...Examining Tolerance Tolerance is the ability to exercise a fair and objective attitude towards whose opinions, practices, religion, nationality and so on differ from one’s own. In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Tom Robinson went on trial and explained to the jury what happened the night he got accused of raping Mr Ewell’s daughter Mayella. His story made him seem innocent but the jury found him guilty. When he got sent to jail he then later tried to escape but sadly he got shot seventeen times. Scout and Jem were walking home from Scout’s Halloween pageant, when Mr. Ewell attacked them both and broke Jem’s arm. He was then later found dead that night. In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the theme of tolerance is explained through racism and life experiences. Scout tell Atticus that she doesn’t want to go to school because her teacher Miss Caroline doesn’t like how educated she is and how Atticus taught her to read. Atticus explains to Scout that her teacher is just being difficult and how there is nothing wrong with how educated she is but Scout doesn’t understand why Miss Caroline is acting like that. “First of all: he said, if you can learn a simple trick, Scout, you’ll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks. You never really understand a person until you climb into his...
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...“To Kill a Mocking Bird”: Teaching Tolerance Through Empathy Mary Ellyn Fogarty December 8, 2012 America in the mid 1950’s and 1960’s was undergoing a profound social metamorphosis. Events such as, in 1954, the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, with the Supreme Court ruling public school segregation illegal, which many believe sparked the civil rights era, in 1956 Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat on a bus to a white man, “precipitating the Montgomery bus boycott, led by Martin Luther King Jr.” (To Kill a Mockingbird: Civil Rights Era, 2012), in 1957 federal troops were sent to Little rock Arkansas to protect nine African American students who were going white high school, per the court ordered desegregation of school, were challenging and for some forcing the way in which Americans lived, their beliefs and their treatment of African Americans that had been indoctrinated into their consciousness from the time they were born and many did not understand why this treatment was inappropriate, prejudice and unconstitutional. For some these changes were viewed as not an intrusion or criticism of their way of life but as...
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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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...Victoria Heckel Professor Baldassare English 201 4 April 2014 Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird: The Pulitzer Prize-winning best-seller To Kill a Mockingbird was written by Harper Lee in 1960. Lee’s early life influenced a lot of what was introduced in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, although she made a point that this was not an autobiographical novel. Throughout her life Lee shows similarities in characters in the story as well as ones she’s grown up with. Lee addresses prejudice and tolerance and especially the courage it takes to make societal change. These ideas combined with her personal experiences is what probably won her Pulitzer prize winning novel. Harper Lee was born on April 28, 1926, in Monroeville, Alabama. Her mother, Frances Cunningham Finch Lee, was a homemaker. For most of Lee's life, her mother suffered from mental illness, rarely leaving the house. It is believed that she may have had bipolar disorder (Harper Lee 1). Her father, Amasa Coleman Lee, practiced law, a member of the Alabama state legislature (Lee, Harper 2). She grew up as a tomboy in a small town, which she fought on the playground, and talked back to teachers. She was bored with school and resisted any sort of conformity. Truman Capote was one of Lee’s closest childhood friends, Lee often stepped up to protect Truman from other boys his age that picked on him for the fancy clothes be wore and also for being a sissy. The two were different but they both shared in having difficult home...
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...The book that I chose to read is by Harper Lee, ‘To Kill a Mockingbird.’ The novel’s setting features the Deep South and envelops an intense portrayal of prejudice and race narrated through a little girl’s eyes. Filled with impressive evocations of American life at the peak of the Great Depression that shook the nation in the 1930s, whilst also underpinned by caring and moral susceptibility, the novel proofs as both an excellent rendering of a particular place and time as well as an all-inclusive tale of how old and wicked perceptions can be triumphed by understanding. It was published by J.B Lippincott in New York in 1960 (Topham, 2018). ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ has received both positive and negative feedbacks from a wide audience of readers. However, over the past few decades, the book has been challenged by most learning institutions as well as readers which have led to its ban and censorship from several learning institutions. The objective of this paper is to establish why the book has been challenged. As a classic novel, Harper Lee’s ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ received the Pulitzer Prize in 1961. Although it has been considered a classic literature by several readers, the novel still remains in the top list of the banned books. The novel’s profanity, racial content, and its references to rape have provoked many...
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... | |“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.” | 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...
