More handpicked essays just for you.
Character analysis to kill a mockingbird
How to kill a mockingbird character analysis essay
How to kill a mockingbird character analysis essay
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
As Sarah enters her high school dance wearing pants rather than a fancy dress, there are many eyes judging her. Sarah doesn’t follow the typical high school girl norm, and although it may not be a big deal to her, she is giving another girl just like her the confidence to rock her own style. In a time like high school, it is easy to want to fit in, but those who stand out make huge impacts on the community around them. While society is always changing, it is evident that peer pressure is always constant. The nonconformists in life are the people that make a change to society’s negative routine. Many people can be seen as nonconformists in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. There are numerous accounts where Scout is told to dress more ladylike, but when she does, she “[Feels] like the starched walls of a pink cotton penitentiary [are] closing in …show more content…
Scout’s individuality is stifled when she is dressed according to her Aunt Alexandra’s standards. Scout does not conform to society’s rules of dress, and she helps change Aunt Alexandra’s opinion when she “[hands Scout] the garments she most [despises]” (354). Scout’s Aunt was learning to accept her as she was. In another instance, Arthur Radley may be seen as a nonconformist as he chooses to stay inside his house, as Jem explains to Scout, “I think I’m beginning to understand why Boo Radley’s stayed shut up in his house all the time… It’s because he wants to stay inside” (304). Arthur (Boo) Radley stays inside because he doesn't want to contribute to or experience the evil of the world. In a way, he is helping Jem and Scout to see that sometimes not interfering is the best option to stay safe. A third person seen as a nonconformist in this novel is undoubtedly Atticus Finch. Atticus does not follow the racist white male norm
Even though many social forces impact Scout in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, gender impacts Scout the greatest. It affects her in how other people treat her. Unexpectedly, Aunt Alexandra shows up at the Finch household, and Scout asks why she had just shown up. Aunt Alexandra replies, “We decided that it would be good for you to have some feminine influence. It won’t be many years, Jean Louise, before you become interested in clothes and boys” (127). After Alexandra says this, Scout becomes puzzled because she does not think she needs a “feminine influence”. But, as she becomes older she is expected to act more lady like. Since she is a girl, she is expected to act prim and proper. Her being raised around men is acting against these stereotypes. Certainly, it is obvious that boys are more daring than girls. So while Jem and Dill want to get a sneak peak inside of Boo Radley’s house, Scout gets a little apprehensive. Jem shouts out, “Scout I’m telling you for the last time shut your trap or go home. I declare to the lord you’re getting more like a girl every day,” (51-52). After Jem said this, she decides she has no option but to join them. She does...
Most girls that grew up in the time that Scout did would be wearing dresses and acting in a more feminine manner. Some of this can be credited to Atticus’s hands-off parenting style, which doesn’t push Scout towards stereotypical gender roles. Scout seems to represent a very early and mild form of feminism in the south. When problems arise in the book, she often questions or examines them as a personal responsibility and seeks a resolution. This is a key difference because in feminist ethics, men often view something right or wrong instead of seeking a resolution.
There 's a point in everyone 's life when people are forced to wear a mask to hide their true selves. People want to fit into what they think is normal. Most of the time, the individual behind the mask is very different from what they are being perceived as. They can be evil and wicked, or they can be smart, loving, and caring. Characters in the novel, To Kill A Mockingbird written by Harper Lee live through the Great Depression and Segregation. They all have qualities that make them unique in their own ways. In the town of Maycomb, Alabama, citizens are put under stereotypes all throughout the novel. Characters get assigned labels that aren 't entirely correct. Dolphus Raymond, Mayella Ewell, and Boo Radley are all products of what it looks
Atticus’ statement on prejudice and racism characterises his moral integrity and his empathetic nature. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird Atticus Finch is depicted as the complete opposite of what people would perceive to be a stereotypical southern man living in the Deep South during the 1930s. Contrary to the majority of his fellow townspeople of Maycomb, Atticus is a man of great virtue and moral strength. He in not bigoted or racist and is egalitarian in his approach to all people This sort of moral integrity is what he tries to instil in his two young children, Jem and Scout, despite the bigotry and inequality surrounding them. Atticus Finch stands as a moral beacon of the town, a label which causes much friction between himself and other members of the Maycomb community. A clearer idea of Atticus’ principles can be gained by comparing and contrasting them to three other characters in the Novel, Calpurnia, Bob Ewell and Aunt Alexandra.
While the women in Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird come in a variety of personalities and backgrounds, all of their lives are led by one constricting factor; their gender. Scout's upbringing as a young woman greatly contrasts that of her brother Jem. Jem is educated as a young boy growing into a man while Scout’s journey is taken as a woman. The manacle of womanhood is but a concept if one does not consider the harsh faults and inhibiting limits of men or rather the struggle for “masculinity” that men are similarly constrained. Though she is repeatedly told to have ladylike manners and to dress in more feminine way, Scout mostly denies this norm but is still able to become a young
One of the first lessons taught in Mockingbird is the power of understanding other people’s perspectives. Initially, Scout has trouble empathizing with other people, especially her first Grade Teacher, Miss Caroline, whom Scout becomes frustrated at for not understanding Maycomb’s complex social structure. After hearing his daughter complain, Atticus tells Scout that she'll “get along a lot better with all kinds of folks [if she] considers things from [their] point of view” (39). After ‘standing in the shoes of another person’, it is much harder to be prejudiced towards that person. Indeed, this may be because a key tenet of prejudice is disregarding the views of whoever is being judged. Nevertheless, it proves difficult for Scout to grasp this relatively simple concept, who begins to hear rumors of Boo Radley, an enigma who has not been seen outside his home for over 30 years. Thus begins Jem and Scout’s quest to make Boo Radley come outs...
