“Then Miss Gates said... ‘We are democracy... Over here we don’t believe in persecuting anybody. Persecution comes from people who are prejudice’... ‘How can you hate Hitler so bad an’ then turn around & be ugly about folks right at home’” (Lee 330). Using the typical irony, Lee compares hypocritical Miss Gates’ hate for Hitler to her prejudiced hate for African-Americans. Standard irony, however, is not the only type of irony Harper Lee places in her award-winning novel. Through dramatic irony, situational irony, & verbal irony, Harper Lee utilizes this literary device in its finest form in To Kill a Mockingbird.
As the first type of this contradicting literary device, Lee uses dramatic irony throughout the story; it plays a part in both the historical references to Bow Ewell’s name and the foreshadowing at the beginning of the book. The most hated family in Maycomb, the Ewells crave recognition & power. However, Bob Ewell, head of the Ewell family, claims the title as the most vile of them all. “‘... Robert E. Lee Ewell!’” (Lee 227). Lee names Bob Ewell after General Robert E. Lee, comparing Bob & Robert’s violent nature, racist beliefs, & imminent failure. The reader realizes upon learning Bob Ewell’s full name that he will not achieve much in the novel, considering his real life counterpart. However, Bob Ewell does achieve a limelight spot in the climax. “When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow... I maintain that the Ewells started it... but Jem said... it began the summer Dill came to us” (Lee 1). Given the climax & the ones liable for it at the beginning of the book, the reader now knows which direction the story shall take. The climax appears to occur when Jem breaks his arm & th...
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...o conserve money since he ended up poor. While she loved Atticus, Scout certainly did not like Miss Caroline. “I never deliberately learned how to read, but somehow I had been wallowing illicitly in the daily papers” (Lee 23). Without a doubt, Scout does not actually believe she acted wrongly by reading the newspapers. Ironically, proud Scout agrees with Miss Caroline, inwardly scoffing at the idea.
Using the sarcastic literary device to the very best, Lee enriches To Kill a Mockingbird though dramatic irony, situational irony, & verbal irony. However, as an amazing author, Harper Lee also includes plain, simple irony. “Then Miss Gates said... ‘We are democracy... Over here we don’t believe in persecuting anybody. Persecution comes from people who are prejudice’... ‘How can you hate Hitler so bad an’ then turn around & be ugly about folks right at home’” (Lee 330).
The theme of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mocking Bird is the existence of racism and prejudice in the 1930 – 40's. Harper Lee succeeds in presenting the topic in a manner that is not overly simplistic and thus achieves the task of allowing the reader to fully appreciate the complex nature of unjust discrimination. Harper Lee's inclusion of characters such as Tom Robinson, Boo Radley, Dolphus Raymond and many others, aid the reader to grasp the concept of racism and its central role in the town of Maycomb.
“I’d rather you shoot at tin cans in the backyard, but I know you’ll go after the birds. Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit ‘em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mocking bird.” Atticus Finch recites these lines to his two children, Jem and Scout after he gives them air-rifles for Christmas. Scout is curious, as this is the first time that she has ever heard her father refer to anything as a sin, Scout asks Miss Maude what Atticus meant by this. Miss Maude tells Scout that mocking birds don’t rip up people’s garden’s or annoy them in any way, all they do is play beautiful music for us to listen to.
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
Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird explores the concept of injustice and her readers are introduced to a society where the social hierarchy dominated acts of humanity. We are often put into situations where we witness member of society be inhumane to one another in order to fit into the community and to act selfishly to save yourself. Within the text, we are also commonly shown the racial discrimination that has become society’s norm. Because of the general acceptance of these behaviours, it is explicitly show to all that the major theme Lee is trying to portray is ‘Man’s inhumanity to man’.
To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee sheds light upon the controversy of racism and justice in his classic novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. The notion of equality in accordance with the law and the pursuit of justice are hindered by racial discrimination. The essence of human nature is pondered. Are we inclined to be good or in the wrath of evil? The novel reflects on the contrasting nature of appearance versus reality.
Throughout the novel Harper Lee explores the racism, prejudice, and the innocence that occurs throughout the book. She shows these themes through her strong use of symbolism throughout the story. Even though To Kill a Mockingbird was written in the 1960’s, the powerful symbolism this book contributes to our society is tremendous. This attribute is racist (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).
