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critical analysis ove how to kill a mockingbird by Harper lee
harper lee’s emphasis of life lessons in to kill a mockingbird essay
lessons learned essays on to kill a mockingbird
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OVERCOMING TRAGEDY
The loss of a loved one is a tragedy for family, friends, and the community as a whole. Emotional reactions can range from quiet to intense and the circumstances of the loss can definitely be a factor. In the book To Kill a Mockingbird, the citizens of Maycomb County suffer a series of losses that affect the Finch family and the entire town. These losses include the death of Tom Robinson, the death of Mrs. DuBose, and the near-death incident involving Jem and Scout. These losses all have lasting impacts. Similarly, one’s own family may suffer loss and near-loss situations, making this novel especially relatable. Therefore, getting over a tragedy can be challenging. First, acknowledge that a tragedy has occurred, then express personal emotions and feelings, and finally focus on the positives.
Acknowledging that a tragedy has occurred can be difficult to accept. The death of Tom Robinson is definitely a tragedy. Tom is a kind, honest black man who helped a young white woman, Mayella Ewell, with chores. This act of kindness is responsible for Tom being charged with rape, his arrest, a trial, and a guilty verdict even though the testimony showed that Mayella’s own father, Bob Ewell, was the one who beat his daughter. “It was Jem’s turn to cry.” He was upset with the verdict and thought it was unfair to send Tom to jail knowing that he is now in there for life. In jail, Tom tries to break free, heading over the fence and is shot seventeen times. Jem, along with the black community of the town, had a difficult time accepting and acknowledging that Tom had died after he was shoot. They all wept and mourned in the loss of Tom. Tom is innocent, but he is convicted of raping a white woman due the prejudice of p...
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...the positive outcomes. If you focus on the changes they will most likely be changes for the better. I hope that greater awareness has been gained and more knowledge for the future will hopefully have great change for the future. Many things such as death, fear, and devastation are in the world today. In life, one does not know when tragedy will occur but when it does having courage and positive attitude will make a difference. A world without tragedies and fears would make it a much better place.
Work Cited
Lee, Harper. "11." To Kill a Mockingbird. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1960. 149. Print.
Lee, Harper. "22." To Kill a Mockingbird. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1960. 284. Print.
Lee, Harper. "25." To Kill a Mockingbird. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1960. 323. Print.
Lee, Harper. "31." To Kill a Mockingbird. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1960. 374. Print.
one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it is a sin to
You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen. You know Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen. But do you recall the most famous reindeer of all? Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer was misperceived at first. All of the other reindeer used to laugh and call him names, but after he led Santa’s sleigh, they loved him. Misperceptions like this happen all throughout Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. As you read the novel you see original judgments made about characters transform into new conceptions and new understandings. Some characters twist your views of them on purpose, others do it involuntarily. To Kill a Mockingbird shows this happening over and over again. All you have to do is look for it.
Why is it important to have moral values? To know what’s right in a situation? To put the well being of others before yourself? For most people in the small fictional town of Maycomb, Alabama, values and fairness are not important. The Maycomb townspeople only follow the social norms based on racism, and their decisions are influenced by these norms. However a certain few in the town do have moral values and look to do the right thing when faced with a tough decision. In the award winning novel To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, true understanding of courage and empathy lead Jem and Scout closer to maturity.
“I am only one; but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; I will not refuse to do something I can do.” This quote by Edward Everett Hale means that if somebody wants to make a change in the world, even if it is a small thing, they have the power to. The novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is set during the 1930’s. There were different perspectives back then. African Americans did not have the same rights as white people did. This story is based around a society in which African Americans were not given the same chances as whites, and were lower in status. A man named Atticus Finch changes the viewpoint towards African Americans. In To Kill a Mockingbird Harper shows that one person can change society, as shown by Atticus in the Tom Robinson trial and the decisions he makes at home.
“To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee is a story of national magnitude that contains complex characters. Harper Lee deals with the emotions and spirits of the characters insightfully. A few of these characters display courage at one point or another in the story. These flashes of courage come during turbulent times of the story, and often led to success.
The use of events in novels from history is not uncommon. Harper Lee does this in her historical fiction novel, To Kill A Mockingbird. The setting of the book is the 1930s, because this was an important decade of change for America. Harper Lee utilized cultural parallels between important historical events and ideas in To Kill A Mockingbird to show the hardships of the 1930s that influenced corruption of the human mindset.
Atticus Finch was a true hero, in my eyes. He had all the essentials to being a hero, such as; respect, equality, and quiet dignity. Sure, Mr. Finch didn’t quite reach his goal of winning the Tom Robinson case, but it was the fact that he attempted it, knowing he would lose. A hero is not someone who achieves something, but is a person that attempts to. The journey to your goal might even be more important than the actual achievement, because on your way to the top, struggles appear and you overcome them by learning new lessons to live by in life. In conclusion, Atticus Finch truly is America’s greatest hero.
No matter where or who a person is, they are always learning something, either about themselves or about the environment around them. In Harper Lee's heartwarming novel titled To Kill A Mockingbird, the main characters Jem and Scout grow and mature throughout the story as they learn both more about themselves and the world around them. As the story progresses, they learn many life lessons including those about prejudice, people and how they have been categorized and judged, and, last but not least, gender issues.
“‘Old Mr. Bob Ewell accused him of rapin’ his girl an’ had him arrested an’ put in jail---’” (Lee 164). To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, takes place in a settled town called Maycomb in Alabama. It is based during the early 1930’s when the Great Depression hit. Poverty reaches everyone from families like the Finches to the “white trash” Ewells. Soon the settled town Maycomb gets into conflict characterized by poverty, racism, and domestic violence.
The tight-knit sense of community created by the citizens of Maycomb leads to the same values and beliefs of the whole town. As a result, the town has put many expectations and judgements towards people who are not the same. In particular, the black community is used as a scapegoat because they are black, therefore they are viewed lower than the white community. Tom Robinson, a member of the black community is imprisoned for most of the book. When Tom is put on trial, the community voted against him by the reason that he’s black- he is an outsider. Although he did nothing wrong, the community continues to blame him. During and after the trial Tom is thrown in jail and imprisoned. Knowing that he cannot do anything about the situation, Tom loses all signs of hope of freedom. As a last straw of hope, Tom attempts to escape from prison but fails to do so, and is shot seventeen times. Tom faces the injustice of Maycomb County due to the fact of judgements and lies formed from society. The lies and judgements has lead into the separation and segregation of the black community. Segregation and separation brings the black community into vulnerable position leading into psychological and physically imprisonment. Lee demonstrates that segregation and separation increases the sense of
Harper Lee has a number of characters that contribute to the novel and violent scenes in To Kill a Mockingbird, some that have meaning and some that do not. Some characters that appear often and some that have a minimal role in being seen in the novel, but the characters that do not appear often seem to have the biggest impact on the novel. There are three characters that are looked down on by society around them, one because of race and two because of their morals. Society disregarded these people simply because they were afraid that they could be like them and the unknown. Lee uses violence and alienation to help depict the things that are wrong within the small society.
I could barely keep myself from jumping out of my chair. I listened intently, noticing the pronunciation of each word as it danced out of my father’s mouth. “It was pitch black. I was only a year or two older than you, you know. And the forest… the forest was so dark. As we paddled through the water toward the floating black mass of the island, it became hard for me to tell where the water ended and the treeline began.” I felt my heart beating deep inside my chest and fought the urge to leap up and scream with excitement and fear.
Life is full of lessons. The lessons you learn adjust and fit your character and who you are. In the book, To Kill A Mockingbird, the characters of Jem and Scout are young, and have to figure life as they go. Jem and Scout witness and live through life lessons. They learn these lessons from others around them. Some lessons come from their town itself, while others come from people. Their father, Atticus, teaches them a lot about life and the right and wrong. Jem and Scout learn what it means to have empathy, courage, persistence and personal integrity. Also, the Mockingbirds themselves adjust and appoint life lessons.
These injustices have begun long before Tom’s trial, but it is his trial which epitomizes the problems with our society. The first witness was simply just a misguided fellow named Heck Tate who it seems didn’t have much to offer to the case. Next, Atticus Finch called Bob Ewell to the stand. When I saw Ewell take the stand such a fierce hatred rose within me that I began to shake and tremble. Ewell wrongfully accused Tom of raping his daughter Mayella, however, with the grace of God, Atticus Finch had shown that it was very possible that it was Bob Ewell who because he was a lefty could have beat Mayella. If it were not for great men like Atticus Finch I would have lost all hope for this world. As I watched Mayella take the stand I wondered how such a kind looking person could be someone of such poor character. Her words seemed to paint a picture of a sad life; one where a father neglects her and she has fallen under hard times. Atticus, after pointing out it was probably Bob who beat her, asked Mayella who it really was that beat her. Mayella made it clear it was Tom Robinson, upon which Atticus asked Tom to stand. To the astonishment of the court Tom was handicapped! Tom was then called to the stand where he laid open for all to see the truth, explaining that it was Mayella who came on to him (that treacherous woman!). Soon enough the trial ended and every one awaited the verdict of the jury. The next few hours were the most nerve wracking of my life.
The cruel nature and intentions of people can either hurt or harm individuals or it can bring about resilience and determination. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee revealed that humans often have other motives in life; some are born to be evil in nature, some are naturally innocent and then there are some that are born to protect the innocent. Lee utilized a variety of symbols and themes that correlated with each other and thus had the ability to create questions in the minds of the readers. Are humans calculatedly cruel or is there some moral good in each of us? The impiety of a few can create a movement, imprison the innocent or reveal the sincerity of others.