...To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee speaks tales of courage in society, and what it takes to uphold it.The story embarks with Scout Finch, a young daughter of a lawyer who becomes enveloped in a world of racism, prejudice, and injustice.Through the eyes of Scout, she looks up to her father, a figure of respect among many in Maycomb county, in times where his morals are pushed to the limits. .In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee stems Courage from the struggles of a community, where moral values allow many characters to stand up for themselves and others. Many characters such as Jem, a young boy who learns of world around him through his experiences and Ms. Dubose, a hot-tempered old lady with the hidden secret of fighting her addiction gives meaning to the symbol of about their flowers, Camelias. A character that encompasses these traits is Atticus, a lawyer who was tasked to defend a African man during a time of racism. Atticus became a prominent character who shows his colors during his Town's needs, such as the attack of the Rabid dog. Scout, the main protagonist who learns from these characters, their decisions and values which demonstrate what it means to be courageous. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee distinguishes many characters for their acts of courage, putting them in situations that push their morals and beliefs.After returning from Ms.Dubose's house, Scout questions her father about Ms.Dubose intentions concerning Atticus defending Tom Robinson...
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...Racism, is it still with the culture or not? Well that is very conversational topic. It depends who a person is and they come from. A caucasian would view it differently than a african american or an asian would.There all different views. Well something that helps comprehend this is To Kill a Mockingbird (TKAM). Is it still helping in today’s culture? Yes, To Kill a Mockingbird is still culturally relevant to today's society. In TKAM Tom is ruled guilty because the white people hated their neighbors, black people. It was a hate crime that called an innocent man guilty. Well that seems like our government would have fixed that by now, and that answer is incorrect. In a study in 2016 they found that “Hate crimes are motivated by race more than...
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...Golden Passages Chapter 1: “Maycomb was an old, tired town, but it was a tired, old town when I first knew it. In rainy weather the streets turned to red slop; grass grew on sidewalks, the courthouse sagged in the square. Somehow, it was hotter then: a black dog suffered on a summer’s day; bony mules hitched to Hoover carts flicked flies in the sweltering shade of the live on the square.” Pg. 5 Reason: I picked this passage because it described to me what the town was like. In my head, I could easily visualize what it looked like. Chapter 2: “Now you tell your father not to teach you anymore. It’s best to begin reading with a fresh mind. You tell him I ‘ll take over from here and try to undo the damage - your father does not know how to teach. You can have a seat know.” Pg.17 Reason: I picked this passage because Miss Caroline tells Scout that she shouldn’t know how to read and write yet. Scout works through her problems and adapts to her new teaching ways. Chapter 3: “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view - until you climb in his skin and walk around in it.” Pg.30 Reason: I liked this passage because this is when Scout learns that you have to give people chances. You can’t judge someone by what’ s on the outside, but by what is in the inside. Chapter 4: “It was the kind of box wedding rings came in, purple velvet with a minute catch. Jem flicked open the tiny catch. Inside were two scrubbed and polished pennies , one on top of...
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...TKAM Essay Racism is an active problem in the United States today. It is not only causing troubles in the present, but has caused problems since the beginning of time. This is not racism between African Americans and white people alone. This is a problem between all races that has not yet been resolved. Many people have come to believe that this difficulty has been diminished, but they are wrong. Racism is as alive as it used to be, just less intense. In the early 19th century and before, slavery was legal in the United States. When slavery became illegal, racism was still active but as segregation instead. African Americans were separated from whites in every sense of the word. Segregation has been moved past and African Americans are permitted to roam free to wherever they please. Even so, racism is still ongoing in the United States; between all races. Four examples of racism in the United States is the Tom Robinson case in the book To Kill a Mockingbird, the Scottsboro Trials, the Emmett Till Murder Trial, and the Ahmed Mohamed case. In author Harper Lee’s book To Kill a Mockingbird, she writes of the activeness of racism in the 1930s. The main...
