To Kill A Mockingbird In To Kill A Mockingbird

Ms. Dubose assumes the worst about Scout from the clothes she wears. For Scout, the sexism of every other woman around her could have made her become a girl who just followed other people’s ideas, instead of thinking for herself. Along with being sexist, Ms. Dubose is racist. She even says ‘Not only a Finch waiting on tables but one in the courthouse lawing for n*****!’ (Lee, 101). Everyone else in the town seems to have the same opinion about Atticus defending an African-American and doesn’t hesitate to use the same offensive words to express their opinion. Ms. Dubose could have offended both women and African-Americans with one simple statement that showed both of her prejudices. She certainly offended one person, Jem, one of the few people in the town who isn’t racist. The way that their opinions clashed was also a factor of how they were raised. Both Jem and Scout were raised by their father, pretty much the only person who was raised in his generation that didn’t have biases against African-Americans. Ms. Dubose was one of the many in this generation who felt like she had a prerogative to think that African-Americans were less than her, and because of her insult, Jem destroyed her flowers, causing even more

In the story To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, there was a lot of interesting parts and a ton of sign post but since you can only pick 3, the three that I am picking are Again and again, Aha moment and tough questions. In the story the things that mostly came up was how Scout lives her life at school and at home and how they see other people and see what is in her mind when she judges people too. Scout which her real name is Jean Louise lives with her father Atticus and lives with her brother Jem. She is very smart and in the time of the story she is considered a tomboy. Also there mother died when scout was young but Jem still remembers some parts of her and it makes him very unhappy. Scout’s dad atticus is Jem and Scouts father and is the

“You aren't really a nigger-lover, then, are you?" (Lee 107-09). "I certainly am. I do my best to love everybody... I'm hard put, sometimes—baby, it's never an insult to be called what somebody thinks is a bad name. It just shows you how poor that person is, it doesn't hurt you.” (Lee 107-09). This quote is one of many that show how racism is used in the story. In this quote Scout has heard someone call Atticus a nigger lover because he is Tom Robinsons lawyer and he is trying to his best job to help him as he can (Lee). Scout doesn’t really understand at first what a nigger lover is until Atticus explains it to her.

Throughout this novel, Scout gains insight into herself by learning to cope with racism. Scout first discovers that her father is defending Tom Robinson, an African American in the Maycomb community after she gets into a brawl with Cecil Jacobs when he calls her father a “nigger-lover”. “Atticus had promised me he would wear me out if he ever heard of me fighting anymore … the sooner I learned to hold in, the better off everybody would be”(Pg. 74). This quote shows how Scout has to cope with different ways to deal with the racism directed toward her father for defending a black man. Moreover, Scout learns to refrain from showing belligerence to those who insult her family and, instead turns to ignoring them and not giving them a reaction. When Scout acts out and harms those who are racist toward her family, it shows how she finds racism morally incorrect. Though she does not know what the term nigger-lover means, she still acts out because she is aware that it is an offensive term. Scout believes that people should not be discriminated against and her bursts of anger support this concept. Racism provides maturing children insight into themselves because whilst Scout

White or colored, superior or inferior, and important or invisible are the different categories society imposes on people. In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the narrator Scout is a part of the Finch family. They are white people with good morals due to Atticus Finch, Scout’s father. He guides his children to seek equality and treat others equally regardless of their class, gender, or race. Atticus tries to enforce his beliefs by taking on the Tom Robinson case. Tom Robinson is an honest, hard working black man accused of raping a white woman known as Mayella Ewell. Although there was evidence to prove his innocence, Mayella’s dirty lies were placed above his innocence. This situation is clearly an example of the ideals society

Folks." Scout was trying to say that all people are created equal. No one, by nature, is superior to anybody else. This is a very contrary view to what most people believed at that time, especially in the South. There was prejudice between races and prejudice between families. The most obvious theme of the book is racism. Staged in the early 1930’s in southern Alabama, racism was still undeniably present. Even though the amendments which freed slaves and gave them rights were passed more than sixty years prior, the culture of the south intertwined with racism. Interracial marriages were illegal. Different races could not attend the same schools. It was the law that whites and blacks could not even be put together in the same jail cells. Looking at these things, one can only imagine the upheaval when a Negro was accused of raping a white woman: but did this stop Atticus from standing up for justice? No, it didn’t. He knew perfectly well how criticizing eyes would view the case; no matter how glaring the evidence was, the people wouldn’t accept an African American’s word over a white man’s. Atticus saw all people as equal, regardless of their skin color and he knew what was the right thing to do. He was a friend and ally to the African American community and they respected them for it. Another example is the Cunningham family. When Walter comes over for lunch, Scout criticizes him but

