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.
To begin, one of the losing battles in the novel was the mad dog incident. This event started on page 96. Jem and Scout encountered Tim Johnson, a "liver-colored bird dog, the pet of Maycomb" (pg. 96). He was sick and was pretty much crawling. The children ran to Calpurnia, their cook who identified the dog as a mad dog
and after that, people immediately rushed home and the street the Finches lived on was deserted. Atticus (Scout and Jem's father) and Heck Tate (the sheriff) soon arrived to see what was going on. The dog was shivering, its jaw opened and shut and was advancing slowly towards Atticus, Heck, and the kids. Heck immediately handed his rifle to Atticus who had hesitated to shoot at the dog. "I haven't shot a gun in thirty years" (pg. 100) was Atticus's response. Heck gave Atticus his rifle and told him "I'd feel mighty comfortable if you did now," (pg. 100). Atticus took the gun and slowly took aim at the dog with tough concentration. His glasses slipped off his nose and broke
but he paid no attention. "With movements so swift they seemed simultaneous, Atticus' hand yanked a ball-tipped lever as he brought the gun to his shoulder. The rifle cracked." (pg. 100). Atticus shot at the dog and ended its life
and the dog "didn't know what hit him" (pg. 100). This shows that the incident was a losing battle to the dog because the dog couldn't stop itself from dying. It pretty much had to die since it was ill and was in great pain. Atticus didn't want to shoot the dog at first but he knew he had to protect the town and free the dog of its pain. Because the dog didn't have a choice about whether or not it was going to die, it is an example of a losing battle.
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.
The theme of these two chapters is that Dill, and Jem wanted to go to the Radely house to get a peep at Boo Radely through the blinds. Scout feels uneasy about it but despite Jem’s wishes refuses to go home. He gets shot at with a gun while trying to escape. He lost his pants while escaping and when he went back to get them they where laid out on the fence like they where expecting Jem to come back. The next day every body was talking about it, they all thought Mr. Radely shot at a black man but missed. It seemed like Mr. Radely knew it was Jem though. Jem and Nathan Radley each said hi and Mr. Radely was talking about filling his tree with cement even though it was perfectly healthy. Jem found this strange.
The story, To Kill a Mockingbird is a very fine novel which exemplifies the life in the south and the human rights and values given to everybody. The book especially took the case of prejudice to a serious extreme. From the title, a mockingbird through the eyes of Harper Lee, is a person who has fallen victim to vicious stereotypes. The title To Kill a Mockingbird explains itself quite clearly in the end of the novel when Tom Robinson, one of the mockingbirds, is killed due to the stereotypes dumped upon him. Often, the use of stereotypes just breaks down the real truth of a person.
A father is one who raises and nourishes his children. Kind, understanding, strict but fair, Atticus Finch is everything a father should be. Atticus is a great father to both of his children, Scout and Jem. A father's behavior influences a child's character. Scout and Jem show the tolerance and respect that Atticus has situated in them. They become curious, polite, intelligent, and giving. Atticus is a wise and intelligent man who teaches his children about life, and plays a principle role in affecting his children's futures. Atticus' role as a father is similar to one of a teacher. His children learn more things from him than anyone else in their lives. Atticus believes that it is more effective to teach his kids through example, first hand. Atticus, whom is the teacher of life to his children, emphasizes on teaching his children the importance of education, doing what is right according to one's self,with justice and equality.
“You felt sorry for her, you felt sorry for her?” (Lee 197) A quote from Harper Lee’s award winning novel To Kill a Mockingbird, which says so much. It shows the prejudice present in the 1920’s and 1930’s and how a black man could not feel sorry for a white woman because he was black. Negroes were not treated as equals. In fact, Negroes were believed to be less than second-class citizens, even level with the animals on the social ladder and biologically inferior to whites. Negroes were lynched often in many states, without reason, by white mobs. Blacks weren’t treated right in any part of American society including the courtroom. , with both the lynching in the streets and the prejudice in the courtroom this was a time where blacks did not have a fair chance both in and out of court.
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.
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!
Nelle Harper Lee’s novel To Kill A Mockingbird has been considered one of the classic works of American literature. To Kill A Mockingbird is the work ever published by Nelle Harper Lee, and it brought her great fame. However, Nelle Harper Lee has published several other articles in popular magazines. Nelle Harper Lee is not an individual who desires to be in the light and little is known about her personal life. At the time it is believed she is possible working on her memoirs. The fictional work of To Kill A Mockingbird plots many elements close to real events in America’s struggle over civil rights.
One of the principal aims of To Kill a Mockingbird is to subject the narrator to a series of
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.
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.
In To Kill a Mockingbird, by author Harper Lee, several of the characters in the book share a similar character trait. Atticus Finch, Mrs. Dubose and Boo Radley all show courage throughout the book in their own individual ways. In different events, all three characters were faced with a challenge that they could either turn away from and accept or try to defeat. In Lee’s novel, a few of the main events that occur in the book include Atticus Finch defending a black man, Mrs. Dubose is challenged with overcoming an addiction, and Boo Radley must brave the outdoors to save the Radley children. Throughout the book, the characters change and one begins to understand what life in the small town of Maycomb is like, as the Finch family and friends grow and mature throughout the events happening while encountering social prejudice, courage, and the mockingbirds of life.
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.
The book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee contain a very engaging family who are the Cunninghams. The Cunninghams are very poor; they are people who live in the woods. They are a family who depend highly on crops. Walter Cunningham, the 'father' of the family has to work hard on the cultivation of crops because crops is the only form of wages for them. The Cunninghams have no money. Their only way to survive is through paying others with their crops. The Cunninghams are not main characters in the book, but they are characters who 'brought out' other characters' personality. Harper Lee displays that there is a lot of prejudice going on in Maycomb by putting the Cunninghams in the book. "The Cunninghams [were] country folks, farmers"(21) who are very honest people in Maycomb, they "never took anything they [could not] pay back"(23), but they are unfairly mistreated by part of the society in Maycomb.
In the book, To Kill a Mockeningbird by Harper lee, Charles Baker Harris, also known as Dill, is one of the most important character. He’s curious, wants attention, and he can be dishonest.