To Kill a Mockingbird Final Essay During the mid-1800’s, we were fighting to both end slavery and give black people equal rights. Nearly 100 years after the war ended, black people still didn’t have these rights. Harper Lee tried to convey the pervasive nature of social injustice, through literature. Her most famous book, To Kill a Mockingbird, became an instant bestseller, and in 1961, won the Pulitzer Prize. One reason for the book’s success, is she wrote it for all types of readers. She wrote it to be in a child’s perspective, so it would be easy to understand. Lee also uses symbolism to make it even easier to understand. It was written to show the pervasive nature of prejudice and racism, while making it not insulting to racist readers.
The protagonist is Scout Finch, an 8-year-old tomboy who, like a finch, “flies” around her world, taking the reader with her. Atticus Finch is a lawyer and Scout’s father who raises his children alone. He is often absent because of …show more content…
Calpurnia, a black woman who raises Scout and Jem in the absence of Atticus, is loved as a mother by Jem and Scout. When someone says to Scout to “start acting like a girl,” Scout cries and runs to Calpurnia for comfort. Atticus’ sister, Aunt Alexandra treats Calpurnia as a mere servant, telling her to carry her bags to her room. Alexandra is horrified that Calpurnia takes the children to her church and wants her fired for being a “bad influence on the children.”
Lee also uses symbolism to represent unfair treatment of black people through the book’s Mockingbirds. When Scout and Jem receive shotguns for Christmas, Atticus says, “Shoot all the blue jays you want, if you can hit them, but remember it's a sin to kill a Mockingbird.” This is because, "Mockingbirds don't do one thing except make music for us to enjoy.” Lee is saying that black people don’t do anything to harm us, that they don’t do anything to deserve the treatment they
The protagonist is Scout Finch, an 8-year-old tomboy who, like a finch, “flies” around her world, taking the reader with her. Atticus Finch is a lawyer and Scout’s father who raises his children alone. He is often absent because of …show more content…
Calpurnia, a black woman who raises Scout and Jem in the absence of Atticus, is loved as a mother by Jem and Scout. When someone says to Scout to “start acting like a girl,” Scout cries and runs to Calpurnia for comfort. Atticus’ sister, Aunt Alexandra treats Calpurnia as a mere servant, telling her to carry her bags to her room. Alexandra is horrified that Calpurnia takes the children to her church and wants her fired for being a “bad influence on the children.”
Lee also uses symbolism to represent unfair treatment of black people through the book’s Mockingbirds. When Scout and Jem receive shotguns for Christmas, Atticus says, “Shoot all the blue jays you want, if you can hit them, but remember it's a sin to kill a Mockingbird.” This is because, "Mockingbirds don't do one thing except make music for us to enjoy.” Lee is saying that black people don’t do anything to harm us, that they don’t do anything to deserve the treatment they