The book To Kill a Mockingbird written by Harper Lee includes many examples of themes and allusions. The themes in the book help the reader get more out of the novel that they are reading. When the reader closely examines the book, the theme reveals itself to the reader and they can use the knowledge from the theme to connect ideas in the real world. The novel To Kill a Mockingbird follows the adventures of three children who lived in the late 1920s. The novel, however, also includes examples of racial injustices and also depicts ideas that not all Americans were treated equally during the setting of the novel. Examples of racial discrimination include Tom Robinson, an African American, being accused of rape, as well as the violence when he was almost attacked by a mob while in prison. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee argues that equality is only what society shapes it to be and it can come with limitations and expresses it through the setting of the book. One event that shows equality is limited in the setting of the book is when Tom Robinson was accused of sexual assault. Tom Robinson was sent to court by Bob Ewell because he was suspected of sexually assaulting his daughter, Mayella. However, most of the evidence pointed toward Robinson’s innocence. For example, the evidence shows, “If her …show more content…
People have the power to create a better world by treating everyone with respect. This book can be related to the struggle of the civil rights movement. In the setting of the novel, African Americans had to eat, live, and do everyday things in a different place because of their skin color. This was not every equal and equality is what we as a human race should push for. Every human should participate in society to create a better world and we all should be glad we have evolved from how we treated others in the novel to the united world we have
Figurative language is in most well written novels. It helps develop the overall theme the author is trying to portray. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, I noticed Harper Lee distinctively used two types of figurative language. The first is symbolism, Lee used this twice during the novel with the mockingbird representing beauty innocence and Boo Radley representing the good in people. The second is motifs, Lee used this to emphasize the small town life in Maycomb, Alabama and helps give a better understanding of the people in the town.
The theme of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mocking Bird is the existence of racism and prejudice in the 1930 – 40's. Harper Lee succeeds in presenting the topic in a manner that is not overly simplistic and thus achieves the task of allowing the reader to fully appreciate the complex nature of unjust discrimination. Harper Lee's inclusion of characters such as Tom Robinson, Boo Radley, Dolphus Raymond and many others, aid the reader to grasp the concept of racism and its central role in the town of Maycomb.
Compassionate, dramatic, and deeply moving, Harper Lee's, To Kill a Mockingbird takes readers to the roots of human behavior, to innocence and experience, kindness and cruelty, love and hatred, and the struggle between blacks and whites. Atticus Finch, a lawyer and single parent in a small southern town in the 1930's, is appointed by the local judge to defend Tom Robinson, a black man, who is accused of raping a white woman. Friends and neighbors object when Atticus puts up a strong and spirited defense on behalf of the accused black man. Atticus renounces violence but stands up for what he believes in. He decides to defend Tom Robinson because if he did not, he would not only lose the respect of his children and the townspeople, but himself as well.
One of the storylines in the novel is the Robinson-Ewell trial. Tom Robinson is an innocent African-American, accused of raping Mayella Ewell, a lower-class white girl. At the trial hearing, everyone is able to tell his or her side of the story before Tom is allowed to speak. All stories, however, offer two different versions of Tom and Mayella’s relationship. Moreover, Mayella and Bob Ewell tell the jury what they expect to hear, about Tom being a monster. They explain that there was no reason for his actions against Mayella. According to them, along with the rest of Maycomb, it's just expected that a black man would rape any white woman if he had the opportunity. The Tom spoken of by the Ewells shows the stereotypes that justify whites to be superior to blacks. However, Tom tells the jury about his innocence. He pr...
Atticus Finch and Tom Robinson are both appropriate examples of how the theme of prejudice is seen in To Kill a Mockingbird. Atticus Finch is rumored to be a tedious, old man who is biased towards the black race, because he chooses to fight for a black man's rights. Tom Robinson, Atticus' defendant, is not given the benefit of the doubt only because of the pigment of his skin. The novel altogether is an extraordinary paradigm of prejudice and the problems it creates.
The novel "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee is a simplistic view of life in the Deep South of America in the 1930s. An innocent but humorous stance in the story is through the eyes of Scout and Jem Finch. Scout is a young adolescent who is growing up with the controversy that surrounds her fathers lawsuit. Her father, Atticus Finch is a lawyer who is defending a black man, Tom Robinson, with the charge of raping a white girl. The lives of the characters are changed by racism and this is the force that develops during the course of the narrative.
