Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird

919 Words2 Pages

To Stand on the Porch Modern Literature Throughout the events of the trial in Maycomb, Atticus’s most important advice for Scout is that “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.” (Lee, 30) As the society’s prejudices surround Scout and Jem, Atticus encourages them to cultivate respect within themselves; not only for other races, but for everyone. Throughout “To Kill a Mockingbird,” Harper Lee traces out Scout’s growing respect for outsiders, for her aggressors, and eventually for Boo Radley. In her first school year, Scout has no respect for anyone different from her. An example of this is her treatment of Walter Cunningham, which is heedless at best and merciless at worst: after an explanation of Walter’s habits lands her in trouble with Miss Caroline, she finds him in the schoolyard later and attacks him. After Jem invites Walter to dinner, Scout shows scorn for Walter’s revived dignity, commenting, “By the time we reached our front steps Walter had forgotten he was a Cunningham.” (Lee, 23) She shows marked disapproval for the way he eats, and she decides to eat in the kitchen rather than join Walter and the others at the dinner table. However, as Scout gains experience and maturity, she begins to put aside her differences from others. She becomes friends with Walter, and she asks Aunt Alexandra if she can play with him. Aunt Alexandra appalls Scout with the same prejudice towards the Cunninghams that Scout held two years before: “Jean Louise will not invite Walter Cunningham to this house…Because--he--is--trash, that’s why you can’t play with him. I’ll not have you around him, picking up his habits an... ... middle of paper ... ...…It was only a fantasy. We would never see him.” (Lee, 242) Finally, however, when Boo Radley saves Scout and Jem from Bob Ewell, she is able to see him as he is: as a man. Scout issues her final judgment on Boo in the final paragraphs of the book, as she refers to the Gray Ghost: “an’ Atticus, when they finally saw him, why he hadn’t done any of those things…Atticus, he was real nice….” (Lee, 281) “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee is a book primarily focused on racial prejudice, but it is even more focused on the prejudices of each day. Scout learns, over the events of the story, how to treat anyone she meets; be they outliers, opponents, or enigmas; with respect and dignity. Through experience and maturation, she finally learns to “climb into [one’s] skin and walk around in it.” Works Cited Citations To Kill A Mockingbird; Harper Lee

Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird
1481 Words | 3 Pages
In the novel, To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the main characters: Atticus, Scout and Jem were faced with many losing battles such as Tom Robinson's case, the "mad dog incident" and Mrs. Dubose's addiction to morphine. This builds on the theme of there are things in life that won't go your way. The book takes place in the 1930's or 1940's in a small town in Alabama called Maycomb. The novel takes us through the life and perils that the main characters undergo and teach us about growing up and being mature.
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Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird
1141 Words | 3 Pages
Childhood is a continuous time of learning, and of seeing mistakes and using them to change your perspectives. In the book To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee illustrates how two children learn from people and their actions to respect everyone no matter what they might look like on the outside. To Kill A Mockingbird tells a story about two young kids named Scout and her older brother Jem Finch growing up in their small, racist town of Maycomb, Alabama. As the years go by they learn how their town and a lot of the people in it aren’t as perfect as they may have seemed before. When Jem and Scout’s father Atticus defends a black man in court, the town’s imperfections begin to show. A sour, little man named Bob Ewell even tries to kill Jem and Scout all because of the help Atticus gave to the black man named Tom Robinson. Throughout the novel, Harper Lee illustrates the central theme that it is wrong to judge someone by their appearance on the outside, or belittle someone because they are different.
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to kill a mockingbird
655 Words | 2 Pages
To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee sheds light upon the controversy of racism and justice in his classic novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. The notion of equality in accordance with the law and the pursuit of justice are hindered by racial discrimination. The essence of human nature is pondered. Are we inclined to be good or in the wrath of evil? The novel reflects on the contrasting nature of appearance versus reality.
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To Kill A Mockingbird: A Story of Empathy
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One of the first lessons taught in Mockingbird is the power of understanding other people’s perspectives. Initially, Scout has trouble empathizing with other people, especially her first Grade Teacher, Miss Caroline, whom Scout becomes frustrated at for not understanding Maycomb’s complex social structure. After hearing his daughter complain, Atticus tells Scout that she'll “get along a lot better with all kinds of folks [if she] considers things from [their] point of view” (39). After ‘standing in the shoes of another person’, it is much harder to be prejudiced towards that person. Indeed, this may be because a key tenet of prejudice is disregarding the views of whoever is being judged. Nevertheless, it proves difficult for Scout to grasp this relatively simple concept, who begins to hear rumors of Boo Radley, an enigma who has not been seen outside his home for over 30 years. Thus begins Jem and Scout’s quest to make Boo Radley come outs...
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Comparing 1930's Society, as Depicted in To Kill a Mockingbird with Present Day Society
864 Words | 2 Pages
“You never really understood a person until you consider things from his point of view—until you climb into his skin and walk around it.” Atticus Finch is a man of extreme integrity. He, as both a lawyer and a human being, stands up for his democratic beliefs and encourages his children to stand up for their own, though they may stand alone. Harper Lee showed how far respect went in To Kill a Mockingbird when Atticus defended Tom Robinson in his rape trial. He did not think twice about being ridiculed by th...
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To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
2585 Words | 6 Pages
Each character’s personality in the book To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee is intricately described, therefore giving the reader an image or idea of the kind of person he or she is. A picture of the character is formed in the mind with maybe rough edges but a soft heart on the inside. A character’s personality may be oversimplified by drawing shapes in symbolism, but the shapes may be helpful in perceiving the general extent of the characteristics. With a little help from Lee’s descriptions, I have been able to form images in my mind (and draw them on paper) of the personalities of Scout, Jem, Atticus, Dil, Calpurnia, Boo Radley, and Bob Ewell.
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To kill a mockingbird by Harper Lee
515 Words | 2 Pages
Mood helps in creating an atmosphere in a literary work by means of setting, theme, diction and tone. Throughout the book To kill a mockingbird the author wanted the mood to be sorrowful or vexed or just fret about how the people are acting because seeing how things were being treated or how people acted would be enough to make you feel angry or sad or worried for the people who were in the book. You always wanted to know what was going to come next or how something would end. Vex was a very prominent mood in this story and is definitely the most relevant.
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To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
628 Words | 2 Pages
In the opening chapters of “To Kill A Mockingbird,” Harper Lee introduces several subtle instances of racism. However, when Jem and Scout are welcomed into Cal’s Church in chapter 12, the reader really gets to travel behind the false disguise of Maycomb County’s white society to see the harsh realities of the injustices suffered by the blacks. The black community is completely separate from the whites -- in fact, Cal lives in a totally different part of town!
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To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
2185 Words | 5 Pages
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee seems like a complete replica of the lives of people living in a small Southern U.S. town. The themes expressed in this novel are as relevant today as when this novel was written, and also the most significant literary devices used by Lee. The novel brings forward many important themes, such as the importance of education, recognition of inner courage, and the misfortunes of prejudice. This novel was written in the 1930s. This was the period of the “Great Depression” when it was very common to see people without jobs, homes and food. In those days, the rivalry between the whites and the blacks deepened even more due to the competition for the few available jobs. A very famous court case at that time was the Scottsboro trials. These trials were based on the accusation against nine black men for raping two white women. These trials began on March 25, 1931. The Scottsboro trials were very similar to Tom Robinson’s trial. The similarities include the time factor and also the fact that in both cases, white women accused black men.
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To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
836 Words | 2 Pages
Scout learned a number of things in the book, but most of them all refer back to a statement that Atticus and Calpurnia said, which goes, “It’s a sin to kill a mockingbird because all they do is sing their hearts our for us.” (Lee, pg. 90). Scout learned that about people, too. She learned that some people don’t do anything to you, so it would be a sin to do something mean in return. Over the course of the story Scout becomes more mature and learns the most important facts of life. She was living through a very difficult time and most of that helped her get through.
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Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird
700 Words | 2 Pages
One of the principal aims of To Kill a Mockingbird is to subject the narrator to a series of
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Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird
1461 Words | 3 Pages
Racial discrimination, although not the main focus of To Kill a Mockingbird, plays a large role throughout the novel. Many characters in To Kill a Mockingbird are affected by racial discrimination, whether they are the cause or not. Throughout the novel, three characters stand out as being affected by racial discrimination the most. These characters are Jean Louise “Scout” Finch, Atticus Finch, and Tom Robinson.
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To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
545 Words | 2 Pages
The Cunninghams are mistreated by part of the society in Maycomb. Aunt Alexandra, who mistreats them the most, is prejudiced toward the Cunninghams, she does not like them. She thinks that her reputation, and social status are going to be stained if Scout plays with Walter Jr.. Scout wants to invite Walter over, but Aunt Alexandra does not like Walter, she says that they are folks from different class. She thinks it is best if they do not see each other. She once talks to Scout about how different they are, "Because - he - is - trash, that's why you can't play with him.
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Empathy In To Kill A Mockingbird
332 Words | 1 Pages
To Kill a Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee, means to harm the innocent; to hurt a person who has done nothing wrong for any certain reason. The novel coherently shows the impact of racism in a community against minorities that has been bred in the minds for years. Throughout Scout’s story, Atticus teaches his children a valuable lesson to walk in a person’s skin. There are various ways people interact and communicate to one another: sympathy and empathy. Those that are sympathetic understand the situations of others without feeling the person’s pain. Atticus particular tells Scout to put herself in someone’s skin, to become that person in their situation. Atticus teaches his children the essence of empathy and to take the form of another’s
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Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird
985 Words | 2 Pages
Helen Keller, a deaf and blind writer and lecturer describes life as “a succession of
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Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird