Similarities Between To Kill A Mockingbird And We Wear The Mask

The first influence on Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is the Jim Crow laws. The Jim Crow laws were a set of rules that perpetuated racism and segregation. These rules were sickening and appalling. The Jim Crow laws were made to keep Blacks from interacting with Whites. For example, if a white woman were to fall a black man could not offer her, his hand to help her up because it was considered rape (Pilgrim 2). Many scientists and religious leaders justified these laws. One reason was that scientist thought that black peoples brains were inferior to those of white people. Also, many religious leaders believed that Whites were the chosen people and Blacks were just there to serve them (Pilgrim 2). If you were not following these laws, there were sever consequences. People believed these punishments were necessary to “keep Blacks in their place”. One example is mass lynching. This punishment is when a mob of people would take a black person, accused of breaking a rule, and beat them, torture them, and kill them. The police didn’t just not stop these rampages, often they would participate. The Jim Crow laws can be seen in To Kill a Mockingbird in many ways. One of the laws was that a black person could not say that a white person was lying (Pilgrim). This is shown in the book when Tom is accused of calling Mayella a liar, by Mr. Gilmer (Lee 224).

Discuss how your investigation of the generic conventions of poetry has influenced your understanding of at least one poem that you have studied in this unit.

The story, “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee is about racial discrimination in the 1960s. The conflict in the story is when a black man named Tom Robinson is unjustly charged with raping Mayella Ewell and the townspeople believe he is guilty because of his race. A white lawyer named Atticus defends Tom during the trial in order to persuade the Jury to ignore the wrong accusations. Atticus tries to persuade them through the use of pathos and logos to create a feeling of guilt within the Jury and townspeople to influence their decision on Tom Robinson innocence.

to represent these ideas on the page is entirely up to you, but you should

Within the Novel, “to Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee and the poem “If” by Richard Kipling, an upstander, is shown as a person who expresses empathy and courage allowing them to stand up for their beliefs, but risking many aspects of their life while maintaining truthful to themselves. Atticus, a man respected by all in the little town of Maycomb County, defies conformity and takes on a trial for an African American man accused of rape. His courageous act causes tension and discontent within the people, while showing Atticus’s immense sense of justice. Scout and Jem, Atticus’s children, come home to him after a range of insults towards their Father from an old woman, and an impulsive act of rage from Jem. This clearly causes Jem herself

describing the characters and objects throughout the poem and in creating the atmosphere of the

“Human beings are poor examiners, subject to superstition, bias, prejudice, and a profound tendency to see what they want to see rather than what is really there” ~ Scott Peck. Harper Lee’s novel To Kill A Mockingbird abounds with the injustice produced by social, gender, and racial prejudice. The setting of the book takes place in the 1930s, where racism is a big deal in society. In the novel Harper Lee uses a mockingbird as an analogy to the characters. The Mockingbird is a symbol for Three Characters in the book, Atticus Finch, Tom Robinson, and Boo Radley. The people of Maycomb only know Boo Radley and Tom Robinson by what others say about them. These Characters are then characterized by other people 's viewpoints. In the novel there are many themes that are adjacent to our lives, the one that is found in To Kill A Mockingbird is Human Conflict comes from the inability for one to understand another. “ You never understand a person until you consider things from his point of view- until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” (39)

Baxter, Roberta. "To Kill a Mockingbird." Jan. 2006. EBSCO. Literary Reference Center. Paul VI, Fairfax. 23 Mar. 2009 <http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lfh&AN=19358591=lrc-live>.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is a multi-faceted novel which explores the principles and morals of people in the South during the 1930s. Mockingbirds are symbolic of the people that society abuse. Lee narrates the events of the novel using Scout’s voice and uses this technique to add emotional context and develop themes. Themes of racial and classist prejudice are developed by Lee to challenge the reader. These techniques are all powerful ways to alter the views of the reader.

The texts read throughout the entire year allowed me to find similarities between them and discover that a major theme depicted in the texts was the silence of one’s voice. In addition to the texts, through personal experiences I was able to derive that silence is a serious issue amongst us. I used To Kill a Mockingbird because the book clearly shows how someone who has been marginalized can lose their voice even in court where supposedly all men are equal. Tom Robinson, an African American who is accused of rape says to the prosecutor “were you so scared that she'd hurt you, you ran, a big buck like you? No suh, I's scared I'd be in court, just like I am now. Scared of arrest, scared you'd have to face up to what you did? No suh, scared I'd hafta face up to what I didn't do (Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird).” Tom Robinson is aware that he is an outcast in the town of Maycomb and he also understands his voice is worthless anywhere.

Throughout history, there has been an overarching theme that writers write about. Great authors write about what they know. They write about what they see. They write about what they hear. They write about personal experiences and incorporate details from their lives into their literature. Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is a classical work that reflects the Civil Rights and Women’s Movement of the 1950’s-1960’s through her depiction of the relationship between blacks and whites and her portrayal of female characters.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee has become a mainstay in American high-schools. This is a classic novel that has inspired many people of all ages. It had a big impact on how people viewed and treated each other. This is a story that teaches everyone about the value of honesty, love, friendship and trust. Every word written in this book has a truly deep meaning to it. The time period that the book was written in was during the Great Depression in the 1930’s. This setting was in a small town in Maycomb, Alabama with people who did not get along. During this time there was a lot of segregation within America and different races. To Kill a Mockingbird is about a family who believes in doing the right thing and being honest. There was a

In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the mockingbird is used to symbolize innocent people damaged by unjust, evil actions, revealing that prejudice against those who are different causes injustice and isolation of people within communities. Lee uses the mockingbird expose the strength of prejudice and its harmful effects. In the novel, the mockingbird is represented by Tom Robinson and Arthur “Boo” Radley.

The text type of To Kill a Mockingbird is a fiction novel which deals with the racism the author observed as a child in her hometown of Monroeville, Alabama. To Kill a Mockingbird was written by Harper Lee, who wrote her novel in a retrospective point of view. There were numerous aspects of historical, personal, cultural and social context in To Kill a Mockingbird. Harper Lee was born on the 28th of April, 1926, in Monroeville Alabama. Monroeville was a close-knit community that has many similarities with Maycomb, which is the setting of To Kill a Mockingbird. Harper Lee’s father was a prominent lawyer, whom she drew inspiration for the protagonists father, Atticus Finch. Among Lee’s childhood friends was Truman Capote, from whom she drew inspiration to the character Dill. These personal details help portray Harper Lee’s own childhood home, where racism and segregation was highly evident. Another example of context which helped shape To Kill a Mockingbird were the events that occurred during Harper Lee’s childhood. In 1931, when Harper Lee was five years old, nine African-American men were accused of raping two white women near Scottsboro, Alabama. After a series of lengthy, highly publicised, and often bitter trials, five of the nine men were sentenced to long term imprisonment. Many prominent lawyers and various members of the general public saw the sentences as spurious and believed that it was motivated by racial prejudice.

Today 's lesson objective is: Students will explain how the author’s use of similes and/or metaphors contributes to the meaning and tone of the poem.