More handpicked essays just for you.
Themes of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Themes of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Adventures of huckleberry finn significance
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Themes of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
At first, I heard some muffled noises, like people running. I didn’t pay much attention until I heard a boy, a tired and young voice, scream, “Run, Scout, Run!” Then, with adrenaline rushing, I looked out the grimy window to see a large drunken man, holding a switchblade, attacking two small children, whom I recognized as Jem and Scout Finch. I could only guess it was Scout as she was hidden by a ham costume and could barely move. Acting on a protective instinct, I rushed to the aid of the children in peril, grabbing a knife on the way out. I paused. I have been in my house for centuries. Maycomb didn’t think highly of me. Being involved in a knife fight would not improve my reputation, but I had to put my anxieties aside to save lives. Years
Albert Camus once said, “Rebellion cannot exist without the feeling that somewhere, in some way, you are justified.” This genius makes it clear that one does not rebel against society unless one feels that it is for the better. This accurately sums up the mindset of both young Scout Finch, the main character of To Kill a Mockingbird, a classic American novel, and Harper Lee, the author, when they made their decisions to go against “the flow” and follow their hearts. Scout Finch goes against the flow by being one of the only people in Maycomb who discounts racism enough to voluntarily associate with black people, and Harper Lee goes against the flow by publishing a controversial novel that does not agree with everyone in America. The author
First of all, I’d like to say sorry for all the things that Scout and I have done. We behaved badly by trying to make you come out of the house. Such as when we gave you a letter to let you know that we want you to go out of your house, even if you do not want to, but Atticus caught us, when I’m going to slip the paper in your window he took it from me and read it. He told me to stop bothering you because Atticus thought that we’re making fun of you, but we’re not, we just want you to go out and have fun with us.
Scout is one of the central character’s in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. Scout is a girl who slowly changes through the course of the book. Throughout the book, Lee describes the character of Scout as being tomboyish, innocent, and aggressive.
Through the development of Scout’s relationship with Arthur Radley, Scout develops and becomes more empathetic. Atticus Finch, Scout’s father, is her most consistent role model and used by Lee as the moral compass. Atticus is a firm believer in teaching by example, and his respect of his children is such that he treats them almost as adults, emphasised in the line ‘he played with us, read with us, and treated us with courteous detachment’ pg. 6. This refusal to shelter Scout from the harsh realities of life in Maycomb allows her to learn from experience. The strong moral guidance offered by Atticus allows Scout not only to learn from experience, but also to develop her personal integrity. Atticus exemplifies his strong beliefs, as illustrated when he says ‘Shoot
Compassionate, dramatic, and deeply moving, Harper Lee's, To Kill a Mockingbird takes readers to the roots of human behavior, to innocence and experience, kindness and cruelty, love and hatred, and the struggle between blacks and whites. Atticus Finch, a lawyer and single parent in a small southern town in the 1930's, is appointed by the local judge to defend Tom Robinson, a black man, who is accused of raping a white woman. Friends and neighbors object when Atticus puts up a strong and spirited defense on behalf of the accused black man. Atticus renounces violence but stands up for what he believes in. He decides to defend Tom Robinson because if he did not, he would not only lose the respect of his children and the townspeople, but himself as well.
Atticus Finch’s unique, courageous personality and contrarian mindset are proven through his unconventional actions throughout the novel. His stoic nature correlates with his extreme courage, a moral facet of his multi-layered personality that he highlights with various acts of nobility that many in Maycomb do not expect and often despise, but he continues on regardless. Early on, Atticus shows an aspect of his moral courage when he consoles Scout on the topic of getting bullied about his decision to defend Tom Robinson. In this specific instance, Atticus explains to Scout that, “no matter what anybody says to you, don’t you let ‘em get your goat. Try fighting with your head for a change” (Lee 101). Letting insults and rude remarks fly over
To Kill A Mockingbird The Maturing of Jem Finch Society is not as innocent to a child as it may appear to be. In fact, when one really understands the society in which he lives he is no longer a child. This is much the same case as found in To Kill A Mockingbird, by Leigh Harper. Although Jem, being a child at the beginning of the novel, is immature and unaware of the society in which he lives, he matures mentally to the point where he sees the evil in society and gains a knowledge of death. Like most children, at the beginning of To Kill A Mockingbird Jem and Scout are both young, play together, and have childhood monsters or fears like other children.
