robinson is innocent. Another new and disturbing element that Jem and Scout discover is child abuse. Having never been hit by Atticus, the children know nothing of physical, mental, emotional, or sexual abuse. However, Mayella Ewell knows too well of these abuses and is a victim of them from her own father. Bob Ewell shows he has no consideration for her by his actions or words, and this is clearly displayed during the trial when he is being asked on the stand, "Are you the father of Mayella Ewell?" (172) His crude reply is, "Well, if I ain’t I can’t do nothing about it now"(172). This shows he has no class or respect, while on the other hand, Jem and Scout are used to seeing the example of their tactful father. Also, during the trial it becomes lucid that Bob Ewell beat Mayella up and not Tom Robinson.
Atticus ultimately discredited the state’s evidence and raised reasonable doubt as to whether Tom raped Mayella Ewell thus preventing the state from discharging its burden of proving the offence was committed beyond a reasonable doubt. It is further clear that Tom was found to be guilty due to the jury’s racially biased and preconceived notions. Atticus’ reaction of contempt and disappointment shows that he is aware of this immoral act but he accepts the ruling nonetheless as law showing he is a
A person doesn’t really understand someone until he or she walks in his or her shoes. Scout learns this through encounters with several people, such as Jem and Walter Cunningham.
In To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Scout, the daughter of an affluent lawyer in a small town in Alabama called Maycomb. Over the summer Scout and her brother Jem befriend a boy named Dill who lives near by for the summer. Dill becomes interested in a house on their street where Arthur (Boo) Radley has lived for many years without going outside. That fall, Jem and Scout start to find gifts in the keyhole of a tree on the Radley property. The next summer Dill, Scout, and Jem try to act out the story of Boo Radley. Atticus, Scout and Jem’s father explains to them that they should try to see life from Boo’s point of view. When Atticus takes the case of a black man named Tom Robinson accused of raping a white woman named Mayella Ewell, Maycomb’s white community gets very upset. Jem and Scout get the brunt of the towns distress from other children. As the trial date comes closer the people get restless and a lynch mob forms. Atticus talks the mob down and Jem and Scout who snuck out a...
Tom Robinson’s trial, and in fact his entire life, was badly affected by racism. It is truly a testament to the corruption of society when a person who has earned a bad reputation is held in higher esteem than a person who was born with it, as is the case with Bob Ewell and Tom Robinson. Even though Tom was obviously honest in his testament, the jury sided with Bob Ewell because he was white. They made this decision despite the fact that the Ewell family was widely known to be a worthless part of society. Jem, not being racially prejudiced, could not understand this mentality. As Atticus pointed out, “If you (Jem) had been on the jury, son, and eleven other boys like you, Tom would be a free man.”
At the beginning of the novel, Jem seems to be a childish young kid. Jem appears this way to the reader and the adults in the novel. Jem displays this trait when Atticus says “Don’t go near the Radley gate” (55). Through this quote, it is clear that Atticus does not want Jem near the Radley house. He doesn’t want Jem to get in trouble
Nearly everybody in the United States has gone to school due to the fact that it is required by law. The first day is always big. At that age, it seems to be the best day in the world. Little kids feel like big kids who have more freedom. School is obviously a contribution to one’s coming of age. As Scout is narrating the story nearing the first day of her school career, she remarks, “Jem condescended to take me to school the first day, a job usually done by one’s parents, but Atticus had said Jem would be delighted to show me where my room was” (Lee 20). The painted image of the sarcastic face of Atticus towards Jem in their conflict with each other and confused young Scout allows the reader to understand that Atticus clearly does not want to witness his little girl growing up like most dads and their daughters. Due to the fact that Scout is not being taken to school by her father, the process of coming of age is accelerated. Normally, it is a smaller step but in the way that she willingly accepts the fact that Jem is taking her it allows her independence and womanhood to shine. Next, while Jem explains the new rules of school to Scout, she questions, “’You mean we can’t play any more?’” (Lee 21). After J...
When the trial ends, Jem is distressed. He understood Tim Robinson’s reasoning and his father’s defense. He, and the jury, knows that Tom Robinson is innocent. Jem is maturing, although he still clings to his childish ideals that the good always win. The fact that his neighbors are accusing a vulnerable man to death is a hard for Jem to handle, and he beg Atticus for a justification.
The protagonist of the story, Scout, is a great example of a character that matures and grows throughout the story. After Atticus comes back home from work, Scout immediately goes up to him to tell him all the misfortunes of the first day of school. After listening and analyzing the situation Atticus tells Scout “‘You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view’”(30). This quote by Atticus makes an impact in Scout’s life because she does not just use it to put up with Ms. Caroline, but she uses it with Mrs. Dubose. Scout did not “understand” why Mrs. Dubose acts the way she does. Whenever Scout greets her with a “hey” Mrs. Dubose replies with only insults. She only insults the children, but after the incident with the camellias, she wants them to read to her. After learning about her morphine addiction, Scout figures out that each time Mrs. Dubose hurls insults at them, it was due to withdrawal symptoms, not because of hatred towards them. When Scout analyzes the situation “from her point of view” she realizes that Mrs. Dubose likes her and Jem. Scout’s growth is exemplified when she uses a lesson her father teaches her, to reveal the true feelings Mrs. Dubose has for Jem and Scout. Using the quote from Atticus, through Mrs. Dubose’s “point of view” Scout “understands” that she did not hate her and Jem, she, in fact, likes her and Jem. Nevertheless, Scout is not the only dynamic lead character in the novel. Jem is also a dynamic lead character in To Kill A Mockingbird. Jem is the older brother of Scout, whose growth is demonstrated along with Scout’s in the novel. In Jem’s room, Scout and Jem contemplate all the people in Maycomb. They try to classify everybody into groups. After a moment of realization, Jem says “‘I’ve got it all figured out. There’s four types of folks in the world’”(226). Throughout the