To Kill A Mockingbird Narrative Voice Analysis

Improved Essays
The novel, ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ (1960), written by Harper Lee is told through the eyes of Scout Finch, whose father is defending a black man accused of raping a white girl in the town of Maycomb, Alabama. In a retrospective view, the narrator, Scout Finch further acquires knowledge from her childhood experiences, regarding the issues of prejudice and racial injustice explored, which allowed her to form a mature judgment of the society in the Southern United States during the 1930s. ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ expresses the importance of acknowledging the affect of the narrative voice in a text as indicated through the different aspects and types of narrative voice as well the author’s decisions.

The narrative voice is of the narrator’s voice

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Boo Radley Maturity

    • 692 Words
    • 3 Pages

    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.…

    • 692 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “Close that curtain, Jessie, I have no wish to regard my garden and examine the destruction caused by that, horrible little boy.” “That’s more appropriate, now where’s my tea, go and fetch it at once!” “Maids, what’s becoming of them, acting as though they are equals to us white folk, it’s simply not allowed!” Crossing my arms I lean back and ponder the situation “It doesn’t help this situation when no one listens to my opinion, sure they believe there’s a difference between themselves and their maids, however they have no idea how alike they appear.” “Finally back Jessie?…

    • 653 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Author Harper Lee’s ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ and Director Gary Ross’ ‘Pleasantville’ both explore the ideas of racism and prejudice in order to appeal and make meaning for the reader/audience. Lee’s ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ set in 1930’s Maycomb, Alabama, and Ross’ ‘Pleasantville’ set in the fictional 1950’s town use characterisation, setting and symbolism to highlight the depth of racism and prejudice that is embedded and its consequences. Characterisation is used in Lee’s ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ and Ross’ ‘Pleasantville’ for the audience to develop a deeper understanding of ‘Good Vs Evil’. Scout Finch, the narrator and a main protagonist in Lee’s novel is seen as the innocent child and a mockingbird herself with the quote “…I was slowly drying…

    • 1010 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    To Kill a Mockingbird, an iconic novel by Harper Lee, contains complex characters which exemplify character development and dynamicity. Jean Louise “Scout” Finch enters into the story as a naive six year old, but gradually matures as she experiences the results of prejudice and unfairness. Because of her capability for change, Scout is a pivotal character in To Kill a Mockingbird. As a person, Scout is neither unlikable nor likable, instead she has a simple presence which carries the story but does not detract the attention away from it. Lee introduces Scout as curious, brave, determined, and independent, characteristics which indicate Scout’s strong will and desire to discover.…

    • 994 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Harper Lee, the author of To Kill a Mockingbird, vividly caputres the effects of racism and social inequality on the citizens of Maycomb county in various ways. Lee narrates from an adolescent perspective through the voice of Scout, who has the attribute of an unadulterated character. Also, the historical background is set in the great depression, which was a period that showed the human nature as lucidly as possible in a malevolent way. Lee compels the readers to feel compassionate towards Scout, and forces to observe Maycomb Countys’ candor reality. Firstly, Lee captured the social inequlity and racism in Maycomb by Atticus’s speech After being cognizant of the rigid and time-honored code was an amalgamation of erudite high classes’ Acquiescence and a consensus that has been reached by the low class, I candidly was dumbfounded for a minute, because my inference insists that the time honoured code is not enunciated nor compelled but It is just a implied consent by the people.…

    • 506 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    To Kill A Mockingbird is a powerful book about a small town of Maycomb, Alabama in the 1930’s. Lee uses multiple literary devices to support her ideas of America’s history in the eyes of a young girl, Scout Finch. As she grows up, problems of race confront her and her family. Her father, Atticus has positive opinion on how society should be, where everyone is treated the same. Prejudice is a problem in history that can be changed by a person’s good morality.…

    • 685 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the 1960 novel “To Kill A Mockingbird” Harper Lee shines a spotlight on the best and the worst characteristics of society. Lee uses her characters to display different qualities of humanity, such as tolerance, morality, justice, innocence, and acceptance as well as hatred, hypocrisy, and ignorance. The text is written from the perspective of a child, an unbiased, untainted view of the world and its people. This allows the reader to really understand the story from all sides, and see how blind hatred really is. First Topic.…

    • 338 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    To Kill A Mockingbird written by Harper Lee is written to address the horrendous issues of the 1930’s, The Great Depression, the Jim Crow Laws, and segregation. It explores a variety of themes, all of which affect the reader greatly. Its portrayal of white supremacy, injustice, and prejudice is evident in many occurrences during the novel. The way the characters react to these times of hardship, however, defines their real strength stated by Martin Luther King Jr with the quote “the ultimate measure is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy”. These significant themes, white supremacy, injustice, and prejudice, are reflected through the characters Scout Finch, Atticus…

    • 1088 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Decent Essays

    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.…

    • 86 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This story, narrated by Scout Finch, takes the reader to a small town in Alabama, Maycomb County, during the 1930s, where Scout shares some memories and experiences from her childhood. In her novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Lee advocates for change in her society’s cruel attitudes and traditions toward people with darker skin using the perspective of a child and her father’s unchanging morals. Harper Lee…

    • 701 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    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.…

    • 1318 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Imagine a wagon with wooden wheels, helping a family move across a valley. The wheels have to endure all of the bumps, rocks, mud, and water, yet a family will not move anywhere unless the wheels are on the wagon. This is similar to the idea of empathy that Harper Lee is trying to emphasize through Atticus. In To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, she keeps proving through Atticus that even though being truly empathetic toward someone less fortunate than you may bring them down in society, standing up for one another could also make a whole society respect one another.…

    • 620 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee and “Report on the Scottsboro Ala. Case,” by Hollace Randsell are two different selections that share a similar authors propose: to exploit social and racial injustice in the time period the works were created. Both pieces are told in first person point-of-view, and exhibit the event of African-American men being wrongly accused of rape. To Kill a Mockingbird best exemplifies the usage of POV more than “Report on the Scottsboro, Ala. Case” in the way that it helps the author convey her purpose of illustrating the views of social inequality, especially racism. The age and how naive the narrator is gives the reader a whole new perspective on the authors purpose in To Kill a Mockingbird rather than “Report on the Scottsboro, Ala. Case.” The young narrator, Scout, lets the reader see a 1930’s small southern town through the eyes of a nine-year-old.…

    • 441 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    To Kill a Mocking Bird is one of the most widely recognized pieces of American literature. Through the eyes of a child, Harper Lee takes the reader on a journey that examines one of the most controversial topics in history of the nation – civil rights. From Scout’s innocent perspective, Lee challenges cultural norms and stereotypes, and asks the audience to question their personal concepts of courage, justice, and morality. Summary Lee begins by introducing the audience to Scout, her family and Dill, and the notable inhabitants of Depression-era Maycomb, Alabama.…

    • 1735 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The narrative voice, or perspective, of ‘Go Set a Watchman’ is very different to that of Harper Lee’s first novel, ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’. In ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’, Scout is around the age of 7 and this is shown through her perspective as the narrator. Her viewpoint is naïve and very innocent and she is susceptible to all the rumours and stories about Boo Radley. In ‘Go Set a Watchman’, Scout is 20 years older. She still acts childish and there are many instances where she feels the need to tease people for her own enjoyment.…

    • 378 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays