...How does Harper Lee present the theme of Prejudice in the novel? ‘To Kill a Mockingbird.’? In the novel ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ Harper Lee presents the theme of prejudice in a number of different ways. She shows that prejudice is present throughout all levels of society in Maycomb. She directs her attention to groups and individuals. ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ was set in the mid 1930’s and although slavery was abolished by the North in 1865 throughout America, the South still treated blacks as inferior, as the slaves they once were and the residents of Maycomb County typify this. The main theme of prejudice in this book is that of racial prejudice. The whole trial of Tom Robinson is full of prejudice against him. Before the trial even commences Reverend Sykes invites the children to sit in the coloured balcony – (Pg 181). Even the black and white public must sit separately! Extreme racial prejudice is shown to us by Harper Lee when she tells us of the colour segregation. In Maycomb there is segregation between black and white people. This is emphasised by the way blacks file in last and are seated in the balcony. Their politeness to the children is shown when four black people give up their front row seats for them. This shows white children also have authority over black adults. It is ironic that the children will have the same viewpoint as the black people attending the trial – in terms of where they see it from. At the time black people could not show their disapproval...
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...“To Kill a Mockingbird” Analysis Harper Lee published “To Kill a Mockingbird “ in 1960, a time buzzing with racial segregation and irrational injustice. She based the book on various events that were all to real, only fifty years ago. Throughout the book, the author captures these horrendous inequalities and is able to explore these subjects through various situations and characters. However, it is not always just the color of one’s skin as to the reason of why they are treated differently. Lee is able to display examples of prejudice based on class and status of a person, rather than race alone, through the use of abstract symbols through the use of characters. Harper Lee use birds to symbolize traits in various characters throughout the book. Although it is not just mockingbirds used as the only bird example. When Jem and Scout receive guns to shoot for fun, Atticus warns them against shooting mockingbirds. However, he states that they may shoot all the blue jays they desire. Blue jays are the nuance bird; this connects to Bob Ewell due to the fact that he is the perfect display of a blue jay. The blue jays represent the prejudiced citizens of Maycomb; they are ever present and continue to taunt others. Atticus goes on to tell the kids that it is a sin to kill a mockingbird. The mockingbird is the innocent bird and therefore sums up Tom Robinson the most clearly. As being an innocent man that is only being tried due to his race, he embodies the mockingbird perfectly. Throughout...
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...soul of a person; | |we are more comfortable making judgements based on skin colour.” | Prejudice, courage and unity… TEXT COMPARISON Are we always champions of tolerance, courage and receptiveness to others? By the very definition of humanity, we must be. Humanity: benevolence, understanding and kindness towards other people. It is, arguably, our very human nature to feel compassion, courage, understanding, unity and empathy towards our fellow man. Unfortunately, prejudice and judgement also cling to the human condition like tumorous stains – traits which society still finds hard to surmount. Despite the efforts of governments, groups and individuals, humankind still finds it difficult to trust based on the soul of a person; we are more comfortable making judgements based on skin colour. Nelle Harper Lee through her 1960 novel, ‘To Kill a Mockingbird,’ and Boaz Yakin through his 2000 film, ‘Remember the Titans,’ are text composers who tackle the ill-defined paradigms of ‘prejudice, courage and unity’ by painting a picture of the confronting face of racism. Prejudice, courage and unity are notions that are dealt with differently by both composers and, through their use of structural and linguistic features, each composer presents this concept in a manner which connects (or weakens a connection)...
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...Minh-Thi Nguyen Mrs. Smith English 1 Honors/ Period 4 November 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...