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...‘It was times like these when I thought my father, who hated guns and had never been to any wars, was the bravest man who ever lived.’ (Chapter 11, p 111) ------------------------------------------------- Discuss the various ways in which Harper Lee explores the concept of courage in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird. One of the central issues in Harper Lee's novel To Kill a Mockingbird is the idea of courage and the very different ways it can be displayed. As each character face their own journeys with courage, not only does the reader learn that even the smallest, most subtle acts of courage make a difference, but Scout and Jem’s idea of true courage is challenged as their minds mature and develop. Atticus and Mrs Dubose play a large part in this for Jem, as he distinguishes the difference between physical courage and emotional courage; while the court case of Tom Robinson teaches Scout how moral courage is sometimes hard to find in Maycomb, however it is the most important type of courage to have. Firstly, during the orientation of the novel Scout and Jem both have an attitude that the only form of courage is physical; as in being able to use a gun or win a fight. Jem believes that Atticus is less of other fathers as ‘He did not do the things our schoolmates’ fathers did: he never went hunting, he did not play poker or fish or drink or smoke. He sat in the livingroom and read’ – in short, believing Atticus was lacking courage. Atticus somewhat reaches his son’s expectations...
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...Henry Adams once said, “A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.” This means that one person can influence many and his influence never stops influencing others. In the English dictionary Influence is defined as the capacity to have an effect on the character, development, or behavior of someone or something, or the effect itself. In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Atticus Finch plays an important role in influencing Scouts education, Morals, and her overall development. He does so through his words and actions. Atticus Finch plays an important role in educating Scout through out the book. He teaches her many subjects such as the importance of education. Atticus told Scout, “If you'll concede the necessity of going to school, we'll go on reading every night like we always have. Is that a bargain?” (P.41) Atticus comprehends that education is extremely important consequently leading him to bargain with her although he could be in trouble by doing so. Scout then learns the importance of education because although she knows he'll get into trouble, he'll do anything so she'll continue to attend school. He also thought her indirectly how to read. Scout says, “I never deliberately learned to read... I could not remember when the lines above Atticus's moving finger separated into words... everything Atticus happened to be reading when I crawled into his lap every night.” (P.23) Scout never directly learned from Atticus how to read...
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...In chapter 23 of Harper Lee’s TKAM, unjustified hypocrisy becomes central theme. Aunt Alexandra hosts a missionary circle to discuss their biblical beliefs. Their conversations about Jesus become tainted with frustrating hypocrisy as they choose to discuss their hate for the black community. The women have the audacity to attend Tom’s trial and then come to Atticus’ house just to slander the people he supports. Mrs. Merriweather lectures Mrs. Farrow about her black maid and shows the extreme hypocrisy she holds when she says, “‘There’s nothing more distracting than a sulky darky. Their mouths go down to here. Just ruins your day to have ‘em in the kitchen… you simply are not being a Christian lady. Jesus Christ never went around grumbling and...
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...Maycomb County is an oxymoron. It is connected by racist views but divided because some people did not believe in racism. In the movie, “To Kill a Mockingbird’, the absence of important scenes, key characters and subtle details that were found in the book minimize the extreme views of the racists in Maycomb County Society. The missing elements minimize racism, conceal sexism, and suppress the importance of the Southern aristocracy. In “TKAM”, the absence of the Finch Landing Christmas scene eliminates a significant aspect to the racism displayed in Maycomb County. A moviegoer is shortchanged because “TKAM” does not show the intensity of the racism during that time. In TKAM, Aunt Alexandra, Atticus’s sister, is hosting everyone for Christmas including her grandson Francis. During the gathering, Francis shouts at Scout, “He’s nothin’ but a...
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...Do The Right Thing As Theodore Roosevelt once said “In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is to do the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.” Roosevelt’s quote explains that it it best to do the right thing and it is the worst possible outcome to do the easiest thing, nothing at all. This quote can be implemented greatly in Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird(TKAM). Harper Lee's TKAM is a novel based in the 1930s and covers everything from a biased trial to a few kids, Scout, Jem, and Dill, observing all that takes place in the small town of Maycomb. In To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee shows that one should do the right thing and not the easy thing through the image of Atticus, Tom, and Bob attacking the kids....
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...like it is bigger than the size of your hand, just like good grammar has a huge effect on your essays. In a crowd of moths, you would easily be able to spot out a monarch butterfly. In my writing this year, you could quickly pick out my strengths. One of them is the structure of my essays. In all my essays, you are able to clearly tell what the thesis statement, the main points, and supporting evidence are. I take this part very seriously, because a jumbled up essay makes no sense. The structure is important because by logically putting the ideas in order, the reader will understand it more. In my TKAM essay, you can evidently point out the thesis in every paragraph, making the argument stronger. “In To Kill A Mockingbird, prejudice negatively affects how the characters interact with each other, because they have a preconceived idea of others. For example, when …” (TKAM Timed writing, 1) Here, the structure is clear-cut; there is the thesis, a transition, and then it goes on to the main point of that paragraph. So of course, one of my strengths is my structure. Throughout my writing, my strengths and weaknesses are very clear-cut. One of which is my grammar and punctuation. Grammar and punctuation can quickly ruin an essay without you even noticing it, because people fall into bad habits they can’t get out of. They represent the nasty weeds that the butterfly eats to get stronger and help the ecosystem, spreading like wildfire. Just like you would was your car to make...
