in Harper Lees novel To Kill a Mocking Bird, Lee presents a story of racial prejudice during a time in which racism was a regular thing for most people. Scout tells this story, a young child who doesn’t really understand the prejudice of the country she is growing up in. Through this book, Harper Lee tries to convince the reader not to judge a person by their appearances or what they hear about them. She utilizes several characters to support her argument such as Boo Radley and Tom Robinson. These characters go through hard times because many times they were misconceived as bad people by their appearance or what people said about them.
The novel, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is based on the experiences of one girl, Scout, growing up in Maycomb, Alabama in the 1930s. The novel explains some conflicts in Scout’s life. Scout, the main character, learns that things are not always morally correct and is confronted with the reality of prejudice and stereotyping. Scout struggles with understanding the prejudice and stereotyping she witnesses. Atticus Finch, Scout's father, "with his strongly held convictions, wisdom, and empathy, Atticus functions as the novel's moral backbone." (2). Atticus tries to raise his children to be fair and nonjudgmental. It is through the lessons of Atticus and Scout's experiences with discrimination that the reader sees and understands the evils of prejudice and stereotyping.
Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird
The story of To Kill a Mockingbird takes place during the 1930s in a
small town in Alabama in the southern United States - much like the
town where the author Harper Lee herself grew up. To understand what
the book is saying about racism, you need to know something of the
history of race relations in the southern USA.
Plot
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The novel is about three years in the life of the Finch family:
Atticus and his son Jem and daughter Scout.
Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird
To Kill A Mockingbird is an award-winning novel written by Harper
Lee. The novel was published in 1960 and the movie was filmed in
1961. A six-year-old girl by the name of Scout is the main character
and narrates the story line in the movie. The movie takes place in the
small town of Maycomb, Alabama. Maycomb is portrayed as a small,
sleepy, depression-era town during the 1930’s depression era.
During the 1930's prejudice and racism was spread through the U.S. For example in Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird, the small town of Maycomb struggles with these aspects. Each character of the novel has a strong personality. Scout Finch is tough, always has an opinion, and is a tomboy. On the other hand Boo Radley stays hidden most of the time, but we all know he is actually a friend to Jem and Scout. Then there is Tom Robinson, a hardworking, strong, and innocent man. But what do all these characters have in common? They can all be analyzed as "mockingbirds". Throughout the novel each of their innocence is destroyed in some way. In Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird several of these characters become a symbolic mockingbird including Scout Finch, Boo Radley, and Tom Robinson.
“To Kill A Mockingbird”
After watching To Kill A Mockingbird, the characters I see the author trying to teach me through is Atticus Finch, Scout and Jem, and Arthur “Boo” Radley.
To begin, Atticus Finch has experienced and understood evil throughout his life. He has been confronted with prejudice and racism, but has not lost his faith in the human capacity for goodness. Atticus understands from his own experiences and reflection that most people have both good and bad qualities.
Harper Lee is an American novelist that was born in Monroeville, Alabama in 1926. She was born to her mother, Frances, who was a homemaker and her father, Amasa, who was a former newspaper editor and proprietor that also practiced law and served in the Alabama State Legislature from 1926 to 1938. Harper Lee was the youngest of four children. She was a tomboy and an advanced reader as a child. Her best friend was her schoolmate and neighbor, Truman Capote. She went to the Monroe County High School, and it was at this location that she found her love for literature. In 1944, after graduating high school, Lee attended the Huntingdon College in Montgomery. This college was an all-female school. At this school she focused on her studies and her writing as opposed to other girls that focused on fashion. Lee was also a member of the literary honor society. In July of 1960 Lee’s most famous book, To Kill a Mockingbird, was published. To Kill a Mockingbird was an immediate bestseller and won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1961. Following the publishment of her highly acclaimed novel, Lee announced a second novel, but this one was never published. She also spent a lot of her later years helping her childhood friend, Truman Capote, with writing his novel In Cold Blood. As of today Lee lives in solitude and stays separated from the outside world.
The novel To Kill a Mockingbird begins with narrator, Scout Finch, introducing to the reader her brother Jem, her father Atticus, and her town, Maycomb, Alabama. She tells us a little of her family
In the town of Maycomb, the residents have a very small intolerance for other people that they are not familiar with. There are many commonalities between people who accept others, such as Atticus and Scout. Atticus has discussed with Scout to put yourself in their skin and understand how they feel. So one commonality they have is they put themselves in your place and judge how you live and what decisions you will make. Another commonality is a strong sense of justice between people who accept others and the people accept others not because of their skin but for their morals. Also People who hate others make judgements too fast and are persuaded by other people in the community. Harper Lee shows in the novel "To Kill a Mockingbird," the building up of a strong intolerance of racial discrimination in the residents of Maycomb highlighting the separation of Maycomb, Resulting in a commonality of people that accept or hate others.
It all started when a girl named Jean Louise Finch, (Scout) was telling the story about her brother and how he broke his arm at the elbow. She went back two years to where they had tried to “Make Boo come out.” Boo Radley, also known as Arthur Radley. Back before Jem and Scout were even born Arthur Radley and his family moved to Maycomb. There was Arthur, his older brother Nathan, and Mr. and Mrs. Radley. There was a story about the Radleys, saying that when their family moved into town, they were welcomed but chose to stick to themselves. They were considered foot-washing Baptists. They thought that if you took pleasure in anything that you would go straight to hell. When Arthur was a boy he started to hang out with a bad group of kids. They went out one night, and resisted arrest, and were locked up in the county jail. Mr. Arthur bargained with Judge, saying he would pay a fine if they released Arthur, and he would be no more trouble to them. It was said that Arthur was never seen again. Rumors went around like Arthur stabbed his mother with a scissors, and that he had gone crazy. Miss Stephanie Crawford, the town gossip, even said that Boo looked in her window at night. Nobody dared to go near the Radley property, children were afraid of being killed. Meanwhile, Jem and Scout were minding their business one summer afternoon when they met Charles Baker Harris, (Dill). Dill was staying with Miss Rachel, who lived next door to The Finch’s, for the summer. Dill, Jem, and Scout became quite good friends, and played many games. Their favorite was to reenact plays like Dracula, and Tarzan. They also talked about Boo, and the more Dill knew about Boo, the more interested he was. Soon Dill had the idea of getting Mr. Radley to come out of his house. At first Dill dared Jem to go inside the house and get Boo out, but after three days of pestering him, he changed it to Jem had to touch the house. Jem agreed and ran as fast as he could to slap the house and get back to safety.