Life is like a winding road that never ends. There are exits, wrong turns, stops, construction and many bumps along the way. When growing up, children are often faced with hardships.These bumps in the road are often tough to overcome. When defeated however, they result in lessons that will carry through the rest of their life. When going through these grueling times there are family, friends and many others who are there to give support, guidance, inspiration and to help the road be a little smoother. In To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee gives a direct scenario of how strength, inspiration, racism and family status all come together to form the small town of segregated Maycomb, in the 1930’s. These scenarios greatly connect with historical …show more content…
In some cases, this could be emotional strength. In To Kill A Mockingbird, Atticus displays inspiration towards Scout when she has a difficult time expressing her emotions to others. Her way of expressing is to fight others instead of using her words when they make her frustrated. “You just hold your head high and keep those fists down. No matter what anybody says to you, don’t let em’ get your goat. Try fighting with your head for a change (Lee 76).” Another example of inspiration that comes from Atticus towards Jem and Scout in the novel is, “Before I can live with other folks I’ve got to live with myself. The one thing that doesn’t abide by majority rule is a person’s conscience (Lee 101).” In this statement, Atticus is saying that a person cannot live with their true self unless they’re being true to their own mortality. To add on, he his telling the kids that they must simply look inside of themselves to figure out what is truly right and wrong, instead of falling into the trap of Maycomb’s …show more content…
One example of this is the Civil Rights Movement. Being an African-American was not easy, they didn’t have the same equal rights as most of Americans did. During the Civil Rights Movement many of the citizens who were fighting for equal rights had to have a lot of inspiration and courage to keep going and never give up as it lasted for a long brutal 381 days. One of the many women that are talked about today is Rosa Parks. She had the courage to not give her seat up on a bus and is now recognized in history. One of the many quotes she said during this time was, “I would like to be remembered as a person who wanted to be free… so other people would be also free (msn.com).” Another example of this is the social and economic classes in America. The main classes were the Upper, Upper Middle, Lower Middle, Working, Working Poor and Underclass. Many of the lower classes struggled with education, income, wealth and poverty. “The streets are a poor child's playground (Mokokoma Mokhonoana).” It is sad to say, but we still have an occuring division of economic classes in
In the town of Maycomb, a man who stands up against racism forever changes people’s views on racism. Scout, Jem and Atticus Finch all stand together against racism and prejudice in the tiny town of Maycomb. In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, 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 told Scout that Atticus was a disgrace to defend Tom Robinson, even though Francis is Scout’s cousin. 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 ecstatic.
Jem starts to understand the true meaning of courage after Mrs. Dubose dies. Although Mrs. Dubose despised Atticus, Jem had seen past her negativities and considered her a very brave woman. This is because she died of a morphine addiction and decided to leave the world not belonging to anyone or anything. She had stopped taking her morphine, which meant her death would be slow and extremely painful, but she persevered. Atticus wanted to remove the image from Jem’s head regarding courage as a “man with a gun” and described it in chapter 11, page 112 as, “Courage...it’s when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyways and you see it through no matter what.” This incid...
To Kill A Mockingbird displays an environment where one must be inhumane to another in order to become socially compatible. Maycomb has established a hierarchy where social compartmentalisation is the way of life. Men with a profession and a career are superior, while the farmers are near the bottom of the social strata and are considered inferior. No matter which remarkable qualities Negroes possess, they are always s...
To begin with, Jem and Scout determine that courage means doing what is right, even if it involves life threatening risks. In chapter eleven, Jem Finch, has ruined the patches of Mrs. Dubose’s lovely camellias. As soon as Atticus has heard of Jem’s little act of rebellion, he gives Mrs. Dubose the opportunity of deciding Jem’s punishment. Specifically, she establishes that Jem shall read to her every day after school. After Jem has finished his retribution, Atticus informs him of Mrs. Dubose’s death. As a result, Atticus speaks of Mrs. Dubose’s bravery. Jem starts to ask his father why he thinks this of Mrs. Dubose. Atticus replies, “I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do” (Lee 112). Accordingly, Atticus is trying to show that heroism comes from the people who do what their gut says is right, because that is courage. Mrs. Dubose wanted to die a pure woman instead of someone who had an addiction, which she successfully succeeded in. Another example of courage comes from when Atticus ta...
Jem’s maturity is shown through his understanding of true courage and Boo’s true personality. A few months after that, she dies and Atticus explains about the reason he makes Jem read: “[Mrs. Dubose] had her own views about things, a lot different from mine…I wanted you to see something about her—I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do. Mrs. Dubose won, all ninety-eight pounds of her. According to her views, she died beholden to nothing and nobody. She was the bravest person I ever knew” (Lee 149). Atticus says that he makes Jem read to her because he wants to understand what real courage is. Mrs. Dubose is morphine addict, but she forces herself to quit even though she knows she was going to die. Without Jem’s knowledge, Mrs. Dubose has been using...
In real life there are many different types of people, some of them are similar
Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird sets place in the fictional town of Maycomb, Alabama during the prominent period of racial inequality in the mid-twentieth century. To Kill a Mockingbird explores the transformations that follow one’s coming-of-age alongside the ambivalent morals of the 1950s. Changing the setting would affect the character development, conflict and atmosphere developing a new theme.
