...To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is a chilling historical fiction novel that centers around the trial of an innocent black man who is accused of raping a white woman. The novel is set in Alabama during the 1930s, and it follows an old lawyer and his family in the small town of Maycomb. Atticus Finch, the lawyer and father, is often called upon by the town for help due to his stature. He is level headed and focuses on the belief that everybody deserves to be treated equally. It is this belief that leads him to being chosen to represent Tom Robinson, the accused black man, in court. Because To Kill a Mockingbird is set in Alabama during the 1930s, the odds that he will be found innocent are exceptionally low, so Atticus must do everything...
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...It’s A Sin To Kill A Mockingbird Life isn’t fair. Everyone has heard this phrase at least one time, and most absolutely agree. Our world is far from perfect, it always has and always will. Harper Lee’s, To Kill A Mockingbird, is a great example of this. This is an amazing story of a small-town girl named Scout Finch back in the 1930’s. She lives with her older brother (Jem), her father (Atticus), and her black maid (Calpurnia). Atticus is a well known and respected lawyer, who is appointed to a case he takes personally. A black man named Tom Robinson is accused of rape. A white racist man named Bob Ewell claims he raped his daughter. The case has gotten the whole town’s attention, and the Finch’s who are one of the most respected families...
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...Innocence is the state, quality, or fact of being innocent of a crime or offense. Innocence is one of the many recurring themes of To Kill A Mockingbird. Jem and Scout have an innocent point of view in life. The children believe the color of your skin shouldn't matter, however they soon realize ignorance in the people of Maycomb. “Remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird. 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.” (quoted by Atticus/Ms. Maudie) Tom is nothing but a hard working innocent black man in the town of Maycomb county. Mockingbirds are symbolic to Tom Robinson because Tom is being falsely accused of rape to the white trash of the town, Mayella Ewell. Mockingbirds are innocent and all they want is to bring pleasure to those around them; Tom is innocent and all he wants to do is help Mayella with the chores around the house because he feels pity. However...
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...Hatred and Racism in the 1930s The power of racism can affect one's behaviours and actions with one another. In To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, a man named Tom Robinson is convicted of raping a 19-year-old girl that is part of the Ewells family. As a black man in the 1930s, it was hard not to be guilty of a crime against white people like the Ewells. Siding with Tom Robinson as a white man is also looked down upon. This can be proven by the reaction of a lady named Mrs. Dubose when she hears one of the main characters named Atticus was defending a man when she said: “your father’s no better than the N-words…” (To Kill A Mockingbird, 102) The quote shows Mrs. Dubose’s hatred and discrimination to black people. The quote also shows how defending a black man is hated by the people. Mrs. Dubose’s act gives...
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...“ To kill a mockingbird” by Harper Lee and “Antigone” by Sophocles are both dramas having to do with justice, the main characters in both dramas are struggling to bring justice to a society or situation that was lacking. In Sophocles’ drama, Antigone was trying to bring justice by burying her brother Polyneices against the kings, Creon’s, orders. While in “To kill a mocking bird” Atticus is an attorney in a case where race is a major issue and he is trying to save Tom Robinson from being convicted of a crime where there’s overwhelming evidence of his innocence. Both “Antigone” and “To kill a mockingbird’s” themes seem to revolve around justice which is proven when Antigone buries her brother and Atticus agrees to take on Tom Robinsons case. Another large theme in both dramas is the idea that women are somehow ‘lesser’ because of their femininity, a cause of this might be because of the era that the dramas are set in. Throughout “To kill a mockingbird” Scout does her best to avoid ‘girly’ things so that she can keep playing with her brother Jem, its only later in the novel that Scout begins to realize that being a girl is more about having positive traits than lacking them. This theme continues in “Antigone”, most pointedly when Ismene states “Bethink thee, sister, we are left alone; Shall we not perish wretchedness of all, If in defiance of the law we cross A monarch's will?--weak women, think of that, Not framed by nature to contend with men. Remember this too that the stronger...
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...1930’s an abundant of people still view women, blacks, and age in a stereotypical way today. In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee shows many different types of prejudice in the 1930’s, which affect the characters decision making and their views toward others. The prejudice we see most often in this book is racism. Women did not have the same rights as men back in the 1930’s. Ageism plays a big role as well in the book which affect the characters view towards others. To begin, Harper Lee demonstrates a lot of sexism towards women. Back then women did not have any choice, you were born a women, you have to act like one. Women are considered weak in the 1930’s. They were supposed to do things only women must do. Such as staying...
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...Macbeth and Atticus develop an attitude. So Macbeth from the novel ‘’ Macbeth ‘’ and Atticus from the novel ‘’ To Kill a Mockingbird ‘’ are both protagonist of those novel and they faced situations and to compare them how each one of these protagonist valued the common good and each one faced it in a different way. Macbeth faced it with individual interest through violence and Atticus faced it with putting his own interests as risk in order to defend his beliefs about the common good. The two protagonist are going to be compared by the decisions took in dealing with the conflict,...
