Considered one of the greatest pieces of literature in history, To Kill a Mockingbird won several prestigious awards such as the Pulitzer Prize Award. The mastermind of this masterpiece, Harper Lee, is praised as one of the best American authors in the history of literature. Throughout her book, Harper Lee exposed many injustice that she had witnessed in her childhood. Lee expresses various underlying themes throughout the book through the masterful use of dialogue and narration. Some of the themes and motifs portrayed in this novel are prejudice and the coexistence of good and evil in the world.…
Harper Lee employs all three rhetorical categories in order to appeal to her audience. Concerning ethos, Atticus points out how Mr. Heck Tate never called a doctor to the scene. The author emphasizes the suspicious nature of this through Atticus’ dialogue, with continuous questioning directed towards Tate. American society typically views doctors with a significant level of trust. Therefore, this persuades the reader to agree with Atticus how Tate made a mistake by neglecting to call a doctor (whose title comes with a sense of public credibility), which likely could helped her greatly with treating the alleged serious injuries sustained.…
During the Hellenistic Period, the rise of one of the most famous ideas studied from the ancient world began: Greek philosophy. Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird expresses her knowledge of such philosophical strategies in persuasion through the closing statement of Atticus Finch. In the eyes of ancient Greeks, Atticus is a heroic speaker because of his uses ethos, pathos, and logos. By condescending to the level of comfort of the jury and treating them with respect, Atticus effectively uses ethos to prove his trustworthiness and credibility.…
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.…
White people do not like that. He is willing to take all the hate just to make a black man win in court. First, i think that Atticus is fair. He will fight for a black man in court and will give him a fair chance at winning. He is fair to the townspeople and his own children.…
In To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Atticus is full of courage for shooting Tim Johnson, which allows Jem to gain respect for him. Before the shooting of Tim Johnson, Jem thinks that his “father didn’t do anything. He worked in an office, not in a drugstore. Atticus did not drive a dumptruck for the county, he was not the sheriff, he did not farm, work in a garage, or do anything that could possibly arouse the admiration of anyone” (118). Jem views Atticus as a below average parent, due to the fact that he is not admirable or athletic in his eyes.…
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.…
Under the circumstances that he already knew the outcome of the trial before it started. He has seen this happen earlier, it is “‘simply because we're licked 100 years before we started is no reason for us not to try to win,’”(Lee101). This shows Atticus has courage because most people would just…
Our whole lives we are taught don't steal, don't cheat, don’t lie, don’t be ungraceful, keep your promises, and don't judge, for this reason one of the most important themes of To Kill a Mockingbird is the book’s moral nature of human beings. Whether people are evil or good is based on the morals we were taught when we were young. Scout and Jem’s perspective is of childhood innocence, in which they predict that all people are good because evil has never affected them. If the story were told from a more adult view, they have known about the evil of the world. As a result of the change from innocence to experience, one of the most important themes is the hatred between the races.…
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.…
He does not take advantage of people because of how rich or poor they are such as when he allowed Mr. Cunningham to stop giving him crops because he has paid him enough. Finally, because Atticus does not judge people based on their skin color such as when he allowed Calpurnia to stay with him because she is “part of the family” This shows integrity. Taking on the task of defending a colored man in such a racist town is very challenging but Atticus intended to do his best for his client. After the trial, everyone in the courtroom stands in respect as he…
In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird written by Harper Lee, there are many different themes depicted such as hypocrisy, prejudice, courage, coming of age/loss of innocence, justice, femininity, but racism is illustrated more heavily. Living in maycomb, racism is allowed; if you were not racist towards the blacks then you would be criticized by being called names such as “nigger-lover”. Atticus ignored the rest of the people in Maycomb and went out of his way to support a black man known as Tom Robinson, who was accused of rape. Racism is the key theme in the novel.…
What makes someone a hero? Is it how he or she acts or what he or she teaches? This essay is about one character and why he is a hero. Not only is he one because of what he does, he is one because of what he teaches. That character is Atticus Finch from the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee.…
Sirius Black once said, “We’ve all got both light and dark inside us. What matters is the part we choose to act on. That’s who we really are.” Good and evil oppose the meanings of one another. Often in this world, people describe others by either all the positive qualities or by the negative qualities, forgetting that nothing in the world is perfect or completely imperfect.…
In To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Lee gives many life themes that all are life lessons for the reader and Scout the main character. Throughout the book many themes are shown but two that really stick out to me were compassion and courage. These themes stick out because when reading about Scout growing up we see her develop into a more compassionate and courageous person in the way she acts and presents herself. Furthermore, these themes serve great life lessons for the reader and help them grow throughout the reading of the book.…