...In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Jem is a young boy who faces several dilemmas while growing up in a small town Although Jem is unaware, the influence of Maycomb’s narrow-minded and racist culture is inevitable. In various ways, Jem demonstrates the moral development of courage and responsibility that comes with age, examples, and experience. As a result of Jem facing difficult situations, his preconceived notions of society shatter, and he begins to develop an increasingly mature sense of courage and caliber. For example, as an attempt to lure Boo Radley outside, Jem accepts Scout and Dill’s dare to touch the side of the Radley house(19). Because of the unrealistic understanding he and children his age have of mettle, Jem...
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...Growing up is a major struggle for many as it is a time where one loses their innocence and starts to question their beliefs, values, and morals. Growing up is when one starts to face the harsh realities of society and starts to build an understanding of right versus wrong. In the three years covered by To Kill A Mockingbird Scout, Dill, and Jem grow from being naive, immature, and impulsive to being mature and understanding. In To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the destruction of innocence is used to depict the characters’ growth and development as well as their new understanding of the injustice in society surrounding race. The destruction of innocence is a major theme which illustrates growth and development within the characters of...
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...Innocence As children age and mature, they start to lose their innocence and purity. In her novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee demonstrates how children fail to keep their pureness as they grow older. Through the eyes of Scout, the reader sees Maycomb as an angelic town where the residents can do no harm. However, throughout the course of the novel, as Jem and Scout Finch grow and lose innocence, the town of Maycomb does too. Although the loss of purity, especially in children, can break one’s heart, it is human nature and sooner or later, everyone will surrender their sinlessness. To Kill a Mockingbird is a coming-of-age story about how the main characters move from a state of innocence to a mature one after suffering from, but surviving many misadventures. Lee compares many of the characters to a mockingbird, a symbol of pure chastity. Scout and Jem, the main characters of...
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...In the beginning of To Kill a Mockingbird Jem sees his father Atticus as different and lazy/boring compared to the other fathers in Maycomb. Jem’s psychological evolution on Atticus happens when gives his closing speech to the jury. After this Atticus changes to realizing he had been wrong on who Atticus was as a father. Jem’s father was actually courageous and deserved recognition. To Kill a Mockingbird is Jem’s bildungsroman because his outlook on Atticus goes from weak and embarrassing to strong and admirable. At first Jem’s philosophy on Atticus is that Atticus is unalike to the other fathers and Atticus didn’t do work to get praise from the people of Maycomb. “..or do anything that could possibly arouse the admiration of anyone” (Lee...
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...K Mrs. G ENG2D1 6 January 2015 To Kill a Mockingbird: A Excellent Adaptation To Kill a Mockingbird, according to many people is one of the finest books written in modern American Literature, which spreads the honorable message of racial injustice in the 1930’s in an informative and creative way. By showing a family known as “the Finches” experience and face the trials of living in a small Alabaman Town called Maycomb. The book itself was written by Harper Lee, a Pulitzer Prize winning novelist. When the novel was turned to a movie, there were many challenges that the director had to face while turning this classic novel into life. The director Robert Mulligan had to make sure the movie itself is an excellent adaptation of the book within the restrictions of creating a movie such as time limit, audience restrictions, money, and making sure to not replicate the entire book. This is why a book is better in an aspect as there are not as many restrictions to when creating a book compared to a movie. The film and the novel itself has many similarities and differences, however it is upon whether or not the film is a successful adaptation and portrays the theme of racial injustice. This film is a reasonable adaptation as it demonstrates the message of the film using the same context as the book and brings the characters to life in a creative way. There is great screenplay and dialogue amongst the characters which allows the audience to understand the movie thoroughly. However...
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...perks that adults do. In order to do so, one must not only mature physically, as in growing taller, but must also mature mentally, in order to be ready for the real world around them. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, the protagonist Jean Louise Finch, also known as Scout Finch, is described as maturing greatly throughout the novel, physically and mentally. With the help of three essential people, she learns to release the bonds of childhood, and to think of the world around her in a different way, to fight with her head and not her fists, and to meet the demands of society and become a true lady as she grows up and matures, instead of her current tom-boy self. There are many...
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...14, 2013 To Kill a Mockingbird Purpose Passage Questions “Atticus reached down and picked up the candy box. He handed it to Jem. Jem opened the box. Inside, surrounded by wads of damp cotton, was a white, perfect camellia It was a Snow-on –the-Mountain… ‘Old hell-devil, old hell-devil. Why can’t she leave me alone?’ …Jem picked up the candy box and threw it in the fire. He picked up the camellia, and when I went off to bed I saw him fingering the wide petals” (148). Questions: 1. In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, why does Mrs. Dubose give Jem the perfect white camellia? What does its color symbolize and how is it significant to the novel? 2. The “Snow-on-the-Mountain” camellia in the candy box is cut and does not have any roots. Moreover, Mrs. Dubose only gave the camellia to Jem. What does this symbolize and what was the message that Mrs. Dubose was trying to convey? 3. Why does Harper Lee end Part One of the novel with Jem’s decision of keeping the camellia? 1. In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, why does Mrs. Dubose give Jem the perfect white camellia? What does it symbolize and how is it significant to the novel? In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, when Mrs. Dubose criticizes Atticus as a “nigger-lover” and taunts the children for their father’s decision to defend an African American in court, Jem deliberately destroys every one of her precious camellias. However, before she dies, Mrs. Dubose leaves Jem the “perfect...
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...Harper Lee’s classic novel To Kill a Mockingbird is one of the most renowned books of all time, centering around young Scout and her family (her brother, Jem, and her father, Atticus,) as both Scout and her older brother mature through the events that occur in Maycomb county along the three years the novel spans. The aforementioned events include: the wrongful conviction of a black man (who Atticus defended brilliantly in court) for no other reason than the racism the Maycomb citizens harbored in their hearts, the death of this man by seventeen gunshot wounds when he attempted to escape prison, the attempted murder of Scout and Jem, the appearance of a neighborhood recluse for the first time in years, the slow death of a morphine addict who...
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...“Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing,” Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird highlights her childhood, showing the racism in her home and mirrors her family life. To Kill a Mockingbird shows the innocence of children and growing up. Harper Lee’s Maycomb mirrors her childhood home of Monroeville, Alabama and the white supremacy. Scout is the child of a lawyer taking on a job of defending a black man in front of the town. Characterization is how an author portrays a character in their piece. Jean Louise “Scout” Finch in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is a masculine young child who is learning about the world with her curiousity. She is adventurous because she of the way she treats the mysterious Radley house. Scout Finch is more interested in playing rather being the “typical girl”. When Scout caught Walter Cunningham she rubbed his nose in dirt. This specific piece shows Scout’s aggressiveness and her “masculinity” towards everyone. She also stomped at him to scare him off after she rubbed his nose in dirt. This specific piece shows more aggression and “bravery”. “ He ain’t company, Cal, he’s just a Cunningham,” Scout says this to Calpurnia the family...
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...To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee views the impact of racism on a society. Racism is a social norm in this society, and it plays a big part in both adults and children's lives. Jem and Scout live in a town called Maycomb. They meet a boy named Dill who visits Maycomb every summer. The threesome lived an adventurous and innocent life until a black man is convicted of rape and is put on trial. Reality then crashes down and Jem, Dill, and Scout’s opinions on Maycomb changes. In To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee illustrates the effects of racism on the minds of the youth. This racism changes Jem, Scout, and Dill’s views on Maycomb and the people that live in it. This brings painful feelings to all of them. Dill, Scout, and Jem witness Mr.Gilmer...
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...Mockingbirds are a big part of the story in Harper Lee’s classic novel To Kill a Mockingbird. Mockingbirds sing their hearts out, that’s just what they do. They don’t hurt others or damage any trees, they sing a beautiful tone for all to hear. As Mockingbirds sing, so do people, they have their own characteristics and ways that they express themselves in. Atticus says that it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird, and so it would be a sin to kill someone’s voice or the way they stand up for others. Three characters that I think are mockingbirds that sing their own song are Atticus Finch, Scout Finch, and Jem Finch. Atticus Finch is the person that does the dirty work, he is a wise and great father to his children, he teaches them many great life lessons...
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...us change as things happen, and time goes on? In the novel “To Kill A Mockingbird” by Harper Lee,(Re-Word Whole Sentence) you can notice that happening throughout the novel, from beginning to end. The characters that have the most change, are the two protagonists, Scout and Jem. They get older throughout the novel, and as such they mature Do not list one of your paragraphs points in introduction. Different events that occur around them cause them to shape their views. The fact that they are still kids makes their minds more malleable, and they often side with ones close to them in conflicts. This causes them to adopt morals as they grow up, and changes how they view things in everyday life. Jem and Scout change throughout the novel, for a variety of reasons. As Scout and Jem age, they gain maturity, as humans do. When Scout attends school for the first time at 6 years old,...
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...Scout and Jem from To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Holden Caulfield from The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, and Jay Gatsby from The Great Gatsb by Scott Fitzgerald. Each of these characters encounters different processes of coming of age. When these characters process of maturation and coming of age are compared, the most relevant coming of age best exhibited by Holden from The Catcher in the Rye, following with Scout from To Kill a Mockingbird and Mr. Gatsby from The Great Gatsby; however, differences in coming of age are apparent in the different time periods of each novel setting, practicality, and present social issues. Holden Caulfield, the main character in The Catcher in the...
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...book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Maycomb County is where the Finch family has lived for countless years, their family name is honored in the small community. Scout Finch, Atticus’ young daughter is just entering school, and her older brother Jem is there to help her. But, Jem and Scout begin to encounter difficult experiences that are much different than their usual games in the backyard. The Finch family develops and grows throughout the book from the experiences they encounter together. Scout if first introduced as a young innocent tomboy type of girl who is her father’s little girl, but over time she grows through her experiences. Scout’s father, Atticus, is all about teaching his children morals, and one moral he has taught Scout is to never do harm to someone or something that does no harm to you. Atticus looked like he needed cheering up. I ran to him and hugged him and kissed...
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...Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel centered around a few years in Jean Louise “Scout” Finch’s childhood, featuring her experiences and the lessons that she learns growing up in the 1930s. Scout and her brother, Jeremy “Jem” Finch, mature in the small town of Maycomb, Alabama, in a one-parent home. Their father and aunt, Atticus and Alexandra, raise them with help from Calpurnia, their African American maid. Harper Lee weaves several different themes throughout the novel, but some are more prominent than others. Lee develops the main themes of growth, protection of innocence, and perception throughout To Kill a Mockingbird, disguised in the form of lessons learned during the narrator’s childhood. Harper Lee reveals her theme of growth...
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