To Kill A Mockingbird Movie Vs Book

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Even though To Kill a Mockingbird is to great works of literature, a movie and a book, they differ greatly in their theme, characters, and scenes. In To Kill a Mockingbird written by Harper Lee and the “To Kill a Mockingbird” movie by Robert Mulligan and Horton Foote, there are many important differences that influence the significance of some portions’ meanings. The main three differences are the absence of some major characters, major theme change, and the absence of important scenes.
Between To Kill a Mockingbird and the “To Kill a Mockingbird” movie, there is an absence of a few main characters, like Mr. Dolphus Raymond and Aunt Alexandra. Part of the major theme in To Kill a Mockingbird is femininity. Aunt Alexandra moves in with Atticus, …show more content…

In the book, Lee creates the theme of racism, innocence, and of course, the mockingbird. Now, these are just a few of the major themes in the book, but as for the movie, it really tones it down. The movie doesn’t really have a clear theme set forwards. In “To Kill a Mockingbird”, Lee stresses the idea of racism by making the Tom Robinson trial a huge part of the book. Lee shows how prejudice the people of Maycomb are. In her book, she has the kids experience the “black and white” sides of the town by having Scout and Jem go to Calpurnia’s church. On the flip side, Lee has Scout and Jem live with a white father, who is defending a black man, and them have to hear all of the things the white people in Maycomb have to say about their father. Innocence is symbolized through Scout and Jem throughout the beginning and very end of the book. Harper Lee demonstrates innocence in many different ways. One of the ways is when Scout and Dill plan to get married. They are both too young and innocent to understand what marriage or why people marry, so they just pretend as a way of acting grown up. Lastly, the mockingbird is part of the major theme in the book. At Christmas time, when Jem and Scout recieve airguns, Atticus explains that he prefers for them to shoot at tin cans, but if they must shoot at living things, they must never kill a mockingbird. Ms. Maudie later then explains why Atticus is …show more content…

An important scene that goes missing is when Jem takes Scout’s baton and destroys Mrs. Dubose’s yard due to a comment made by Mrs. Dubose. “Your father’s no better than the niggers and trash he works for!” (Lee, 135) Mrs. Dubose makes this comment which causes Jem to get “scarlet” in the face and very disturbed. “He did not begin to calm down until he had cut the tops off of every camellia bush Mrs. Dubose owned, until the ground was littered with green buds and leaves. He bent my baton against his knee, and snapped it in two and threw it down” (Lee, 137). This quote shows how Jem is beginning to stray from symbolizing an innocent child, as portrayed at the beginning of the book, to a man with courage. Harper Lee shows the maturity of Jem because he stands up for his father and his family because Mrs. Dubose insults Atticus for defending Tom Robinson, a black man. In the book, Harper Lee has Jem wanting to be more and more like his father by showing him standing up for what he believes in and not holding back. Lee also doesn’t have Jem hold back what he says and has Jem speak his mind. This key scene is absent from the movie where as in the movie, Jem is portrayed as an innocent and harmless child the whole time where he doesn’t really stand up for what he believes in or defends

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