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Analysis of a mockingbird movie
Atticus finch character essay
Essay about atticus finch in the to kill a mockingbird
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Recommended: Analysis of a mockingbird movie
A well-written book helps a reader connect more with the characters and grow up with the characters. To Kill a Mockingbird is a book written by Harper Lee about how two children go through events that will change them and form them as a person, especially Scout. By the end of the book, she has experienced and has become ready for adult situations. Scout grows up by witnessing racism, sexism, and poverty. Most people do not notice racism at such a young age unless they are affected by it. In the 1930s, white girls such as Scout were not the ones being excluded against. It happened to people of color. Scout and Jem experience racism first hand. A great learning experience for Scout about the black population of Maycomb. Jem and Scout have little …show more content…
Scout notices racism more in Maycomb. Scout barely saw the effects of racism throughout her community before the trial. She didn't really understand how Tom was being treated by the people, didn't understand that Mr. Ewell was a deteriorating man and a racist. Scout learned that life's not fair, and that justice isn't always served, and that some people will lie even if it hurts others, just to protect themselves. Racism became more obvious after the trial for Scout and a glimpse of the real world. Her family is being racist because they are judging Atticus’ client due to his skin color. Scout teaches her Uncle a lesson about listening to both sides of the story. You can see that she is using Atticus’ lessons about being a lawyer but not as much as keeping her head up. Atticus can see that she is coming along though and that she is growing up. Sexism starts at a young age due to the people that surround her. Scout is continuously antagonized and doesn’t enjoy Mrs. Dubose’s comment on how she should wear …show more content…
The kids are used to the rural environment and sometimes they might think school is for city kids. Scout brought up to her father the Walter situation and Atticus explained to her how Mr. Cunninghams repays him with goods rather than money. The black community was poor and they weren’t able to afford things that white churches have and it was irregular for Scout.The church is so poor they can’t have hymn books, but they are so poor that they can’t read. All of the white people at their church have hymns and can read. This is an example how the Great Depression affected Blacks greatly and Scout noticed it. Growing up isn’t easy to Scout. She encounters situations that follow these three categories: sexism, racism, and poverty. She is told to do things like a girl, your father is a nigger lover, and sees a great depression first hand. This does change her from a little girl to a young woman, which is noticed by other characters. With noticing every single situation Scout goes through made her understand that life is
Scout’s family is completely against racism and prejudice. In the town of Maycomb, prejudice is a disease, but Jem, Scout, and Dill are immune to this illness because of the people who raise them. For example, when Cecil and Francis tell Scout that it is a disgrace for Atticus to defend Tom, even though Francis is Scouts cousin, also when Scout and Jem hear the verdict of Tom’s case they both cry and are angry about the sentence while the rest of the town is happy. Scout doesn’t want Walter Cunningham to come over for dinner because she thinks that he is a disgrace. For all of these reasons it shows that the Scout, Jem and Atticus must not be racist or prejudiced.
In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Scout Finch tries to please her father, but living with no mother it’s hard to know how to act. It’s natural to follow Jem, her brother, when that is her only friend through out the years. Imagine hearing gossip about your father from friends, neighbors, and even your own cousin. Scout had to push through all of the gossip and believe in her father. Throughout the novel Scout shows how social she can be. To Kill a Mockingbird is a great novel that keeps you reading. Scout has a positive effect on events such as at the jail, she was the reason that the mob left. She also always curious so she is more mature than most kids her age. Through the journey of the trial she shows how hot-tempered, tomboyish, and mature she can be.
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...
One thing that Scout learns is not to believe that everything she hears as the truth. This is a very good lesson because if you did, you become very confused because people can rarely agree on how a story went. For instance, when Scout wants to know more about Boo Radley, Stephanie Crawford gets excited because she sees this as an opportunity to open her mouth and goes on to tell Jem that, " she woke up in the middle of the night and saw him looking straight through the window at her .... said that his head was a skull" (13.) Then Jem goes further into what he heard by saying, " he dined on raw squirrel and any cats he could catch" (13.) This shows how the town compensates not knowing things about others by making up stories. Also Scout sees lies getting passed off as truth when Atticus takes on Tom Robinson as a client. Mean things are spread about Atticus and his credibility is questioned. Since Scout has a short temper and ears that hear everything she is easily offended at the comments that are said, such as the comment made by Mrs. Dubose, " Your father father's no better than the ni**ers and trash he works for." This angers Scout and Jem very much. It also shows that the town isn't happy with the moral decision's that Atticus makes and feel the need to bash him in unfair ways. Scout learns that if she keeps listening to what is said, she would go insane from not hitting anyone.
Scout is a young girl growing up in the south, she is intelligent, thoughtful, and good natured. Her identity is somewhat uncommon during the time she lives in. She is characterized as a tomboy, who doesn’t always act “lady like” or proper by southern standards. Scout most likely became the type of person she is by the care of her father, Atticus. He shapes her mind, while trying to protect her from a dangerous world and preserving her childhood.
