The novel To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, is about a young girl, Scout, her brother, Jem, and their friend, Dill living in Maycomb County during the early 1930s. The three children hear stories about their neighbor, Arthur “Boo” Radley, and decide they want to try to get him out of his house. A few unsuccessful summers later, Scout’s father, Atticus, is a lawyer that has been assigned a colored man’s case. The man, Tom Robinson, was accused of raping a white woman. As the children know this isn’t true, they don’t understand why he was found guilty.…
A Lack of Morals “Jem, how can [Mrs. Gates] hate hitler so bad an’ then turn around to be ugly about folks right here at home-” (331). Scout is wondering how her teacher and the rest of the town of Maycomb can hate hitler for persecuting people, while they themselves are oblivious that they are persecuting african americans. Harper Lee’s novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” follows a young girl named Scout Finch and her brother Jem Finch. They live in a small, fictional, racist town by the name of Maycomb, Alabama. Scout’s father Atticus is a lawyer who is appointed to a case to defend a african american man by the name of Tom Robinson.…
Each and every human being is unique. When we take a glance at the people we encounter in our daily lives, not a single one will be an exact replica of each other. Yet we are quick to judge people in the appearance or behavior without fully understanding them. This is one of our flaws that we must overcome by ourselves, which Scout and Jem learn throughout the book. The most simple example of this would be the case of Boo Radley, the mysterious man which catches the children’s attention.…
A Search For Justice In To Kill a Mockingbird “Justice consists not in being neutral between right and wrong, but in finding out the right and upholding it, whenever found, against the wrong’’ - Teddy Roosevelt. This highlights the actions that Atticus and Mrs. Dubose take throughout the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Atticus always does what he thinks is right and does not follow what the other citizens of Maycomb, Alabama do. Atticus, the father of Jem and Scout, who live in Maycomb, teaches his kids to do what they believe is right.…
Have you ever experienced racism or inequality or due to ethnicity? If so, has it ever occurred to you how much injustice is happening in our society? In the novel “To Kill A Mockingbird” author Harper Lee encapsulates the ideas, experiences, and injustices of racism through her characters. Primarily through the biased case of Tom Robinson allegedly raping Mayella Ewell.…
Throughout To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, multiple characters are treated extraordinarily unfair. Lee uses characters such as Jem and Scout to show the civil rights and racism in the south, which is very segregated during this time period. The story is told through the eyes of young child, Scout Finch. She is the daughter of lawyer, Atticus Finch. Atticus defends an innocent negro in his fight against an unjust rape trial.…
To Kill a Mockingbird Essay “In every conceivable manner, the family is link to our past, bridge to our future.” Alex Haley. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is about a journey the main characters, Jem, Scout, and Atticus take in defense of a colored man named Tom Robinson. Robinson was accused of raping a white woman named Mayella. Though Atticus is a dexterous lawyer, Robinson 's skin color is a detriment to his freedom.…
Many people believe that family is the most important thing in a person’s life. Throughout history, many families have gone through adversity, but sticking together through rough times has brought them closer together. Adversity can be extreme measures such as slavery, or can be considered a more common disorder in today’s society such as Asperger’s. Through personal stories people are able to learn more about the adversity many families/people have gone through or are still going through today. Social history includes personal stories, which give greater insight into divisive topics; it also reveals the family dynamics that are affected by these divisive topics.…
Tom Robinson, an African-American man, who was represented as a “Mockingbird” in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, was wrongly accused of raping a white woman. After he went on a trail filled with unfair juries and lost the case, he was sentenced to jail, but was then brutally murdered by some guards. Based on this storyline, the main theme is social injustice, the moral unfairness in a society of colored citizens and other minorities, which is mentioned the greatest and gradually developed throughout the book.…
Moral development, based on Kohlberg’s theory, states that children undergo levels and stages of morals through the years of growing up; mainly in childhood. The theory says that they’re three levels — pre-conventional, conventional, and postconventional morality. Within those three levels, they’re two stages in each level: thus, having six stages in total. The stages themselves describe a child's behavior and their thinking. But, not every child goes through the same levels and stages at the same time —each one is different — neither go through them in order nor all the stages side by side.…
Change The Protestant Reformation became so widespread across Europe primarily because of the printing press. Martin Luther was able to spread his ideas for change so quickly because the printing press made books cheaper and more available to the public. Books have been a method for seeking reforms in society for ages. Harper Lee uses her novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, to plead for change in the unjust way people treat others.…
Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, explores the role of heroes in unjust societies. The community of Maycomb, Alabama, the novel’s setting, is unjust, with inherent prejudice against many in the society. However, the character of Atticus Finch shows great heroism and fights the injustice that is prevalent throughout Maycomb, chiefly by electing to defend Tom Robinson, a black man falsely accused of raping a white woman. Atticus Finch deserves distinction as the greatest moral hero of all time. He demonstrates heroism by his willingness to oppose tradition and institutionalized racism.…
The novel To Kill a Mockingbird reflects life values and lessons to a great extent through the character Atticus Finch. It is said of Atticus that ‘whether Maycomb knows it or not, we’re paying him the highest tribute we can pay a man. We trust him to do it right.’ And it is with Atticus’ moral integrity he teaches his children through the themes of good and evil, prejudice, and courage.…
In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee exploits the toxic nature of the South, the early 20th century. The destruction of innocence is evidently shown throughout the rampant bigotry, through the explicit phrase of ‘…it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.’ Hence, To Kill a Mockingbird is to kill innocence. In the tale, from the very beginning, a threat that is based on generational racism is posed to destroy a number of innocents. Ultimately, the ‘Mockingbird’ is killed in ways that are worse than death and by the end results in the loss of innocence.…
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee ‘The consequences of evilness on others and how good and evil can coexist in a person’ One main theme, which is commonly seen throughout ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’, is the coexistence of good and bad people in society, and how the evilness of people can affect others. The protagonist, Scout, and her brother, Jem, think that everyone in Maycomb is good, from their childish perspectives. Throughout the story, Jem and Scout both start to develop and they learn how to not be affected by the malice of others. They learn through their father and from experience.…