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...“How Does Harper Lee Present Her Ideas About Childhood in the Novel ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’?” In the novel ‘‘‘To Kill a Mockingbird’’’ written by Harper Lee, childhood is expressed throughout the story. The narrator of ‘‘‘To Kill a Mockingbird’’’ is Scout, an adult when the book was written, but a child when the story was lived, with this narration Harper Lee, uses Scout to portray the events which, normally would have had a biased review by adults at the time, but because it is written by a child it has non-judgemental views. Therefore, because of the child narrator, and the other main characters being children, this shows that childhood in ‘‘‘To Kill a Mockingbird’’’ is important and crucial. In the chapters 1 to 12, childhood is presented by friendship, gullibility, pride, questioning and fear. The fear element, is a major part through ‘‘To Kill a Mockingbird’’, because at different stages of the novel at least one of the main characters is scared. The Finch children first experience real friendship in ‘‘‘To Kill a Mockingbird’’’, when they meet Charles Baker Harris – Dill. Before Dill has passed the ‘Jem test’, Dill boasts to Scout and Jem that he can read. Which was not usually common in Maycomb at the time, but Jem and Scout could both read, which meant that they thought Dill was showing off and they wouldn’t want to be friends with him. Also what makes Dill become an issue about friendship, is how he introduces himself. He recites his entire name, and makes fun of...
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...A beautiful melody fills the air on a clear summer’s day. As the gunshot rings through the sky, the space is suddenly left with an deafening silence. Never had the mockingbird, whose song was enjoyed by all, done anything to deserve that bullet. Yet still, the bird perishes. To Kill a Mockingbird is a magnificent tale regarding the ideas of racial prejudice. Harper Lee, the book’s author, uses a mockingbird to symbolize how the innocent are discriminated. Atticus Finch first establishes the idea of the mockingbird when giving Scout and Jem rifles; he explains that mockingbirds do nothing but make music which is why they are not to be shot. Shortly after, Atticus explains about the mockingbirds; Tom Robinson, one of the main mockingbirds, stands...
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...To Kill a Mockingbird, by Nelle Haper Lee was published in 1960, after the 1954 Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education and during a time of increasing civil rights unrest (Johnson). It was also a time of great social change in the United States, and a novel about the racial injustices of 1930s Alabama carried a powerful message to its readers. After the Brown v. Board of Education ruling, literature and literacy were used to expose and educate on racial injustice (Prendergrast 2). The dominant theme of the novel is prejudice and ultimately the courage needed to overcome prejudice. There are three main types of prejudice that are explored in the novel; racial prejudice, social prejudice and fear of the unknown. Racial prejudice is present throughout the novel in the people of Maycomb’s everyday life, as it is a novel set in the ‘deep south’ of America in the 1930’s. This period is not so long after the American civil war, so slavery’s abolishment had occurred not all that long ago, and the horror of slavery was still on the mind of many black people at the time (Brundage 86). Because of this, most people’s attitudes towards black people had not changed very much. The situation that shows the best examples of racial prejudice is the trial of Tom Robinson. In his trial, Tom Robinson is misjudged and mistreated because he is black. One of the clearest examples of this is the way in which Mr. Gilmer, Tom’s prosecutor, calls Tom “boy.” He uses a tone of voice towards...
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...Throughout Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird symbolism is present as a mockingbird, the multiple flowers mentioned, and a character himself, Boo Radley. Mockingbirds are a picture of innocence and beauty. The mockingbird is used as a symbol of innocence in the book. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus is telling Scout how it is a sin to kill a mockingbird. Scout later asks Miss Maudie and Miss Maudie agrees by saying “Your father’s right…Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy…but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” They say it is a sin to kill one because they do not do anything to harm others. The only thing they do is bring music to their ears. Not only for innocence in general,...
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...„As you grow older, you´ll see white men cheat black men every day of your life, but let me tell you something and don´t forget it – whenever a white man does that to a black man, no matter who he is, how rich he is, or how fine a family he comes from, he is trash.” Good morning Mrs. Braun and fellow year 10 students. Today I present with this text three key themes – social class, prejudice and ignorance vs. cowardice – of Harper Lee´s novel “To kill a Mockingbird” (TKAMB). Social class is one of the key themes, which Harper Lee used in her novel and illustrates this with quotes like “You ain´t got no business bringin` white chillun here – they got their church, we got our´n.” This is said by a coloured women to Calpurnia, because she is bringing Scout and Jem, two white children, to the church for coloured people. This shows the reader the big differences between the social classes, because different coloured people have even separated services. Also a highlighted quote in the novel is “I don´t know, but they did it. They´ve done it before and they did it tonight and they´ll do it again and when they do it – seems that only children weep.” The court condemned the coloured man Tom Robinson for raping a white women, although they could not really condemn him, because of missing evidence. Nevertheless, he was condemned, because he is coloured and back then the words of white people were more credible than the words of coloured people. However, there are still people like...
