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The use of symbolism to kill a mockingbird
The use of symbolism to kill a mockingbird
Use of symbolism to kill a mockingbird
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“Before you begin on the journey of revenge, dig two graves.”-Proverb
In TO KILL A MOCKING BIRD, Harper Lee uses Bob Ewell to present the idea of revenge and how he acts upon it even though they victims may be innocent. Bob Ewell is a white male who is known to be a drunkard. His family, includes Mayella Ewell and his other 7 children. Mayella’s mother died when she was 2 years old which made Mayella the surrogate mother of the family. Bob uses his welfare checks to get alcohol instead of trying to take care of him or his kids. The Ewell family lives in a shotgun shack out by a dump because they are poor and considered “the disgrace of Maycomb”. Bob seeks this revenge because of Atticus, his humiliation after the trial, and Helen Robinson.
After the Tom Robinson trial, Tom got a death sentence but Bob was not satisfied. He started to seek revenge to the people who wanted him to get a non-guilty verdict. One of those people are Atticus, the father of the Flinch Family. Atticus is defending Tom Robinson so he wants to kill him but he is too much of a coward. He attacks Scout, Jem, Judge
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His reasons for seeking revenge are Atticus exposing him, being humiliated in front of Maycomb, and Helen Robinson. His intentions where in an overall bad place. When trying to get revenge on Atticus by attacking Scout and Jem he ended up following them after a recital. He was drunk as he attacked them .he broke Jem’s arm and attempted to stab Scout. Boo Radley came in to save the day. He pushed Bob off of scout and he ended up falling on his knife. Karma came back to him. Bob accused an innocent man and made him get a death sentence, after a while the victim died. Bob had another thing coming, he thought he was in the clear but turns out he would die as well. Bob took that journey of revenge and not only did his victim die, but so did him. “What comes around comes back
Tkam Essay Moral cowardice has been around since the beginning of mankind. In To Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee there are many examples of people who do stuff that is morally wrong because they do not want to stick out and be pointed at. This essay explains how Bob Ewell is the biggest moral coward, and Atticus is the bravest character. First of all, in To kill a Mockingbird Bob Ewell is the biggest moral coward because his actions are not based on his beliefs and morals but because he does not want to be caught and is too afraid of the truth. He will not do what is right because he know he will be shunned and laughed at.
Atticus Finch is a lawyer and father of two children whose names are Jem and Scout. In the novel, Atticus chooses to defend a black man named Tom Robinson who is accused of raping a white woman, even though most of Maycomb is against Tom Robinson due to its racist time setting. He understood that racism was inhumane and innocent people must be defended no matter what race they are. Atticus holds his ground and tries his best to defend Tom Robinson in court, despite the community being against him. Atticus even reminds his children to steadfast during this time of challenge regardless of what other people tell them.
In To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, Bob Ewell assumes the racist, biased, and unjust motivations in order to retain any scrap of dignity in Maycomb County. Bob Ewell sees that he has been bested, and that the town knows the truth, however, he is able to abuse his racial standpoint, using racism to scapegoat his actions. The town, even though they all are aware that Bob Ewell is guilty, has been racially obligated to oppress Tom Robinson, due to the racist roots embedded in the town.
In addition to being a lawyer, Atticus enjoys being a father to Jem and Scout. When Jem and Scout found out that their father would be defending a black person, they knew immediately that there would be much controversy, humiliation from the people of Maycomb and great difficulty keeping Tom alive for the trial. It was not long when Atticus had to leave the house very late to go to jail, where Tom was kept because many white people wanted to kill him. Worrying about their father, Jem and Scout sneak out of the house to find him. A self-appointed lynch mob has gathered on the jail to take justice into their own hands. Scout decides to talk to Walter Cunningham, one of the members of the mob. She talks about how her father Atticus thought that "entailments are bad "(154 ) " and that his boy Walter is a real nice boy and tell him I said hey"(154). Upon hearing this, the mob realized that Atticus cannot be all bad if he has such a nice daughter as Scout. Atticus, with some unexpected help from his children, faces down the mob and cause them to break up the potential lynching of the man behind bars. Having gone to a black church earlier, the children found out that Tom is actually a kind person, church-going and a good husband and father to his children.
