To Kill A Mockingbird Quote Analysis

Power, it is something that everyone wants, it classifies us. “To Kill a Mockingbird” is about a powerless black man, Tom Robinson, accused of raping a white woman, Mayella Ewell. Because of Mayella’s class and gender she is powerless, but her race makes her have a little more power.

What exactly is power? Is it being able to control someone or simply being able to have everything under control. In To Kill A Mockingbird we will see different perspectives on things and on situations. For example, would you believe a colored man or a white woman. Is Mayella powerless because of her class and gender or is she powerful because of her race?

Introduction Prejudice refers to the judgements towards a person because of their race, social class, age, disability or sexual orientation. (Cherry, “What is Prejudice?”) Prejudice was, and still is, to a large extent experienced by people all over the world. It is a theme that is presented in so many works of literature in a plethora of different ways. One of the most prominent ways in which prejudice is explored is through the use of characters that perhaps are a different nationality or have a different orientation to the majority of the other characters in the works. Two texts, in which the theme is presented in an admirable way , are ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ by Harper Lee, and ‘Jasper Jones’ by Craig Silvey. Through the use of the

The people of Maycomb, Alabama have good reason to think Boo Radley is evil based on the rumors they were told. An example of this is when Jem says “You all’ve gone crazy, he’ll kill us!” on page 62. This shows that Jem thinks Boo is an evil person that would kill him and his friends. Jem is making an assumption about Boo Radley without ever even talking to him, an unfair thing to do to boo. On page 71 when scout says “Then I saw a shadow” the shadow of a man “at first I thought it was a tree… tree trunks never walked.” “the shadow moved… across the porch toward Jem” Dill was the next to see it, “when it crossed Jem, Jem saw it.” The kids are scared of the

Lee uses delusional terms to show how Scout would believe such a far-fetched idea. However, nearly two years later when Scout has gone through many changes she describes Boo Radley differently by saying, “The Radley place had ceased to terrify me, but it was no less gloomy, no less chilly under its great oaks, and no less uninviting. So many things had happened to us, Boo Radley was the least of our fears.” (Lee, 278–279) Evidently, many events have happened for Scout’s perception of Boo Radley to change so drastically.

Scout, Jem, and Dill work many summers to try to get Boo to come out of the Radley house for the first time in many years. Jem had been told many things about Boo in his short years in Maycomb, and he tells his sister Scout about the ‘monster’, saying, “Boo was about six-and-a-half feet tall, judging from his tracks; he dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch, that’s why his hands were bloodstained—if you ate an animal raw, you could never wash the blood off. There was a long jagged scar that ran across his face; what teeth he had were yellow and rotten; his eyes popped, and he drooled most of the time” (chap. 1). Jem’s ideas about Boo are very biased toward rumors that can be heard around Maycomb. This shows how Maycomb’s people often judge before they know, seeing as no one has seen Boo Radley in over twenty years and people are prejudiced to believing the unknown is always bad. Prejudice and rumors can often not be trusted and Boo Radley is no exception. After Miss Maudie’s house catches fire and half the town rushes outside to watch it burn, Atticus tells Scout, “someday you should thank him for covering you up” then Scout asks, “Thank Who?” And gets a response from Atticus, “Boo Radley. You were too busy looking at the fire, you didn’t even notice when he put the blanket around you” (chap. 8). Boo Radley is not really a bad person, he

A great American author and motivational speaker, Sean Covey, once said, “Seeing things from a different point of view can help us understand why other people act the way they do. We too often judge people without having all the facts.” This quotes represents how people today judge others based on what they see and not what the person sees through their eyes. Many people are not what they show to the outside world and are judged by assumption based on their age, religion, race, or sexual orientation. This quote is important for people to learn considering we live in a very diverse country and communities.

“I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character”- Martin Luther King Jr..Prejudice should not exist because people should be judged based on their actions, not the color of their skin, or their religion. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee creates themes of prejudice and coming of age through the use of characters, settings, and conflicts.

The conflict between Jem and Mrs. Dubose is one that starts out with Mrs. Dubose yelling at Jem and Scout as they pass by. Scout and Jem had been drawn toward the business district in Maycomb but they had to pass by Mrs. Dubose’s house and endure her yelling. Atticus always told Jem to endure the insults that she would use to anger Jem and Scout. However, after Jem’s birthday, he buys Scout a baton and uses it to ruin Mrs. Dubose’s Camellias after she calls Atticus no better than the trash he defends.

“Real courage in To Kill a Mockingbird is not always readily seen.” Representing a valid point and providing a thinking statement, this example represents a fantastic way to get an opinion. Scout is a 6 year old girl with a bowl full of fight. She seldom lets anyone tell her off, the exception being Atticus, her father and Calpurnia, their cook. So when somebody attacks her father or family with names and harsh word, she is bound to strike back, a bold but almost normal move.

"The one place where a man ought to get a square deal is in a courtroom, be he any color of the rainbow, but people have a way of carrying their resentments right into a jury box.” -Harper Lee, To Kill A Mockingbird This quote is really significant because this quote shows the lack of justice there was at the time back then. For example, people did not care about justice or the meaning of it because they did not see the people of color equally as themselves or any other reason. The white people saw people of color as someone who was beneath them and they weren't worth their time.

Society is unfair. Society today is a messy place where it empowers one kind of human being over another, whites versus blacks. Atticus from How to Kill a Mockingbird said, "Scout," said Atticus, "nigger-lover is just one of those terms that don't mean anything—like snot-nose. It's hard to explain—ignorant, trashy people use it when they think somebody's favoring Negroes over and above themselves. It's slipped into usage with some people like ourselves, when they want a common, ugly term to label somebody.

‘’It’s a sin to kill a mockingbird’’ the author chose those words that her father Atticus said that scene it has great meaning, that one should not harm another that is harmless and brings good to the world. Scout uses that saying in her life to tell others that Arthur Radley and Tom Robinson where like mockingbirds scene they brought good and did not harm others they were peaceful creatures. The author ties the line throughout the whole to help people understand that just because someone is weak and harmless does not give another the right to harm it they should protect it and care for it. Scout and her older brother Jem learn several lessons throughout their childhood, the novel ‘’To Kill A Mockingbird’’ by Harper Lee the main characters Scout and Jem learn a few lessons that changed the way they both view the world and those who live on it.

Who would destroy something that contained a heart filled only with good? The answer to that can be found in the book To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee in an unjust time of unequal opportunity. The story follows the retelling of an 8-year-old girl named Jean Louis and those around her moral growth. She lives in Maycomb Alabama during the Great Depression. She has many chapters of growth including changing from afraid of a person to wanting to meet them, seeing people put on masks in order to avoid judgment, and watching an innocent man go to jail. Scout learns that to Kill a mockingbird is a sin for they have done no wrong, that people make that most meaningful mockingbirds, and the true significance of them because of the moral growth they bring about in people.

There are three types of people in the world, the evil ones, the good ones, and the ones who are a bit of both. Whether this is in a story book, in real life, or in To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, there are always these people. Harper Lee illustrates these 3 types of people in her book, a friend (or a foe?), an evil prosecutor, and an amazing hero. These all reiterate that there are good and bad people in the world, everywhere you go.