In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, many notable themes arise, but the most prevalent theme is undeniably the theme of man’s inhumanity to man. At the beginning of the novel, we are introduced to Scout Finch, who is naive and oblivious to the discrimination that occurs in Maycomb. However, through many events and through meeting many characters, we soon begin to realize that the world may not be so nice after all. Our suspicions are only confirmed once we witness the terrible injustices that occur during the trial. The predominance of inhumanity throughout the novel is what makes it such an important theme.
Society thought that women should always look presentable, and act modest. Before Boo Radley was confined, Boo was in an alleged gang. In court the group of fifteen year-old boys got in trouble for “using abusive and profane language in the presence and hearing of a female...Mr.Conner said they cussed so loud he was sure every lady in Maycomb heard them”(12). Since females were supposed to be modest, Scout had many things she had to fix. For example, Scout started to curse early in the book. Women, including young women like Scout, are expected to become modest, and stay pure , but Scout always denies anyone who trys to change her. This leaves many of the people around her hopeless, realizing that Scout won’t
The themes of prejudice and tolerance are conveyed strongly through the characters and their dilemmas. Jem and Scout learn of the prejudice of the town Maycomb to Atticus defending a black man, Tom Robinson. However, Miss Maudie, Calpurnia and several others show that not everyone in Maycomb are so judgemental. Jem and Scout also learn how to deal with situations sensibly from their father, they learn how to be tolerant. Thus, the novel?s characters demonstrate both prejudice and tolerance.
Gender roles are a major theme in the novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, in the main ways being what is expected of proper Southern lady, the critcization of women because of their hypocrisy, and the distrust of masculinity as whole. The novel is set in the 1930s during the Depression in the small traditional town of Maycomb, Alabama. Scout is the main female protagonist in the novel and Scout herself faces the gender conformity, as does many others, like Tom Robinson and other men, and the female gender as a whole.
The people who lack empathy for the Radley’s are the kids such as Scout, Jem, and Dill. On page 16, Jem describes Boo Radley as a monster with yellow and rotten teeth, eyes that popped, drooling, blood stained hands, and having a long jagged scar across his face. They also dare each other to get as close as possible and make mean plays about the Radley family. When Miss Muadie’s house burns down Boo gives Scout a blanket and she sees that he is not a monster. Later when Atticus is defending Tom Robbinson the town seems to turn their backs on Atticus and his family, becuase he is defending a black man which is looked down upon in the town. Tom Robbinson is innocent, but because he is a black man the town views him as guilty anyway. When the town comes to a conclusion that he is guilty, Jem comes to the conclusion that the outside world is unfair, because he knows Tom Robinson is innocent. This is a good coming of age moment for Jem, because he develops empathy for Tom Robbinson and changes his mindset. Scout throughout the story is forced to develop empathy towards other people by her farther, Calpurnia, and Jem. In chapter 3, when she is beating up Walter Cunningham, she is forced to stop by her older brother Jem, who later invites him to dinner. Then later in the house, Scout was being rude to Walter for the way he ate. Calpurnia scolds Scout by
The teenage years are a time when adolescents try out various personas, often trying out different styles of fashion. Adversaries argue that uniforms suppress an individual’s freedom of expression. However, the clothes that people wear, or can afford to wear, often classify the group by which they are acknowledged. As a result, many teens are outcast due to the fact that they cannot afford the latest trends in clothing. This rejection can lead to a number of problems for the outcast teen: depression, inability to focus on schoolwork, or just a general feeling of inferiority. School uniforms put everyone on the same level. According to Karin Polacheck (1995), “Uniforms help to create balanced diversity by alleviating racial and cultural tensions and encouraging values of tolerance and civility.” School Uniforms permit students to relate with one another without experiencing the socioeconomic barrier that non-uniform schools generate. More importantly, students are not criticized on how much they spent on clothes or how fashionable they look, but rather for their talents and their
To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee is a remarkable novel following the childhood of Jem and Scout, the son and daughter of Atticus Finch. Living in a small and drama filled town of Maycomb County they encounter a great deal of people who do not stand by their word. Hypocrisy occurs throughout this novel first by a man named Dolphus Raymond, then by two women Mrs. Merriweather and Miss Gates.
In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper lee, there is a form of Southern dialect. It varies by certain characters and their families, according to their economic class and lack of education. They talk in a certain way depending on where they have grown up, or where they live at the moment. Mirroring the dialect of those who would actually speak that way in the past, and reality.
Racism. racism is the prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race, based on the belief that one's own race is superior. This belief has been around for many years, ever since the beginning of humanity. Many experts say that racism started in the colonial era and is know starting to diminish. Nonetheless there are still people who believe in the supremacy of their race and think someone's ethnicity makes up their personality. In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee the people of Maycomb treat African Americans like they're second class citizens. In this Novel, Lee expresses one’s appearance doesn't change people of other ethnicities character and opinions. In which Lee means your appearance can’t change