On August 9th, 2014, Michael Brown, an African American teen was shot by a cop for suspicious behavior. The fatal shooting of Michael Brown was an accident caused by stereotypes. In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird in the small town of Maycomb Alabama stereotypes are common occurrence. Harper Lee uses the literary devices of allusion, symbolism, and irony to communicate with the reader. Harper Lee uses the novel to express that stereotypes influence people's thoughts.
To start off Harper Lee uses allusions to convey her message. Scout Talks about how the world is headed into to dark places and uses the civil war as an example.“ disturbances between the north and the south,” (Lee 154) this is an allusion to the civil war. Harper Lee …show more content…
When scout first goes to school we discover that she was not supposed to have been taught to read, “‘Now you tell your father not to teach you teach you any more. It’s best to begin reading with a fresh mind. You tell him I’ll take over from here and try to undo the damage.’” (Lee 23) Harper Lee put this in her novel to show how ironic it was that scouts father taught her to read then her teacher yelled at her for it. Mrs caroline had a stereotype for her student to not be able to read and when scout came in not fitting the stereotype it she let the stereotype influence her thoughts to tell her she learned to read wrong. Harper Lee put this in the novel to catch readers attention with the obvious irony of the two events. To continue when Scout goes back to school the following year Scout learns about the doings of Adolf Hitler. “‘That’s the difference between America and Germany. We are a democracy and Germany is a dictatorship...Over here we don’t believe in persecuting anybody. Persecution comes from people who are prejudice.’” Harper Lee presents a clear example of irony showing how ironic it is that People in Maycomb are appalled by what Hitler is doing to the jews, when in fact they are doing the same thing on a smaller scale to the African Americans. Harper Lee put this in the novel to show that the stereotype pt ove jews is the same type of stereotype that is put over negroes that influences …show more content…
One of the main scenes in the book is when a rabid dog wanders onto scouts street. Scout says, “I thought mad dogs foamed at the mouth, galloped, leaped and lunged at throats, and I thought they did it in August. Had Tim Johnson behaved thus, I would have been less frightened,” (Lee 125) Like most people in Maycomb scout had a stereotype in her head of what mad dogs were and did. When Tim Johnson did not fit her stereotype she became more frightened. Harper Lee put this in her book to show that the dog symbolizes not fitting a stereotype, Scouts thoughts were influenced by the stereotype of a mad dog and caused her to be confused and frightened when the dog did not fit the stereotype. In addition Harper lee also uses the snowman Scout and Jem made as symbolism. When Maycomb Alabama is hit with a snow storm Scout and Jem decide to make a snowman. While getting started the kids use mud as a base, Scout says, “‘ Jem, I ain’t ever heard of nigger snowman,’...‘He won’t be black long,’ he grunted...Jem scooped up some snow and began plastering it on… Gradually [it] turned white.” (Lee 89) Harper Lee put this in the novel to symbolize the black community being covered up with stereotypes. These stereotypes lead all the whites to believe that all negroes fit the cookie cutter. The mud on the inside of the snowman shows negroes how they
To start off Harper Lee uses allusions to convey her message. Scout Talks about how the world is headed into to dark places and uses the civil war as an example.“ disturbances between the north and the south,” (Lee 154) this is an allusion to the civil war. Harper Lee …show more content…
When scout first goes to school we discover that she was not supposed to have been taught to read, “‘Now you tell your father not to teach you teach you any more. It’s best to begin reading with a fresh mind. You tell him I’ll take over from here and try to undo the damage.’” (Lee 23) Harper Lee put this in her novel to show how ironic it was that scouts father taught her to read then her teacher yelled at her for it. Mrs caroline had a stereotype for her student to not be able to read and when scout came in not fitting the stereotype it she let the stereotype influence her thoughts to tell her she learned to read wrong. Harper Lee put this in the novel to catch readers attention with the obvious irony of the two events. To continue when Scout goes back to school the following year Scout learns about the doings of Adolf Hitler. “‘That’s the difference between America and Germany. We are a democracy and Germany is a dictatorship...Over here we don’t believe in persecuting anybody. Persecution comes from people who are prejudice.’” Harper Lee presents a clear example of irony showing how ironic it is that People in Maycomb are appalled by what Hitler is doing to the jews, when in fact they are doing the same thing on a smaller scale to the African Americans. Harper Lee put this in the novel to show that the stereotype pt ove jews is the same type of stereotype that is put over negroes that influences …show more content…
One of the main scenes in the book is when a rabid dog wanders onto scouts street. Scout says, “I thought mad dogs foamed at the mouth, galloped, leaped and lunged at throats, and I thought they did it in August. Had Tim Johnson behaved thus, I would have been less frightened,” (Lee 125) Like most people in Maycomb scout had a stereotype in her head of what mad dogs were and did. When Tim Johnson did not fit her stereotype she became more frightened. Harper Lee put this in her book to show that the dog symbolizes not fitting a stereotype, Scouts thoughts were influenced by the stereotype of a mad dog and caused her to be confused and frightened when the dog did not fit the stereotype. In addition Harper lee also uses the snowman Scout and Jem made as symbolism. When Maycomb Alabama is hit with a snow storm Scout and Jem decide to make a snowman. While getting started the kids use mud as a base, Scout says, “‘ Jem, I ain’t ever heard of nigger snowman,’...‘He won’t be black long,’ he grunted...Jem scooped up some snow and began plastering it on… Gradually [it] turned white.” (Lee 89) Harper Lee put this in the novel to symbolize the black community being covered up with stereotypes. These stereotypes lead all the whites to believe that all negroes fit the cookie cutter. The mud on the inside of the snowman shows negroes how they