We stood and watched as the dark figures got out of the dusty cars and moved towards Atticus and Tom Robinson’s cell. I had a theory of what they were trying to do: kill the accused. It’s not common for a group of men to be going to the jail in the middle of the night dressed in such a way. I was sure that they wanted to commit an act of lynching when they put the sheriff into this. The men wanted Atticus to draw back, but I knew he isn’t that kind of person.
Maycomb is a fictional town in which we are exposed to the brutality of people. We follow Scout and Jem’s journey, which slowly reveals to us that the world is not a fair place and if anything, that the world can be quite cruel. This is shown through the ways in which characters act in a despicable manner towards others. Tom Robinson’s trial further gives us an insight as to the lies and racism that people are capable of. We are constantly confronted with the harsh reality that that the world is made up of numerous people that are filled with hatred, fueling them to act inhumanely towards others. Yet, at the end of the novel we are given a glimmer of hope as both Jem and Scout understanding this predominant concept, means that the next generation of Maycomb citizens may well be more compassionate towards one another
I’m dying and I know it. I also know there ain’t nothing I can do about it. That’s why I have this morphine. Keeps me from feeling the death coming for me. Knowing it’s coming and not having control over makes me hate everything. And those wild kids Jeremy and Scout always running around don’t help any. Scout don’t even act like a lady. She runs around like one of the boys. I hate it all. Then one day, that father of theirs, Atticus, changed things for me.
On November 21st, as the sun is about to set in Maycomb, Tom Robinson starts to walk home from work. One of the houses Tom passes daily is the Ewell’s house. More than once, Mayella Ewell, the oldest of the Ewell children, had asked Tom to help Mayell with a chore or a hard tak. That night, all of the children, but Mayell were out of the house. When Tom passed by, Mayella asked Tom to grab a box off of the top of a chiffarobe in the Ewell’s house. When Tom had grabbed the box, the events that unfolded next, would take Tom to court.
"Maycomb was an old town, but it was a tired old town when I first knew it. In rainy weather the streets turned to red slop; grass grew on the sidewalks, the courthouse sagged in the square."(Lee 9). This environment, as Scout Finch accurately describes, is not conducive to young children, loud noises, and games. But, the Finch children and Dill must occupy themselves in order to avoid boredom. Their surroundings are their boundaries, but in their minds, they have no physical confines. Although the physical "boundaries were Mrs. Henry Lafayette Dubose's house two doors to the north..., and the Radley Place three doors to the south,"(Lee 11) Jem, Scout, and Dill find ways to use the limits, in conjunction with their imaginations, to amuse themselves. The children are the ones who change the old town and make it full of unexpected events. In the same way as the children, the adults of the novel play games that come from their imaginations and, they themselves are the ones who provide the fear for everyone in the county to fear. "Maycomb County had recently been told that it had nothing to fear but fear itself"(10). The adults and the children share the fact that they both play games, but a difference also exists between them. The children enact their entertainment, knowing that the games could get violent, but in the end, when the games are over, all the players are able to return home. On the other hand, the adults play their adult games, hurting anyone who does not play by the given rules, and not everyone is fortunate enough to return home. The children pretend to be violent at times but the adults actually are violent. As the children move through the novel, they use these games to develop from their innocence to a level of experience by actualizing the realities of their games through the lives of the adults. Through their own games and through the games of the adults, the children learn values of respect, courage, and understanding.
In the beginning of the novel, the reader finds that Scout Finch is not the most peaceful girl. She fights boys quite often, and never backs down from a fight. One day Cecil Jacobs approached Scout and was taunting her because her father is “defending niggers”.
In the mid 1930’s the county of Maycomb, home of Jean Louise “Scout” Finch, have standards for race resulting in an amount of racism among the people of Maycomb. As Scout matures, she experiences racism
Imagine being in a countryside and it is spring time. There are lush green trees on both sides of the road and space between them is filled with different kinds of bushes. There are pathways from the road, leading to the houses where the bushes have been cleared. The air is fresh and calm. No mobiles, no vehicles, just the sound of wind in your ears. You are a 6-year-old girl, full of energy running without any reason. You are thinking about nothing in particular and looking curiously everywhere. That’s what “To Kill a Mockingbird” is, it is a beautiful summer in a book.