Being very young in the beginning of the book, her views of racism have been guided by the people she's around. Before the trial, Scout’s life was relatively sheltered. She knows that blacks are segregated, but their lives do not touch Scout except for Calpurnia. Scout really isn't exposed to the harsh realities of racism until the trial. Here, Scout encounters the taunting of kids and adults. She endures remarks about her father being a "nigger lover" and then finally the travesty of injustice that happens to Tom. Here father provides her with many answer to all the questions she has on the subject, and helps her understand that black people are just regular people, and they need to be treated as regular people.
“We see the town of Maycomb in its worst light, willing to execute an innocent man for a crime he did not commit rather than question their belief in black inferiority and their social taboos about interracial relationships” (Felty 299). This quote may seem extreme, but it is completely accurate in Scout’s hometown Maycomb, Alabama. In the town of Maycomb, prejudices and discriminations are a common idea in the life of its citizens. This is shown in various ways. For example, African Americans are treated as lower class citizens because they are discriminated by white people. Scout perceives these prejudices and discriminations in different ways throughout the book. Scout’s views on the prejudices and discriminations in her society evolve
One of the values of Maycomb is racism. However, there are a few that does not believe in this value, including Mr. Dolphus Raymond. Mr. Dolphus Raymond is a white man married to a black woman and has mixed children. He does not believe in society’s ideology regarding racism and knows that some citizens of Maycomb antagonize him. However, he does not care, as he prefers the colored people over white. He knows how unfair society is, from the way he gets treated. Moreover, Jem realizes the falsities of society, due to the injustice he sensed. After Tom’s verdict, Jem’s first clear sense of injustice provided a new perception on the world. When he was young, he believed that the people of Maycomb are the best folks, but the outcome of the trial changed this thought. Furthermore, Scout’s realization of the falsehood in society is with the hypocrisy of Miss Gates. She was taught by Miss Gates how Americans do not believe in persecution. However, Scout saw Miss Gates talk about the African Americans in an adverse way. Learning about the falsehood in society is part of
In the 1930’s many African American men were wrongly accused of rape and murder. The issue of racism is brought up in the book “To Kill a Mockingbird” when Scout overhears her teacher saying that it's a great thing that this is happening to Tom Robinson because the black men are getting too comfortable thinking that they’re mighty. Racism didn’t only affect Tom Robinson, but it also affected those who supported him. The lives of Scout and her family are changed when Scouts father who is a lawyer, steps in and defends Tom Robinson. Atticus’ lawsuit affects Scout and his children in several ways. As kids who were raised to respect everyone, and not judge people by their race they seem to be the outcast in school because of this. The children in Scouts, school are not accustomed to people respecting African-Americans and as a result they taunt and harass Atticus’ children. As a result of the violence towards Scout, Scout responds to violence with violence. However, Atticus is not happy with the way Scout is handling her problems. Racism is a reoccurring theme throughout the course of the story and affects all of the main characters in several ways. Maycomb as a whole is affected because of racism and many become outcasts such as in Mrs.Dolphus Raymond's
Scout first learns to show compassion and tolerance by refusing to go to school because she hates Miss Caroline. Atticus tells her that, 'First of all, if you can learn a simple trick, Scout, you'll get along 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'; (30). When Atticus told her this, she began to accept Miss Caroline as well as other people's differences and opinions.
As Scout and Jem Finch grow up they are exposed to a distressing controversy about her fathers lawsuit that he is defending. Scout's father Atticus Finch is defending Tom Robinson a southern black man who is accused of assault. The entire community are against Tom because he is a black man and agrees he should spend time in a solitary confinement even though he is innocent. While the case is going on Scout get's teased in class from other students because her father is helping a black man. Scout was raised to respect everyone regardless of their colour and that everyone is equal and has the rights o...
As the story progresses, Scout slowly becomes introduced into the world of hatred, unfairness, and racism that the 1930’s exposed. Nevertheless, since Scout still had both her innocence and naivete, due to her premature age, she completely expressed total disapproval towards the treatment of blacks during the time of her childhood. The author portrays this disapproval through Dill and Jem, Scout’s friend, and Scout’s brother, respectively, as shown here by Dill, “‘I don’t care one speck. It ain’t right to do ‘em that way. Hasn’t anybody got any business talkin’ like that—it just makes me sick.’';
Racism presents itself in many ways in the town of Maycomb. Some are blatant and open, but others are more insidious. One obvious way that racism presents itself is in the result of Tom Robinson’s trial. Another apparent example is the bullying Jem and Scout had to endure as a result of Atticus’s appointment as Tom Robinson’s defense attorney. A less easily discernible case is the persecution of Mr. Dolphus Raymond, who chose to live his life in close relation with the colored community.
Scout learns that by resisting prejudice, we often help others. For example, Scout sees Atticus defend Tom Robinson, despite the white people of the town’s disapproval. By defending Tom, Atticus paves a small pathway in Maycomb for black people to follow to attempt to raise their social status.
As a result, this dramatic and deeply moving novel takes us into the world of Jem and Scout, in a journey that teaches both the characters and the readers about lessons in life that we witness everyday and learn from, growing and maturing, day by day. The main problems that were faced in the book were of: prejudice and hate, people judging others, and the inequality between the treatment of men and women. These are problems that are faced in places by people, everyday, even today, and together we must work to overcome these problems and unite, every person equal to any other.