“My hair was black like my mother’s but basically a nest of cowlicks, and it worried me that I didn’t have a chin.” (36).
In “To Kill a Mockingbird” there are many examples of racism. During the 1960s when the book was published, racism was acceptable and Black people were constantly dominated and ridiculed by Caucasian people. This novel written by Harper Lee is based on racism against Black people and the refusal of people to treat everyone equally.
In a desperate attempt to save his client, Tom Robinson, from death, Atticus Finch boldly declares, “To begin with, this case should never have come to trial. This case is as simple as black and white” (Lee 271). The gross amounts of lurid racial inequality in the early 20th century South is unfathomable to the everyday modern person. African-Americans received absolutely no equality anywhere, especially not in American court rooms. After reading accounts of the trials of nine young men accused of raping two white women, novelist Harper Lee took up her pen and wrote To Kill a Mockingbird, a blistering exposition of tragic inequalities suffered by African Americans told from the point of view of a young girl. Though there are a few trivial differences between the events of the Scottsboro trials and the trial of Tom Robinson portrayed in To Kill a Mockingbird, such as the accusers’ attitudes towards attention, the two cases share a superabundance of similarities. Among these are the preservation of idealist views regarding southern womanhood and excessive brutality utilized by police.
In conclusion, racial discrimination is evident within To Kill a Mockingbird through many of the characters. Examples of this form of discrimination are Scout Finch getting stabbed by Bob Ewell, Atticus almost being attacked by a lynch mob, and Tom Robinson being shot seventeen times. One trial brought an innocent man to his premature death, a child to being assaulted by a grown man, and a father merely doing the right thing. Jean Louise “Scout” Finch, Atticus Finch, and Tom Robinson were affected by racial discrimination throughout the entire novel.
In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, racism has a negative outcome on most characters. Tom Robinson the man that was accused of raping a white woman, Helen Robinson Tom Robinson wife, and Jem atticus son were all affected negatively by racism.
In the novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, racism is a major theme. Atticus Finch, the narrator’s father, defends a negro, Tom Robinson, in the court of law against a white man, Bob Ewell. Robinson had reportedly raped a young white girl, Mayella Ewell. But according to Robinson he had gone to help Mayella, as he often did, with work around the house. As he starts helping Mayella, she tries to get Tom to kiss her and will not let him out of the house. Bob Ewell sees this and chases Tom out of the house and accuses him of raping his daughter. Atticus goes against almost everyone in Maycomb County’s opinion in defending Tom Robinson. Throughout the course of the novel, racism effects many characters such as Tom and Helen Robinson, Scout and Jem Finch, and Mayella and Bob Ewell. All these characters had there lives
Symbolism. Why is it important in a novel? Why do authors incorporate symbols into their writing? Symbolism aids the reader in understanding what the author wants to portray. In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill A Mockingbird, she writes about the racism in a small town in Alabama named Maycomb set in the 1930’s and about two children growing up and learning that their town is not as perfect as they thought. The theme topic appearance versus reality helps to get a better understanding of the symbols used in the novel and that you should not judge something by their appearance, you should judge by the reality of what it is. “As Atticus once advised me to do, I tried to climb into Jem’s skin and walk around in it.” (Scout page 77) In her novel, there are many symbols throughout the narrative that relate to the theme topic appearance versus reality. Harper Lee writes symbols into her novel, such as the snowman, Mrs. Dubose’s Camellia flower and Dolphus Raymond’s Coca-Cola bottle to help reinforce the theme topic of appearance versus reality throughout the novel.
Harper Lee uses symbolism extensively throughout To Kill a Mockingbird,, and much of it refers to the problems of racism in the South during the early twentieth century. Harper Lee's effective use of racial symbolism and allegory can be seen by studying various examples from the book, namely the actions of the children, of the racist whites, and of Atticus Finch.
The fictional novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee displayed a wide variety of characters and their characteristics. It was filled with discrimination and at the same time, kindness. Jean Louise Finch, (Scout), was just a girl starting 1st grade when this story began. Her older brother, Jem, and her best friend, Dill, experience many things together. Her dad’s, Atticus, court case between a colored fella, his defendant, named Tom Robinson and a Mayella Ewell. Harper Lee takes you on all Scout’s adventures from the Boo Radley house to school. But it’s not all fine and dandy. This book is full of discrimination. Well obviously this book is going to discriminate blacks because it took place in the 1930’s where racial segregation was normal