Throughout the novel we see the abusive behaviors of Bob Ewell towards people, especially to his daughter Mayella. When Bob Ewell saw what he did from the window he screamed “you goddamn whore, I’ll kill ya” (Lee 198). This inferred that Bob Ewell was talking to his daughter and not Tom, who later testified that when Bob yelled this he was looking right at Mayella. Atticus also makes a case on page 127 about how no one, not even Bob, called a doctor to check on Mayella. By not calling a doctor it proved Bob Ewell was only concerned for himself, not even for the own well-being of his daughter, he was a selfish and horrible father. Also, the Ewell family was one of the lowest whites in Maycomb they had no money and no education, the children only attended the first day of school every year. Bob Ewell wanted the people of Maycomb to view them higher than they do now, but was too lazy to do it himself. Mr. Ewell believed that pinning his own abusive behaviors on Tom Robinson would make people believe he saved their town from dangerous man, and they would now think highly of him. Bob Ewells selfish behavior and poor parenting skills lead to him being a responsibility in the death of Tom
... very arrogant, self important man. Bob Ewell demonstrates his sexism through his jokingly derogatory reply to the judges question on whether or not he was Mayella’s father, ‘Well, if I ain't I can't do nothing about it now, her ma's dead," . This quote depicts to the audience his utter lack of social awareness and human decency as he is disrespecting not just his own daughter but also the memory of his dead wife. His subsequent proclamation to the courthouse that he’d ‘seen that nigger yonder ruttin on my Mayella’ exposes to the audience his racial prejudice against Tom Robinson as the use of the verb ‘ruttin’ suggests that he doesn't perceive him as a man but a mere animal. Also his use of the contempts term ‘nigger’ resonates with Atticus’s earlier teaching to scout and the audience and is consequently used by harper lee to imply that he is a very ‘poor person’.
In the film Scout and her brother Jem, live in Maycomb, Alabama in the 1930s. during the day they playing outside and spying on Boo Radley. There are lots of rumours about Boo because he hasn’t been seen for many years. Their father, Atticus, is a lawyer and believes that all people should be treated equally, and that you should stand up for what’s right. The local judge asks Atticus to defend a black man, Tom Robinson. He has been accused of assault and raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell. during Atticus' argument, he points out that Tom doesn't have the use of his left arm, and he would need his left hand in order to assault Mayella. Tom said he feels bad for Mayella, Tom's sympathy for her dooms his case. Atticus arrives home to find out that Tom has been killed when he tried to escape. A short time later, on their way home, Scout and Jem are attacked by an unknown man who has been following them in the woods. Jem is knocked unconscious and Scout escapes unharmed, Scout sees a man carrying Jem home. We learn that the attacker was Bob Ewell, the father of Mayella. The sheriff arrives to report that he has found Bob Ewell dead. Scout notices Boo Radley standing in corner of the room and realizes he is the person who came to help them in the woods. The film ends with Scout considering events from Boo's point of vie...
Atticus was incredibly courageous taking on tom Robinsons case against the prejudice of Macomb County and he shows incredible courage when he says, "Simply because we were licked a hundred years before we started is no reason for us not to try and won." He wants the people of Maycomb to hear the truth about Tom Robinson, "That boy may go to the chair, but he's not going till the truth's told." Chapter 15, Page 146. He was against the whole white community including his own sister practically said that he was a disgrace to his family Atticus tells scout when she asks him why he is taking the case he says "For a number of reasons. The main one is, if I didn't I couldn't hold up my head in town, I couldn't represent this county in the legislature, I couldn't even tell you or Jem not to do something again.
Atticus Finch, a moral perfection, accepts the case of Tom Robinson despite strong opposition from his neighbors; thus, Jem and Scout are put in danger. Tom Robinson’s case deals with controversial material to begin with, which is only made more contentious because of Tom’s skin color. To Kill a Mockingbird is set in the 1930’s, during the Great Depression. Although slavery was abolished more than 50 years before the era in which this novel takes place, in the southern county that the Finch family lives, Jim Crow oppression is still exercised on the black citizens of the area. Bob Ewell, the town’s trashy free loader, has accused Robinson of assault and rape of his daughter, Mayella. Atticus reasons with Scout, regarding why he chose to accept Tom’s case; “‘…every lawyer gets at least one case in his lifetime that affects him personally. This one’s mine, I guess,”’ (Lee 101). Atticus views this situation as a matter of pride. Somebody in the town must stand up to do the right thing, which is to represent Mr. Robinson, a “clean-living” man. He clarifies that he could not face his community any longer, nor c...