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...Maya Angelou once said, "Prejudice is a burden that confuses the past, threatens the future and renders the present inaccessible." Angelou warns about the negative affects of prejudice. The excerpt of Elizabeth Eckfords story, "She Walked Alone" and the novel "To Kill a Mockingbird" written by Harper Lee both share the common theme of prejudice, specifically racial prejudice. Throughout both texts the authors purposefully discuss the issues regarding racial prejudice. They share a similar over meaning and central idea. The central idea shared is that the color of someone skin can affect the mount of respect they receive and how the person is treated. Sadly, people would assume mostly negative things about a person if they were colored, and...
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...To Kill A Mocking Bird BY HARPER LEE Novel Analysis I.BACKGROUND IN FORMATION ABOUT THE AUTHOR Nelle Harper Lee (born April 28, 1926) is an American author known for her 1960 Pulitzer-Prize-winning novel To Kill a Mockingbird, which deals with the issues of racism that were observed by the author as a child in her hometown of Monroeville, Alabama. Despite being Lee's only published book, it led to Lee being awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom of the United States for her contribution to literature in 2007.Lee has also been the recipient of numerous honorary degrees, but has always declined to make a speech. Other significant contributions of Lee include assisting her close friend, Truman Capote, in his research for the book In Cold Blood. II.INFORMATION ABOUT THE NOVEL Classification- To Kill a Mockingbird is embodied by Atticus Finch, who is virtually unique in the novel in that he has experienced and understood evil without losing his faith in the human capacity for goodness. Atticus understands that, rather than being simply creatures of good or creatures of evil, most people have both good and bad qualities. The important thing is to appreciate the good qualities and understand the bad qualities by treating others with sympathy and trying to see life from their perspective. He tries to teach this ultimate moral lesson to Jem and Scout to show them that it is possible to live with conscience without losing hope or becoming cynical. In this way, Atticus is...
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...In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, racism is an issue and black people are discriminated just because of their skin color. Prejudice is used to show how society is in To Kill A Mockingbird. Prejudice is used from a child’s point of view so people can see what it’s like for innocent children to get brainwashed by the judgmental people around them. In the 1800’s, most people in Alabama didn’t have much money. “Catching Walter Cunningham in the schoolyard game me some pleasure, but when I was rubbing his nose in the dirt, Jem came by and told me to stop.” Scout picks on Walter because the Cunninghams don’t have much and since Walter is a Cunningham, Scout thinks that Walter and his family are lower than Scout and that she can do whatever she wants to Walter, like treating him badly. Prejudice is easily shown from Scout’s point of view because Scout doesn’t know much, Scout is barely in first grade and Scout doesn’t understand why Walter’s family doesn’t have much. Most people have that one cranky and old lady in their neighborhood. In the story,” Mrs. Dubose lived two doors up the the street from us; neighborhood opinion was unanimous that Mrs. Dubose was the meanest old woman who ever lived.” Most of the...
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...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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...of view is to empathize for them, to understand where they are coming from. In order to understand a person you need to understand how their life began, and how it unfolded to become the person they are today. Harper Lee, the author of To Kill A Mockingbird, brought two characters named Scout and Arthur Radley to life. They are two very unlikely people to become friends, but Harper Lee shows how you can be friends with anyone as long as you understand how they started out. Would you ever empathize for a person you never knew? The book To Kill A Mockingbird is based in...
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...determination. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee revealed that humans often have other motives in life; some are born to be evil in nature, some are naturally innocent and then there are some that are born to protect the innocent. Are humans decidedly cruel or is there some moral good in each of us? In Lord of the Flies, William Golding presents a different view of the individual, specifically that within each person there is a struggle between right and wrong, but that evil will end up winning in the end. Initially, the boys listen to their consciences and act according to the moral code they were taught during their...
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