To Kill A Mockingbird Book Vs Movie Essay

There are often many disputes on whether a novel or the novel’s movie adaptation is better. Some will debate about the novel’s originality or the movie’s reality, but none can argue that there are several paramount differences. Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird takes place in the fictional Maycomb County, Alabama, a very prejudice town in the early 1930’s. A young girl, Scout Finch, and her brother, Jem, learn several lessons that force them to grow up very quickly. When a black man, Tom Robinson, is apprehended and Atticus Finch, the children’s father, takes up the case, the two children enter a dangerous world of uncertainty and prejudice. However, there are a few very obvious differences between the book and the movie adaptation which is

Dubose, as a punishment for destroying her flowers is also an important scene. When Jem Finch destroys Mrs. Dubose’s flowers, Atticus makes him read to Mrs. Dubose as retribution. After the punishment has been carried out and Mrs. Dubose has passed away, Jem and Scout learn about bravery and compassion. Atticus tells his children about Mrs. Dubose’s morphine addiction and how she was brave to quit before she died, “‘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). Unfortunately, this never happened the movie adaptation. Had this scene been in the movie though, viewers would see how Jem and Scout learned to understand the troubles of their neighbor. To understand the hardships of others is, in itself, a hard task. Not having this event in the movie adaptation exempts Jem and Scout from learning about understanding the hardships Mrs. Dubose had to go through. The theme of understanding is also almost forgotten as Jem and Scout never understand why Mrs. Dubose was the way she was. This part of the novel was a wonderful example of two children learning to understand the difficulties of other