The villainy continues when he tried to kill Scout and Jem. Scout and Jem were walking home at night, when they were attacked by Bob Ewell. Bob had threatened to kill Atticus and get back at him, so he tried to kill his children. He tries to harm others for revenge and to uphold his ego.
The moral of this story is justice, Atticus does the most just thing by standing for Tom Robinson. Everyone else in town just sits and watches his demise but Atticus does what is right. He does what is right as an example for his children and for everyone else, a learning lesson to everyone who wasn’t taught what the right thing is.
Scout and Jem suffered Bob Ewell’s hate towards Atticus. Luckily Boo Radley saves them from Bob’s threat. Bob Ewell was lying on the ground with a kitchen knife stuck up under his ribs (Lee, 270). Hatred is developed from injustice. Bob Ewell attacking them shows the moral injustice in the book. To Kill a Mockingbird portrays the treatment of parents to their kids shape their future. Boo’s father, locked Boo up inside the Radley house. Boo, even after his parents death, never set out of his house when there was no reason to. “Thank You for my children Arthur” (Lee, 370). Atticus thanked Boo for saving Jem and Scout’s life from Bob Ewell. However, Boo didn’t respond which portrays Boo’s suffering from his dad’s punishment. Even with the death of his father, Boo’s dad shaped him to be that kind of
For a class structure to be preserved, dissenters have to be eliminated. Perhaps this is why Tom suffered such a dramatic death in his attempt to break free of a white dominated society. As Atticus recounts, “Seventeen bullet holes in him. They didn 't have to shoot him that much” (315). For a disabled man who was doomed from the time Mayella had feelings for him, the novel 's mockingbird is effectively killed by hate he did nothing to incur. Much like how the Pharisees attempted to take Jesus down before moving onto His followers, after Tom was eliminated, those who defended Tom had to be unable to disrupt class structure again. Unfortunately, the Finch family could not escape the town 's hatred of outsiders. Bob Ewell, Tom 's indirect killer, had “his last shred of credibility” destroyed by Atticus at the trial (292). After spitting in Atticus 's face, Bob vowed to “get him if it took the rest of his life” (290). In a dark twist of events, Bob 's vow ended up taking his life when he tried to silence the outsiders. As a result of his plot to get back at Atticus, Bob targeted Jem and Scout. As Deputy Heck Tate correctly summed up, Bob was, “Low down skunk enough with enough liquor in him to make him brave enough to kill children. He 'd never have met you [Atticus] face to face” (360). Fortunately, the reclusive outsider of the story, Arthur “Boo” Radley, saves the
In Harper Lee's novel To Kill A Mockingbird the protagonist Scout face offenses by others because of her father's justice for defending an African American in court. Scout Finch lives with her brother Jem, and their father Atticus, in the sleepy town of Maycomb during the Great Depression. As Atticus, the father of the protagonist faces the moral dilemma in chapter 29-30 of the incident with Bob Ewell. Atticus moral dilemma will reveal his character and his beliefs. Bob Ewell attempted to hurt Atticus children in order to get revenge on Atticus for defending the African American who was accused of raping his daughter in court. Atticus has a hard time of choosing whether to tell the town that Bob Ewell died of an accident, or his son or Boo Radley killed Bob Ewell. Atticus is a famous lawyer in Maycomb and he believes in legal justice.
Atticus, a lawyer and the father of Scout and Jem, is portrayed as the leader of Maycomb County—the person that everyone respects. Even though Atticus use to be the deadest shot in Maycomb County, he refuses to reveal that side of him to his children. Atticus wouldn’t teach Jem and Scout how to shoot, but he instructs them to, “…shoot all the bluejays you want [with the air rifles that the children received], if you can hit ‘em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird” (Lee 90). Atticus understands that mockingbirds provide no harm to humans. All they do is sing their heart out and give people pleasure, giving these species the symbol of peace. The novel's title, To Kill a Mockingbird, emphasizes on the theme of innocence, which is symbolized through mockingbirds. In addition to Atticus’s viewpoint, he believes that people should not judge a ...