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...Cristal Gonzalez Mrs. Patterson English III - 5B 14 May 2013 Why Try to Erase History? To Kill a Mockingbird, for various reasons is marked top and a must read before you die, because of its outstanding lessons through the eyes of a little girl. This book teaches history and life lessons better than any textbook or teacher. Society strongly believes there is no reason for banning this book, because it teaches about racism, shows courage, and gives a mental vision of how society has changed since then. It’s very difficult when people have decided your verdict by just seeing the color of your skin. People shouldn’t be judged by how they look; in the end we’re all human, nothing more nothing less. There are different types of courage shown throughout the book. It ranges from how courageous a kid could be and an adult too. Society has come a long way, and it has changed for the best. When you realize in the book how society was, you think to yourself how could people be so cruel? Although years after, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. himself said, “…I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character…” (King). To Kill a Mockingbird, teaches racism better than any textbook, “I thought it taught things about racism and tolerance better than a history textbook,” (Oakley Ebscohost). Even though racism is a sensitive subject to some, people of today’s world need to know what kind...
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...To Kill A Mockingbird A summary of the novel by Harper Lee Doris Griffin Colorado Technical University Online June 23, 2012 Author Note This paper was prepared for LITR240-1202B-09, Phase 5 IP, taught by Professor Daniel Lambert. Abstract Harper Lee wrote only one novel in her life. To Kill A Mockingbird, in a research done by the Book-Of-The-Month Club in 1991 ranked second to the Bible. The novel still draws a million new readers each year. The novel contains two stores, the innocence of childhood as told by Scout and the story of her father who was asked to defend a Negro who was accused of raping a white woman. (Shields, C., 2006) Two of the themes of the novel are justice and tolerance. The two are joined together when Atticus explains to Scout how to understand all kinds of people by walking around in their skin. (Shields, C., 2006) To Kill A Mockingbird is a story to learn a life’s lesson from. The innocence of a child is genuine and they are taught racism and hate by their elders. Children at a young age do not see black or white, rich or poor, or understand what racism means. They are just children who believe that everyone is good and they trust with all their hearts. To Kill a Mockingbird The story is set in and old town in Alabama, Maycomb. The town is described as a quiet and dull town in the 1930’s. Scout is one of the main characters in the story. She is naïve and innocent as children are. She has an older brother, Jem, that...
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...The novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee is set during the 1930’s when segregation was practiced as a way of life in the South. Atticus Finch, one of the main characters in the book, is a lawyer in Maycomb, Alabama. Atticus fathers two children, Jem and Scout, who need his wisdom and guidance as they encounter prejudice and discrimination in Maycomb. Atticus serves as the moral compass in the book as he tries to teach important life lessons to his children, such as not judging someone before getting to know them. Atticus also serves as a “Christ-like” figure in the novel as he exhibits tolerance, humility, and courage. Atticus demonstrates tolerance of people’s differences. Similarly, Jesus also saw everyone the same and treated everyone...
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...To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee The extract under analysis is taken from the Harper Lee’s first novel “To Kill a Mockingbird”. The book published in 1960 was very successful and won great critical acclaim, including the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for its author. The plot and the characters are slightly based on the author’s thoughts about his family, as well as on events that took place in her hometown. The narration is done from the first person by Jean Louse “Scout” Finch. The scene is a small town Maycomb in the state of Alabama. Atticus Finch, Scout’s father, is appointed by the court to defend Tom Robinson, a good fellow being accused of raping a white girl Mayella Ewell. He has no hope for justice just because he is black. Atticus, a person of very strong moral views, is sure in his defendant's innocence. The article could be logically divided into four parts. The first part, the introduction, begins with Atticus half-way though his speech to the jury. He presents logically organized arguments, showing his experience, knowledge and justifiability. However, after going over the evidence he starts acting unusually and it shows his excitement. His manner of speech changes as he appeals people in the court to give up the prejudices and be just. The development of the plot is the Atticus’ speech when he underlines all the pieces of evidence proving that it’s not Tom Robinson, but Mayella Ewell who is guilty. Mr. Finch quotes Thomas Jefferson’s words – “all men are...