In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus is an ideal father, who sets a great example for his kids. A picture of Atticus is important to Scout because Atticus teaches Scout many important life lessons about life. Firstly, as Atticus talks to Scout about Miss. Stephanie, he states “if you can learn a simple trick, Scout, you’ll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view-until you climb into his skin and walk around in it” (Lee,30). Scout realizes that one can never feel someone’s pain, happiness, or glory until she looks at their point of view of things; she learns to consider other people’s situation and feelings. She also understands that she will never know what goes in other people’s lives, and therefore she cannot judge anyone. Scout matures as she learns to apply Atticus’ wise advice to understand Mrs. Dubose and Boo Radley, who are individuals that are misunderstood by the community. Furthermore, as Miss Maudie talks to Scout, she states “Atticus Finch is the same in his house as he is on the public streets” (Lee, 46). Miss Maudie knows about Atticus’ personality quite well. Miss Maudie explains to Scout Atticus is a man with moral principles, he does what he believes is right even if others are not there to praise him. Through Atticus’ exemplary role, Scout understands the importance of integrity, and strong moral values. Finally, when Scout questions her father about the possible outcome of the trial, Atticus states “simply because we were licked a hundred years before we started is no reason for us to try to win” (Lee, 76). Atticus teaches Scout toleration, determination and moral courage. He already knows he is going to los...
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, The Twelve Angry men by Reginald Rose and The Scottsboro Trial are all about unfair trials containing discrimination towards different people and people being prejudice .The peoples action towards the defendants affected them for the rest of their life. Many of the people that came into the court brought in their own social problems and that influenced the verdict.
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 for classic literature that everyone should take the time to read and appreciate for their execution of style and the importance of their content.
Mood helps in creating an atmosphere in a literary work by means of setting, theme, diction and tone. Throughout the book To kill a mockingbird the author wanted the mood to be sorrowful or vexed or just fret about how the people are acting because seeing how things were being treated or how people acted would be enough to make you feel angry or sad or worried for the people who were in the book. You always wanted to know what was going to come next or how something would end. Vex was a very prominent mood in this story and is definitely the most relevant.
The Gender roles in society have greatly changed throughout the years of America from puritan women who thought that showing skin was undoubtedly a sin from the flapper era in american history that welcomed the idea of women showing more of their sexuality. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird which depict the events that occur when a white man who defends an african american man during the era of the great depression and what results from the story. Gender roles are a prevalent theme in the story. Through the characters dialogue and Scout's narration, Miss Maudie is characterized as a modern women while aunt Alexandra is characterized by her adherence to tradition.
As Atticus asks her why she is does not want to go to school, she tells him all about her bad day at school. He tells her that to understand her and any person, you have to walk in their shoes. “Atticus said I had learned many things today and Miss Caroline had learned several things herself. She had learned not to hand something to a Cunningham, for one thing, but if Walter and I had put ourselves in her shoes we’d seen it was a honest mistake on her part” (Lee, 30). As soon as Atticus tells her, Scout realizes that Miss Caroline did make a mistake and it was because she did not know the etiquette in Maycomb.
The novel TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD by Harper Lee has numerous accounts of racism and prejudice throughout the entire piece. The novel is set in the 1930's, a time when racism was very prevalent. Although bigotry and segregation were pointed in majority towards blacks, other accounts towards whites were also heard of, though not as commonly. There are acts that are so discreet that you almost don't catch them, but along with those, there are blatant acts of bigotry that would never occur in our time. Lee addresses many of these feelings in her novel.
To Kill a Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee, is a novel based during the Great Depression era. Things were a lot different back then, especially when it comes to how people judged others. In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee shows prejudice through sexism, racism, and social class to portray how people judge anyone that they believe is less than them. One of the ways Harper Lee shows prejudice is through sexism. Throughout the novel, the women of Maycomb are looked down upon because the men in this story believed that they were better than the women.
To Kill a Mockingbird is an appropriate title for the novel because it explains that mockingbirds are innocent and don’t harm people but there are still people that destroy the birds’ innocence. It's also referred too, very often there are mockingbirds placed in this story. Throughout the novel, Tom Robinson and Boo Radley are innocent, like mockingbirds. People like Bob Ewell are the people that try and destroy their innocence. This is an appropriate title for the novel because the mockingbirds, Tom Robinson and Boo Radley, helped people instead of causing harm.