The Significance Of Childhood In To Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee

Improved Essays
Harper Lee was a white women who grew up in the South during the Great Depression. Growing up in the South exposed Lee tp large amounts of racism. Her father was a lawyer and verbally spoke against the Scottsboro Boys Trial. In the Scottsboro Boys Trial 9 colored boys were accused of raping 2 young white girls. Even with no evidence showing that the boys are guilty, they were found guilty. Some people believe that Lee’s novel To Kill A Mockingbird is about her childhood. In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill A Mockingbird she uses the symbolic significance of Snow, Snowman, and White Camellias to prove that racism existed in the South during the 1930’s.
To begin, Harper Lee uses the symbol Snow to prove racism existed in the South during the 1930’s. Scout, Jem, and Atticus, they’re father, live in the small town of Maycomb County, Alabama. During the winter it normally never snows, but this year it did. The white snow covered the whole town, showing the town covered in the white ideals, white personalities, and white people. Scout narrates, “‘The world’s ending, Atticus! Please do something-!’ I dragged him to the window and pointed.
…show more content…
This quote is showing that the children do not realize the whitewashing in their town until it has been put in front of them. Scout did not recognize the Snow just like the children do not recognize the racism and whitewashing. Later that day Atticus got a call from Eula May, the town’s telephone operator, that school was canceled. Atticus says, “I quote- ‘As it has not snowed in Maycomb County since 1885, there will be no school today’” (Lee 86). This quote is saying that the white people or snow cover of the town intro everything especially the youth of society and the school. The snow is representing the cold, white, people that control

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Symbolism in To Kill a Mocking Bird Whether it be in literature or even shown in pictures, people use things to represent something with a deeper meaning and that’s called symbolism. In the book “To Kill a Mockingbird” by author Harper Lee, various different themes or symbols are active throughout the book all directly or in some way being tied to the ultimate theme of the book, which is not being able to understand someone until you experience life from their point of view. The most apparent reoccurring theme though is equality because of the fact it’s symbolized through people, birds, and even inanimate objects that Scout and Jem encounter over the course of the book in the tree that turns out to play a bigger part of the story as the…

    • 2056 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This statement by Atticus shows how ignorant and racist white people thought of themselves as superior to Negroes in the 1930s, with Atticus being one of the exceptions. He then tells Scout, "it 's never an insult to be called what someone thinks is a bad name... it just shows you how poor that person is, it doesn 't hurt you". Atticus taught Scout to stop caring about the insults of people, because it won’t affect her. This is important…

    • 1044 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The snowman in the novel represents that a black person is not accepted unless he is white, and the trial of Tom Robinson. In Maycomb County, Jem and Scout experienced snow. Maycomb…

    • 965 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    To start off, one reason the snow represents danger is because it killed a teacher. Mr. Gossel, a teacher, goes out into the snow. “‘It could be something,’ said Gossel. ‘Even a volunteer fireman might have a two way radio, something we could use.’... ‘I’m going out there,’ he said,”(Northrop 49).…

    • 706 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Many authors choose to write what they know about. In the book To Kill a Mockingbird, author, Nelle Harper Lee use her childhood life as a model for the book. To Kill a Mockingbird takes place in 1930s Maycomb Alabama. The narrator, Scout Finch, is a young tomboy who tells the story of a trial her father, Atticus, and how he chose to defend a black man, regardless of his. The characters and setting of the novel impact the plot in many ways.…

    • 1734 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Harper Lee was a very influential person; she brought attention the the prejudice and unfairness going on between black people and white people in the South at the time, she showed that anyone can speak out for what they believe in, and she showed that everyone should show empathy…

    • 1320 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Scottsboro Boys Trial

    • 834 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Since the early 1900s, there is racism in the deep south like the State of Alabama. Several African Americans doesn’t have the same right as a white man does. Sometimes, this leads to violence and misjustice. The novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee wants to tell the people that African Americans don’t have the same rights as a white man. Harper Lee tells a story where a black man is convicted and found guilty because his race is black.…

    • 834 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Scottsboro Boys Trial

    • 1206 Words
    • 5 Pages

    When Harper Lee was growing up in the 1930’s America was in a devastating depression. The stock market crashed, leaving thousands of people homeless and starving. Young men would often jump onto trains to steal food. In 1931 a group of young black boys jumped onto a train near Scottsboro, Alabama, and were met by a group of white boys who were also seeking food and shelter.…

    • 1206 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    "Look to a day when people will not be judged by color of their skin, but the content of their character." -- Martin Luther King, JR. Jem, Atticus, Calpurnia, and Aunt Alexandra want to teach Scout how to avoid racism while she 's young. Jem still has imperfections with racism so Atticus want to stop them and make him non-racist. The way it should be.…

    • 1109 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    ‘To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel about growing up.’ Explore this statement about the novel by Harper Lee. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, the theme of growing up is clearly seen through the protagonist Scout and her brother Jem Finch as they grow up and mature in 1930’s Alabama. There are many examples of Scout and Jem growing up in the novel.…

    • 1188 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    This passage explains the lecture Atticus is giving scout referring to the discrimination white people have against black people. Atticus is also showing the repulsion with white people taking advantage of a black man’s ignorance, in this case, Tom Robinson. Likewise, Scout starts to have a different point of view of her surroundings. Furthermore, scout starts learning about the hypocrisy of her teacher Miss Gates. Miss Gates condemns Hitler’s persecution of the Jews and discriminating against black people.…

    • 1476 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    With information on author Harper Lee’s childhood and the times she grew up in, readers can get a better understanding of her book To Kill A Mockingbird. The article ‘The Big Bird’ written by Thomas Mallon talks about Harper’s life, and the journey of her writing To Kill A Mockingbird. Regarding her childhood, Thomas Mallon had this to say; “Growing up, she [Harper Lee] prefered tackle to touch football, and tended to bully her friends.” This is very similar to how Scout acted as a youngster, being more outgoing and tomboyish than other girls her age; Scout and Harper seem to have matching personalities. As Atticus Finch states on page 171 of To Kill A Mockingbird, “We decided it would be best for you to have some feminine influence.…

    • 227 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Maycomb endures the coldest winter in a very long time and everyone was doing what they could to stay warm. Atticus said “...the temperature registered sixteen, that it was the coldest night in his memory, and that our snowman outside was frozen solid” (91). Everybody bundled up and kept their fireplaces and stoves going in every room that had one. Late at night, Atticus woke up Jem and Scout to get them outside to see that Miss Maudie’s house is in flames. Scout and Jem stood down by the Radley house describing how “...…

    • 310 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Scout is introduced into the novel as a very young, and innocent girl. She had much more time to learn and grow, she did not yet have the knowledge, or the maturity to understand the largely themed topics of racism and social classes that were presented in the novel. Lee demonstrates through Scout that children do not let other people’s opinions and societal ways influence on what they think is wrong, like convicting a black male who had an overwhelming amount of evidence that shown he was not guilty of his verdict. Scout did not understand why Tom Robinson had to go to jail when even she could see that he did not harm Mayella Ewell. This can be connected to Harper Lee when she was young, and the Scottsboro Trials had been taking place.…

    • 1670 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    One quote that supports Harper Lee’s theme is “ Don’t you believe a word he says, Dill,” I said. “Calpurnia says that’s n*****-talk.” (Lee, 1960, p.49). This shows that a black man does not get much trust or respect. Harper Lee makes Atticus teach…

    • 930 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays