Raising children in the era of Jim Crow laws provided a unique teaching experience for Atticus to provide to Scout and Jem. These laws followed the Southern societal ideas of the separation between races, but also demonstrated a division between a community where individuals held different moral ideas. To Kill a Mockingbird explores human morality from the perception of a six year old child, providing a different perspective on important issues of this time period. Scout’s understanding of morality develops from her once simple idea of an individual being either good or evil to a much more complete comprehension of its complexity. In retrospect, Scout as the narrator revels in her naivety and child-like innocence throughout her …show more content…
Harper Lee continually utilizes topics of classism and racism to frame the way the children are being taught from many influential interactions in this novel. Aunt Alexandra reinforces classism as the ideal world when she disapproves of Scout’s convening with Walter. Referencing the Cunninghams, Aunt Alexandra replies, “Because he is trash… I’ll not have you around him, picking up his habits and learning Lord knows what…there is no doubt in my mind that they’re good folks, but they’re not our kind of folks.” (299-301) Scout is faced with a moral dilemma when these conflicting perspectives arise as she begins to realize that judging someone as good or bad is an incomplete assessment as shades of grey exist. This idea of separation is also held by Lula, a black woman, which is made apparent when Calpurnia brings Scout and Jem to her church. Calpurnia defends the children’s right to worship in the African church when Lula approaches them, “You ain’t got no business bringin’ white chillum here—they got their church. We got our’n…” This showed the kids that black people, whom carried most of the weight of discrimination, could also encourage and uphold this division. The story’s point of view is used to show a childlike understanding of the social world and its transition and differences from that of an adult’s perception. Scout is the youngest
In contrast, Scout and Dill struggle with such behaviors and seem more comfortable in gender transitive roles. At the beginning of the novel Scout is an innocent, good hearted five year old child who has no experience with the evils of the world. As the book progress Scout has her first contact with evil in the form for racial prejudice.The basic development of her character is governed by the question of whether she will emerge from that contact with her conscience and optimism intact, or rather she will be bruised, hurt, or destroyed like Boo Radley and Tom Robinson.
In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the trial in the novel is one of the most important incidents that takes place in the text. It is very important to our understanding of the text as a whole as it shows the racial discrimination in that time period of the 1920 – 1930’s and how society in the 20th century has improved and has become more accepting of different races throughout the world as a whole. The topics that will be discussed in this essay are the trial and how it represented a prejudiced society, what happened after the trial and the effects that the trial had on the children.
Perspectives can change beliefs in many ways. In Harper Lee’s novel ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’, Bob Ewell hears and sees Atticus defending Tom Robinson who is black, therefore, he believes Atticus ‘loves niggers’. Jem, Scout, and Dill have never seen Boo Radley come out at day and they hear rumors that Boo only comes out at night. People believe rumors and their perspectives until they get the truth and change their beliefs.
As children grow up, they open their eyes to the harsh truths in the world around them that they once did not understand or question. This is experienced by the main characters of Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird. The story is of a girl called Scout and her older brother, Jem, who go through the trials of growing up in the fictional small Southern town of Maycomb, Alabama in the 1930s. Racism is rampant in the mindset of the townspeople, shown when the children’s lawyer father, Atticus, takes the case of an obviously innocent African-American man and they convict him in their hearts before the trial even starts. Through this all, we can see the theme of loss of innocence in the children. Lee uses characterization to portray
Tom Robinson had been accused to raping Bob Ewell’s daughter, Mayella. Although Atticus provided all the evidence that proved he was innocent, the jury declared him guilty and he was sent to a prison. There, he was shot dead by the guards after allegedly trying to escape. But this is all suspicious since Tom knew that he might still have a good chance of being released. It is also skeptical because the guards shot him seventeen times, an unnecessary amount, Atticus said “seventeen bullet holes in him. They didn’t have to shoot him that much” (Lee 268). Atticus realizesDill dares Jem to run up to the Radley’s door and touch it, which is a big deal to them. Scout’s comments and reactions aided in triggering her older brother to accept Dill’s dare. Scout teases and mocks him about being scared. She says that “in all his life, Jem had never declined a dare”, and he wasn’t about to now (Lee 14).When he hesitates, she laughs at him. He can’t admit that he’s scared, especially not to his little sister who would never let him live it down.
Understanding perspective is essential to understanding people. Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird presents this idea in multiple passages of her writing. It can be seen in the rough, unknown troubles that people face despite their wrongful actions. As well as the rumours that are untrue and give complete false impressions of people. Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird uses these topics to illustrate the dangers of judging others before getting to know them.
Is Mayella Powerful? In the past, we lived in a large racial society where many White Americans did not accept African Americans as their equals. In Harper Lee’s ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’, the novel focuses on the story of a rape trial located in a non-existent town of Maycomb, Alabama. It’s about a black man, Tom Robinson, who is accused of raping a poor white woman, Mayella Ewell.
Imagine a world where evil and unjust actions are based on the color of skin; a world where some don’t even realize that they are prejudicing. In the book To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, these themes are present. People and how they commit evil, hypocritical, and unjust acts. We see these themes and great issues through the point of view of a child; the vigorous, youthful, elementary-aged Scout. Through this character Harper Lee shows the innocence of children, and what they go through in our inequitable world.
Throughout most novels, characters encounter obstacles or events that once faced change their lives for the better or worse. In this book, that obstacle is racism. This is evident in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird when ... ____________________. Due to... ____________________. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Dolphus Raymond, Tom Robinson and Bob Ewell each encounter racism in different ways; however, they all suffer as a result.
In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird a major theme is the loss of innocence. Whether from emotional abuse, racial prejudice or learning, Boo, Tom, and Scout all lose their innocence in one sense or another. The prejudice that each character endures leads to their loss. Through the responses of Boo, Tom, and Scout, Harper Lee shows how each character responded differently to their loss of innocence.
As the United States “progresses” in economic, educational and technological advancements we still are fighting for racial equality. With more than 50 years since the brown vs. board of education case there is still incidents like Ferguson, Baton Rouge, and Phiando Castile where many questions are still unanswered. However, Harper Lee dealt with these same problems in 1960 when she wrote To Kill a Mockingbird. Lee created an emotionally confronting story. Lee writes through the eyes of “Scout” a lawyer’s daughter in a small sleepy town of Maycomb in Alabama during the great depression. Throughout the book “Scout” learns coming of age lessons from Atticus and her own experiences. But when Atticus takes on a case defending a black man (Tom Robinson) convicted for rapping a white woman (Mayella Ewell) and is found guilty. “Scout” her brother Jem begin to understand the effects of the prejudices in society. Therefore, Lee applies the literary concepts of diction and tone to revel the truth that prejudices in society negatively affect the way people treat each other in To Kill a Mocking Bird.
Scout displays her maturity, as she soon starts to undertake the moral lessons of Atticus, developing a new understanding of the society within Maycomb County. Due to Atticus’ teachings, Scout was taught that each vision is distinctive to one another, in terms of religion, race and class. Nevertheless, they share one thing in common, which is that they treat people as groups, demand conformity, and give no respect nor credit to individual, They’re all forms of prejudice, addressing the notion of prejudice being close-minded and dangerous yet ridiculous. “After all, if Aunty could be a lady at a time like this, so can
Have you ever have been judged by anyone? Did you ever judge anyone, according to how they look or act? Quotes such as “Every single person on the planet has a story. Don’t judge people before you truly know them. The truth may surprise you” and “Don’t judge a book by its cover” were established long ago, as a result of lessons learned. The comments you make before knowing someone, can contradict the person’s personality. Therefore, it’s impolite to evaluate someone before knowing them. Such quotes not only relate to our everyday life now, but they are also related to a novel written in the 1960s. In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, Scout lives with her father Atticus, her brother Jem, and their cook Calpurnia in the old Alabama town of Maycomb. This book takes the readers to the
“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view . . . until you climb into his skin and walk around in it”. Discuss this quote from Atticus in relation to 3 characters from the novel.
In the novel, to kill a mockingbird, Harper Lee presents three very distinct types of innocence that are portrayed by different characters throughout the novel. A good part in this story’s brilliance is that Harper Lee has managed to use the innocence of a young girl to her advantage. She does this by telling the whole story from a child’s point-of-view. By having an innocent little girl make racial remarks and regard people of color in a way consistent with the community, Lee provides the reader with an objective view of the situation. As a child, Scout can make observations that an adult would often avoid. In addition, readers are also likely to be forgiving of a child’s perception, whereas they would find an adult who makes these