People who demonstrate great courage are often driven by the unwavering determination in their hearts. Mrs. Dubose, an elderly neighbor of the Finches, is a cantankerous ill-tempered woman who continually insults Scout and Jem as they pass by her house. One day, Jem destroys Mrs. Dubose’s camellia plants in a fit of rage, and must read to her every day as his punishment. Over the course of the month, Jem and Scout are forced to endure Mrs. Dubose’s constant tantrums during their reading sessions. After her death, Atticus tells Jem that Mrs. Dubose had been heavily addicted to morphine, and that her reading sessions were part of her successful efforts in overcoming her addiction. “’She said she meant to break herself of it...
Harper Lee’s novel To Kill A Mockingbird captures the essence of racism and prejudice through the people of Maycomb as they witness the trial of Tom Robinson unfold. The county of Maycomb is the backdrop for characters who are dishonest to themselves and others about the racism that exists in the community. By way of the townspeople, Lee presents a variety of characters: some are just, while others treat their neighbors as equals Many others are uneducated, financially poor, misinformed in the status quo, and/or discriminative. In contract to the townspeople, Atticus represents “the just” among the locals as much as he represents wisdom, which breathes change. Atticus’s positions as a father, lawyer, and member of the community reveal his integrity in all roles he inhabits.
The differences in social class and distaste between the blacks and the whites are clear in the small town of Maycomb. So clear that most of the town’s children are quickly catching on. This racial discrimination is also known as ‘Maycomb’s disease.’ When the news had gone around town about Atticus fighting for Tom Robinson, the disease got even worse. Children at school were taunting Scout telling her Atticus is a “nigger lover”. It wasn’t until Atticus said “It's never an insult to be called what somebody thinks is a bad name. It just shows you how poor that person is, it doesn't hurt you.” (Lee, 108) that Scout realized how discriminatory those people were. She also experiences this at Calpurnia’s church when Lula tells Calpurnia "You ain't got no business bringin' white chillun here—they got their church, we got our'n. It is our church, ain't it, Miss Cal?" (119) This is where Scout’s shift of view begins as an adult problem begins disrupting her little happy world and she realizes she can’t do much about it.
Through being educated about courage, the children are able to be more courageous. In the earlier parts of the novel Jem gets into an angry confrontation with Mrs. Dubose while passing her house. Jem gets mad and later in the story cuts the head of all the flowers in Mrs. Dubose’s garden thinking that this action was an act of courage. As a punishment Atticus made Jem read to Mrs. Dubose for a month. At first Jem thought that it would be the worst thing ever but after a while he realizes that she is not such a bad person. After the death of Mrs. Dubose Atticus tells Jem about Mrs. Dubose’s courage. From this Jem learns the meaning of true courage. After the death of Mrs. Dubose Atticus told Jem, “I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun” (Lee 149) Atticus is telling Jem what real courage is and about Mrs. Dubose morphine addiction and how she had vow...
Think back to a time when you have felt utterly powerless. That was the same feeling that many African Americans felt in the first half of the twentieth century. The time period was filled with hate and ignorance towards minorities, especially in the American South. This is the setting of Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. Characters like Tom Robinson are subjected to the community’s hate and arrogance and end up in situations with little or no control of their fate. The central theme, racism, in To Kill a Mockingbird shows that African Americans were not accepted as equals in Maycomb County, the geographical location the story occurs, children like Jem and Scout Finch who were left perplexed by inequality and prejudice, and the citizens of the county who accepted racism and did nothing to better the situation for African Americans.
In To Kill a Mockingbird, Mrs. Dubose, the neighbor of the Finch family, demonstrates extraordinary courage, which in turn, teaches Atticus what courage, an aspect of morality, is, and how being moral is not about the end result. In the beginning of To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus shoots and kills a rabid dog, inadvertently instilling in his kids the idea that courage is a man with a gun. Atticus knows this is not the case. After attacking Mrs. Dubose’s plants, Jem has to read to her. Unbeknownst to him, Mrs. Dubose was dying and she was addicted to painkillers. Yet as a final act, she breaks this addiction. Atticus remarks, “I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his
Sum up, the social relationship between these people here, this old town Maycomb is complicated and pretty tense. This novel has taught us so much, thanks to Harper Lee – one of the greatest writers of all time. It has opened our eyes wider about racism at that time and compared it to nowadays it has become so much better. People are equally, no matter what skin color you are, what religion you have, or where you’re from, what you’re appearance looks like, we are all equal, and we are all the same – human. So instead of treating badly to one another we should all united and make the world a better place.
... of bravery and courage in the eyes of Atticus, and both Jem and Mrs. Dubose applied to his meaning. Mrs. Dubose strongly played the role of the courageous woman that fights for her dignity ignoring what other people do, and represented the person who fights alone without asking for help. Jem went through the process of growing that led him to be a responsible man who stands for his word no matter what, despite the fear that he might face by doing that or despite the bad results that could occur to him. By understanding what courage and bravery truly are, positive results could occur in society as a result of that. In the book “To Kill a Mockingbird” Mrs. Dubose was a great example of fighting addiction, and Jem was a great example of the true form of maturity, and if these examples were used well they could be set as a solution to most of the problems in the world.