To Kill A Mockingbird
I've never been to Alabama, but novelist Harper Lee made me feel as if I had been there in the long, hot summer of 1935, when a lawyer named Atticus Finch decided to defend an innocent black man accused of a horrible crime. The story of how the whole town reacted to the trial is told by the lawyer's daughter, Scout, who remembers exactly what it was like to be eight years old in 1935, in Macomb, Alabama.
Scout is the reason I loved this book, because her voice rings so clear and true. Not only does she make me see the things she sees, she makes me feel the things she feels. There's a lot more going on than just the trial, and Scout tells you all about it.
He spends his times with Scout and Jem, either messing with Boo Radley or just creating fuss. Dill is from Meridian , Mississippi. He is jealous of Scout because she has Atticus who spends time with her and Jem. He says “The thing is, what I’m tryin’ to say is-they do get on a lot better without me, I can’t help them any” (Lee 143). He states that his family is better off without him because they don’t spend time with Dill as a family and have bonding time. Sorta like the Ewells when Bob Ewell is busy drinking whiskey, Dill’s parents are too busy working or don’t need Dill’s help. Dill criticized his own family for not having what the Finches have, family bonding. Dill mentions to Scout that “They kiss you and hug you good night and good mornin’ and good-bye and tell you they love you-” (Lee 143). All Dill wants is a family that shows love and affection like the
Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird
To Kill a Mockingbird, both as a novel and as a film, shows how time can change the way society views the importance of certain issues, such as racism. Because it was written during the civil rights movement, many people protested against it for conveying issues of prejudice between the north and the south. However, after time, the novel gradually became accepted. It is now a world-renowned classic, and it has won the Pulitzer Prize, as well as having made its way to the big screen. The author, Harper Lee, sets the story in a small town in Alabama.
During the trial, Dill, “started crying and couldn’t stop” (198). Dill becomes impatient with the trial, complaining about how Tom Robinson is being treated. With Dill still having his childish views, the evil he experienced in the trial results in crying. With Tom Robinson being innocent like a mockingbird, Dill is easily wounded and sensitive as he sees the destructive words that an innocent has to hear. To kill a mockingbird is to kill innocence, so one can say that Dill is classified as one as well. Lee shows Dill’s trial experience results as a consequence of killing a mockingbird, since Dill, who is innocent, has been destroyed by the evil of racism. Lee displays the mockingbird’s innocence being killed throughout the novel; Tom Robinson, who is found guilty and then killed for a crime he didn’t do, has been destroyed by the evil of racism. Jem goes through experiences like the trial, which disturbed him that they did not win, but also gives him a more positive way of thinking. Jem is careful to not harm the innocent and fragile after seeing Tom Robinson’s unfair trial. Jem refuses to let Scout kill the roly-poly in the beginning of chapter 25, thinking that the roly-poly has done nothing wrong to any of them. Boo Radley is another example of the death of a mockingbird as his innocence was lost by the evils of mankind. Through Dill, Lee demonstrates his
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 has incorporated the representation of her most meaningful statement in the title of her novel, To Kill A Mockingbird. The many points of discussion which surface in Lee's book would certainly have partially submerged the parallel she created between Tom Robinson and the mockingbird.
When faced with difficult situations or decisions to make, each character has their own mechanism to cope. Dill is mortified by the disrespect shown by Mr. Gilmer towards Tom Robinson within the trial and could not understand the incivility taken place. While Tom Robinson was still working on the case, Scout was trying to deal with her transition of growing up. Finding ways to deal with personal situations and realities are faced each day. In conclusion, Dill, Tom Robinson, and Scout escape their problems to help ease their
By harnessing the loss of innocence of Jem, Dill, and Scout, Harper Lee portrays how society affects children by stealing their innocence. Jem is affected by the verdict of the jury that convicts Tom Robinson, which traumatizes Jem and begets him to lose his innocence. Dill questions humanity and why Mr.Gilmer could tell such lies to harm an innocent man, which causes him to realize how lying is detrimental. Furthermore, Scout begins to step into others’ shoes and consider their situations, which leads to a loss of innocence and a view of people from a different angle. Through the utilization of three young children, Jem, Dill and Scout, Harper Lee depicts the effects of losing one’s innocence and the decisions they make.
Scout starts to understand people’s needs, opinions, and their points of view. In the beginning, Scout does not really think much about other people’s feelings, unless it directly pertains to her. Jem and Dill decided to create a play based on the life of one of their neighbors, Boo Radley. According to neighborhood rumors, Boo got into a lot of trouble as a kid, stabbed his father with scissors, and never comes out of the house. The children create a whole drama and act it out each day. “As the summer progressed, so did our game. We polished and perfected it, added dialogue and plot until we had manufactured a small play among which we rang changes every day” (Lee 52). Scout turned Boo’s life into a joke, something for her entertainment. She did not think about how Boo would feel if he knew what they were doing. Near the end of the book, while Boo was at the Finch house, Scout led him onto the porc...
Jem’s perception of bravery has changed throughout the course of the book. His maturity is a result of Atticus’s actions around him. At the beginning of the book, Jem is dared by his neighbour Dill to touch the door of the Radley’s; the Radley house symbolizes fear in the minds of the children. Jem does so thinking the act is courageous while Scout remarks, “In all his life, Jem had never declined a dare.” This shows that like most children, Jem is often more idealistic than realistic. His reactions are instinctive and often unplanned and reckless.