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...To Kill a Mockingbird and A Time to Kill Assignment In the book To Kill a Mockingbird and the movie A Time to Kill both final court speech is similar and different at the same time. Both speeches are excellent in their own ways to try and win the court case and here would be some reason why both final court speeches are similar and different. Something the speeches both have in common is that they relate to a rape case and try to prove a black person's innocent. In TKAM Atticus the lawyer of the defendant, Tom Robinson tries to prove that he did not rape Mayella Ewell and Tom is black. Like TKAM the movie ATTK there was a rape case involving two racist white men raping a black girl and the father is being held on a trail after killing the two men who assaulted her daughter. Although they sound the same the difference in being the context of the rape. In the book Tom a black man was accused for...
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...His novel was based in the 1800’s and not much has changed in our time period, but it has only been getting worse in different ways. “You know something, Scout? I've got it all figured out, now. I've thought about it a lot lately and I've got it figured out. There's four kinds of folks in the world. There's the ordinary kind like us and the neighbors, there's the kind like the Cunninghams out in the woods, the kind like the Ewells down at the dump, and the Negroes” (Lee, TKAM, page 226). Harper Lee has Jem figure out the social scale and we still have that today. There are people who are at the nadir of the social class because they are poor. There are people who represent the mockingbird in the book that are nothing but aesthetic, and etc.. Our world will slowly fall apart if we cannot learn to have compassion, forgive one another, and stop the hatred fuel against one another. We need to learn that we're only human and we aren’t perfect in any shape or...
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...This is so as the character Tom Robinson accused of rape was seen as guilty. Even though Finch provides clear statements backed up by strong evidence and proof Also the fact that there was no real evidence against Robinson it was a no brainer. Furthermore the jurors of the court were all white and no minorities had a say in the court. In 1982 24 year old African American Raymond Towler was accused of rape. He spent 29 years in jail before he was released at the age of 52 when new evidence showed his innocence. These men were dis advantaged by their skin colour during trials. They were arrested based on stereotypes that saw them as aggressive and inferior. This goes to show that issues within TKAM are still relevant...
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...Monstrosity and heroism are extremely complex matters as both are in the human nature, and one cannot be without the other. Although most people have a definition for hero and one for monster, and they think the two terms are always clearly distinct, that is never the case. Monstrosity and heroism are not clear cut, as authors like Mary Shelley and Harper Lee have tries to convey. In her novel Frankenstein, Shelley tells a story of a man who, in his dangerous pursue of knowledge, creates a being that will lead his life to ruin. Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is a bildungsroman narrated by a girl whose father attempts to challenge their racist society by defending a black man in court. These two stories discuss heroism and monstrosity through the ordinary heroism of a monster, the courage of those disapproved by society (Atticus and Boo Radley), the behaviour of Victor, a character that initially appears to be benevolent. The theme of heroism is little evident in Frankenstein. The being that is also monstrous is one of the most heroic characters in the novel, for he is, until a certain point in his life, an ordinary hero. One can note such ordinary heroism in the help he constantly provides the cottagers: “(…) during the night, I (…) brought home firing sufficient for the consumption of several days” (Shelley 82). Although what he does is not extremely significant in the eyes of an outsider, the creature provides help in the best way he can, and his help does have a positive impact...
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...Why is it that society is self centered? People always accumulate themselves as the right individual during conflict. They never consume the information being presented in front of them. This is also the main reason why racism is highly prevalent within society. The novel, ¨To Kill a Mockingbird,¨ that was well written by the author, ¨Harper Lee,¨ accurately demonstrated how people easily lose their sense of empathy and become very prejudice. Within Tkam, empathy is greatly influence through the characters Atticus, Scout, and Dolphus Raymond by including the primary issue of racism and how it affected them within their home town, Maycomb County. First and foremost, In the novel, ¨To Kill a Mockingbird,¨ empathy is first presented by the character,...
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