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...of To Kill a Mockingbird takes place during three years of the Great Depression in the fictional "tired old town" of Maycomb, Alabama. The narrator, six-year-old named Scout Finch, lives with her older brother Jem and their widowed father Atticus, a middle-aged lawyer. Jem and Scout become friends with a boy named Dill who visits Maycomb to stay with his aunt for the summer. The three children are afraid of their neighbor "Boo" Radley. The adults of Maycomb don’t like to talk about Boo and for many years, few have seen him. The children feed each other's imaginations with rumors about his appearance and reasons for remaining hidden, and they fantasize about how to get him out of his house. After two summers of being friends with Dill, Scout and Jem find out someone is leaving them small gifts in a tree outside the Radley house. Boo makes gestures to the children but is never seen in person. Atticus is assigned to defend a black man named Tom Robinson, who has been accused of raping Mayella Ewell, a white woman. Although many of Maycomb's citizens disapprove, Atticus agrees to defend Tom. Atticus discovers that the accusers—Mayella and her father, Bob Ewell, the town drunk—are lying. It also becomes clear that the friendless Mayella was making sexual advances towards Tom and her father caught her in the act. Even with convincing evidence of Tom's innocence, the jury convicts him. Tom is soon shot and killed while trying to escape from prison. Harper Lee wrote To Kill a MockingBird...
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...Alabama and the other in Brooklyn New York. First, we picked apart the intricacies of racism and losing one’s innocents in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. Soo after, we examined the complexities of Judaism and the terrors of the Holocaust in Chain Potok’s The Chosen. Although both possess great merit and provide a window into the past, one story spoke to me on an interpersonal level unlike any book has done for me before. Thankfully I may display my bias in all its glory as I state the case for why I choose The Chosen. Potok’s gripping story contains a more mature and introspective writing style, more relatable characters, and a theme more applicable to my life....
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...Discrimination, injustice and racial prejudice are simply part of the norms in the fictional town of Maycomb in Harper Lee’s ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’. Different kinds of prejudice are interlinked in the novel, indicating that the unstable economic situation and isolated nature of the community means that prejudice is directed towards all sorts of characters who do not fit into the expected behavioural patterns of society. The dominant forms of prejudice in the novel are racial and social prejudice, actively displayed by Bob Ewell and Aunt Alexandra. There is also inequality for women in Maycomb. Atticus’s maxim leads to the understanding and tolerance rather than prejudice. It is suggested that although it is unlikely that prejudice can be eliminated altogether, ‘baby steps’ can be taken to change the attitude of the Maycomb community. Maycomb is divided into clearly defined social classes. Jem recognises the class structure when he talks of ‘four kinds of folks in the world’ – the normal people such as the Finches, Cunninghams out in the wood, and Ewells down the dump and the ‘negroes’. The black community in Maycomb is automatically seen as the bottom of the social strata, even below the lowest class than the Ewells, who are categorised by the community as ‘white trash’. When Tom Robinson shows that he felt sorry for Mayella, this is immediately seized upon by Mr Gilmer as it would be interpreted as the lowest class of citizen showing superiority towards a class above it. Social...
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...A Look Into 1930s Maycomb, Alabama. The film, To Kill A Mockingbird directed by Robert Mulligan, portrays a message of racism, social class, and gender issues faced by southern towns post Civil War era. The 1962 film adaptation of the classic book, To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee was masterfully captured being placed on the American Film Institute’s list of greatest American movies of all time and taking home many countless awards. The black and white portrayal from text to film is exquisitely captured turning pages to picture while reveling a heartbreaking reality. Through camera, lighting, and sound Robert Mulligan creates a mood to communicate the vision of Harper Lee. The film takes place in Maycomb, Alabama during the 1930s. Robert Mulligan illustrates the story of the lives of Scout and Jem, children growing up in this small town with their friend Dill who stays for the summer. The youngsters become infatuated with getting a glimpse of Boo Radley the unseen hermit of a neighbor. This summer also entails issues facing, their attorney father, Atticus Finch. Atticus Finch defends Tom Robinson, an African American man falsely accused of raping a white woman from town, Mayella Ewell. The children catch wind of the trial and for the first time witness evil realities of the world. Jem and Scout, Atticus’s children become the targets of Bob Ewell, the father of Mayella Ewell. Bob Ewell tries to kill them one Halloween night on their way home from school, when...
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...Society’s Impact On Growth And Understanding In her novel To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee demonstrates how society shapes our understandings of others, but that this can be mitigated by strong role models. Scout Finch is strongly impacted by the “old traditions of the south” during her growth into womanhood and when she pushes against the stereotypes placed on her as a southerner and a young lady to find her gender identity. The beliefs of Atticus Finch and his involvement in the courtroom have had a big impact on Scout’s growth. Atticus’ beliefs were different than the beliefs of most people of Maycomb and he “bestowed a benevolent order on the Finch household by his example” which slowly shifted Scout’s views on their society’s division....
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