1. The tiny, sleepy, worn-out, dingy, slow-moving town of Maycomb, Alabama is where the novel takes place. The novel takes place in the early 1930s, during the Great Depression.

William Shakespeare once said, "For courage mounteth with occasion." William Shakespeare is portraying that courage comes when it is needed most. Shakespeare also displays that courage makes up for the strength that is absent in arduous situations. I agree with Shakespeare's message he is conveying in entirety. In the novels, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee and Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, the courageous acts are like one lone star lighting up the entire night sky.

If Scout and Jems Mother were still alive, How might the following people be different: Atticus, Scout, Jem, Calpurina, and Aunt Alexandra?

One way to measure power is to consider the amount of control a person has over his or her own life as well as the lives of others. Tom Robinson is an African American and has been wrongly accused of raping a poor, white woman, Mayella Ewell. Mayella says Tom attacked her and “took advantage” of her. Tom says Mayella asked him to help her with some chores, and was trying to hug and kiss him when her father appeared at the window. In To Kill A Mockingbird Mayella’s power is measured in class, gender, and race.

Atticus Hill cherished and fostered his role as the bad boy in the family. He always dressed in all black, rode a Harley, and had long, shaggy black hair. But now that all his brothers had found their Mr. Right he thought maybe, at age thirty-nine, it was time to look around for a partner. He thought the drummer at the gay bar was sexy, so headed off there to check him out.

What does it mean to have power or to be powerful.The book to kill a Mockingbird a white

It is interesting to see similarities between towns in different decades of time. As I compare my modern day city of Conover, North Carolina to the vintage city of Maycomb, Alabama I notice the following similarities: Conover is a small town that is experiencing a slow economic situation just as Maycomb, Alabama was in the book To Kill a Mockingbird. In Conover like Maycomb, many of the residents know each other or have heard of each other’s families. As in Maycomb there is also racist acts to be found in the town of Conover. I choose not to partake in these activities but racism is everywhere, one must learn the proper way to handle these situations as they arise. Another similarity I noted is that the jury selection process is the same

Maturity often goes hand in hand with change. Whether it is just growing up or learning from one’s mistakes, change brings new perspective that helps people for the better. The main characters in Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird go through a series of such changes throughout the story such as losing their innocence, growing up, and coming to the realization of their town’s unfair prejudices. The transition from being innocent and oblivious to more mature and aware is extremely evident in several identities in the novel. The novel approaches the question of whether or not the people of Maycomb need some change and new perspective by dramatizing Scout, Jem, and Dill’s transition from a perspective of childhood innocence.

One of the characters the reader can most easily follow through this change is the protagonist, Scout. Scout begins the book as an innocent young girl who finds no wrong in the world around her, but as the trial commences and tensions run high, Scout soon learns of the evils the world possesses. Society’s hatred for the blacks is shown so commonly in everyday life that all the children in the novel use the word nigger in an innocent way. Society has taught these kids at a young age that calling the negroes niggers is the cultural norm and that they are expected to use it. Atticus reminds Scout not to use the term, but Scout points out the prevalent usage in their world. “‘Don’t say nigger, Scout. That’s common.’ ‘’s what everybody at school says.’’From now on it’ll be everybody less one—’‘Well if you don’t want me to grow up talkin‘ that way, why do you send me to school?’(77). This conversation shows the reader that the influence on kids to use racist terms is heavy, even the kids can see it. Scout’s brother, Jem, is also influenced by the public’s thoughts. Scout overhears Atticus telling their uncle that he hopes he can get Jem “‘through it without bitterness, and most of all, without catching Maycomb’s usual disease’” (91). The disease Atticus is referring to is the racism the town shows toward negroes. He recognizes that it is common in the town around them, but