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...Racism has for a long time been a worldwide problem and does still exist to this very day. Although several protagonists of rights has accomplished a lot of success throughout the time by defending blacks, some people still think that the color of a man’s skin is connected to his status as a human being. But what happens when a white man stands up to defend a black man, in a society which is based on prejudices against blacks? And does moral even interfere? That is some of the question the author, Harper Lee, is answering in his novel "To kill a Mockingbird", published in the year of 1960. The story is about the siblings Scout and Jem Finch living in a small town called Maycomb. They have lost their mother but as a replacement they have their nanny, Calpurnia, to look after them. Their father, Atticus, does also take care of them while being one of the only lawyers in the county. One summer, the siblings become fascinated by their neighbor, Boo Radley, who never seems to leave the house. Scout and Jem spend most of the summer, in company of their friend Dill, trying to get a glimpse of their mysterious neighbor. After several attempts of getting near the house they must conclude that Boo Radley remains a puzzle as Jem and Scout goes back to school. The subsequent summer Atticus is struggling with a case, in which he is defending the black man Tom Robinson. Tom has been accused of raping the white girl Mayella Ewell. Atticus, as well as Jem and Scout, is assured that...
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..."You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view - until you climb into his skin and walk around in it." (Lee 30) In this quote, Atticus Finch explains to Scout Finch how everyone has a different opinion on subjects, and that the only way to understand a person’s opinion is to see the world from his or her perspective. The illustrious Harper Lee challenged racial stereotypes and explored the rough side of life through the eyes of young Scout Finch in To Kill A Mockingbird. Scout, supported by her older brother Jem and father, Atticus, matured from a bigmouthed, boisterous little girl to a compassionate and caring person. Along the way, she pushed the limits of her curiosity with Boo Radley and learned...
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...What would you do if you were accused of something you didn’t do? An example of this can be found in the book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. This book tells of Jem and Scout, who grow up in a time with many racial differences, dealing with divarication situations. "You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view, until you climb into his skin" is a quote that sums up the entirely of the book. Don’t judge or discriminate somebody without getting to know them first hand. Harper Lee expresses this using a formal discussion which is associated with class and her own ideologies. The book is set in Maycomb, Alabama in the 1930’s in an area with a large amount of racial injustice. With the Civil War between the North and the South behind their backs, the blacks are set free and yet discrimination is still spread across the South. Their hatred towards the colored people is greater than that of any other. Many issues in the town caused people to think they are higher in power than others as a means of survival. This setting in the book was created in the same way Harper Lee’s town had to grow up in. With this she had a...
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...Power is the control over someone or something. “To Kill a Mockingbird” is about a little girl who witness the unfairness of the court system in the 1930’s while along the way almost getting killed. Because of Mayella's class and gender, Mayella is weak or powerless, but because of her race, she is strong and powerful Down south in Alabama during the 1930’s living in around or near blacks it was considered to be wrong. In chapter 17 it says “Ewells lived behind the town garbage dump in what was once a Negro cabin (Doc A)” this is important because it shows that they live in the poor side of town near the black people. In chapter 19 it says “Yes, suh. I felt sorry for her (doc E)” this means that the Blacks feel sorry for them because they are poor. In chapter 18 it says “won’t answer a word you say as long as you keep mocking me; she said. Ma’am said Atticus (doc C)” this means because of her class and where she lives she’s not used to hearing ma’am said to her.All of the quotes in document A, E, and C show that...
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...Few Have True Courage Harper Lee only has only written one book as far as we know, but that book is a masterpiece. One of the most beloved and powerful books of the last century, To Kill A Mockingbird will go down as a timeless classic. To Kill A Mockingbird is Set in Maycomb county, southern Alabama, in the early 1930's. This was a time of great poverty and of course racism, including segregation. A black man named Tom Robinson is accused of raping a white girl and put on trial. The attorney asigned to his case is Atticus Finch, who is by far the wisest, and most gentle man in Maycomb. He clearly does not see men by their color, (which was such a rareity in those parts) but by their character. Atticus has two children:...
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...treated. In the novel, To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the characters that were discriminated was Tom Robinson, Boo Radley, Scout, Jem, The Ewells, Mr. Dolphus Raymond, and The Black Community in the south. Harper Lee shows discrimination of religion and age of the character named Boo Radley by when Miss Maudie said, “ You know old Mr. Radley was a foot-washing Baptist...” (Lee Page...
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...The literary classic To Kill a Mockingbird is the well known story of Jean Louise Finch as she grows up in the town of Maycomb, Alabama. Through a journey of self discovery and racism, the book follows the trial of Tom Robinson, an African American male, accused of rape by a woman named Mayella Ewell. Mayella Ewell is a young, poverty-stricken woman who is mainly controlled by her father. In a town divided by race, class and gender, Mayella does not have a large amount of power over her own life. It could be implied that because Mayella is white, she has terminal power, but that may not be the case. Though she is white, she is shunned by the white community along with the African American community. “White people wouldn’t have anything to do with her because she lived among pigs; Negroes (the Ewells’ nearest neighbors) wouldn’t have anything to do with her because she was white.” (Lee 1960 Chapter nineteen.) Mayella was rejected by whites due to the fact that she lived in poverty and had no money. She was also rejected by African Americans simply because she was white. Being white did not give her much of an advantage....
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...To Kill a Mockingbird; Racism Then and Now Here in the 21st Century, some may think that maltreatment towards certain minorities are uncommon or not nonexistant compared to the 20th Century. However, this is not the case for either the present or the past. Harper Lee’s book To Kill a Mocking Bird argues against in-court racism set back in the 1930s, which is still found today. Lee’s usage of Scout as narrator helps readers see the social injustice of racism happening inside Maycomb. In the book, Scout was a very naive child and often asked a lot of questions about what took place around her. When Cecil Jacobs told Scout her father defended Negroes (in a negative connotation), Scout was confused why that was bad. She asks Atticus, “Do all...
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