...A couple days before the incident she reported to the police that she was getting abused by him and failed to act upon the incident immediately and therefore letting an innocent victim get killed hat was a good example of an innocent victim of domestic violence and had to unluckily be killed by it. More and more people are being used as innocent victims and the book “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee which was set in the 1930has characters that show clear examples of innocent victims. Tom Robinson who was allegedly accused of raping a white woman due to the fact that he is black. He proved that he didn’t rape her and that he was found guilty and got killed. This shows that back in the early 1900’s that innocent victims due to their race were common. Another example of an innocent victim is Karina Lock, a 49-year-old who arranged a meeting with her ex husband was shot twice at a McDonald's restaurant in Helensvale, Gold Coast. She was shot for no reason, just that her former partner got angry as the argument increased. The book “To Kill a Mockingbird” that character named...
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...The Influence of Historical Events on Harper Lee’s Writing The 1930s were a time of great social upheaval and economic turmoil. The United States was experiencing a drastic change as new ideas and problems arose throughout the country. These problems and ideas not only swayed public opinion, but also influenced action (Rauchway 1). Harper Lee, the author of To Kill a Mockingbird, lived though all of these events and felt their effects growing up while living in the Deep South. Looking at her only novel, it can be concluded that the similarities within it and reality are no coincidence. The Historical events that occurred during Harper Lee’s lifetime clearly influenced her writing of To Kill a Mockingbird as elements of the Scottsboro Boys Trials are undoubtedly evident in the trial of Tom Robinson, the Jim Crow Laws are unjustly in effect towards the African-American population of Maycomb, Alabama, and the deleterious economic hardships faced after the Great Depression are present in the citizens of the town throughout the novel. The novel To Kill a Mockingbird revolves around the trial of Tom Robinson, a black man falsely accused of raping a white woman, and the lawyer defending him. This fictional trial is in fact an almost exact recreation of a trial that Harper Lee lived through: The Scottsboro Boy Trials of 1931. Both the fictional and real trials of Tom Robinson and the Scottsboro Boys share several similarities, two of which are the race and crime of the defendant...
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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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...Thesis: Lee’s philosophies of hypocrisy, the difference between right and wrong, and the symbolism of the mockingbird is shown by the use of dialogue, and characterization. In the novel, Lee expresses hypocrisy within the Society through the use of three characters. Lee shows hypocrisy with the use of Miss Gates, Scout’s third grade teacher. Miss Gates teaches the class about all the evil things Hitler does to the Jews in Germany. Showing her students why she disagrees with Hitler, Miss Gates tells the class that “over here we don’t believe in persecuting anybody. Persecution comes from people who are prejudiced” (208-209). However, while at the Missionary Society meeting Scout overhears Miss Gates talking about how Tom Robinson's conviction...
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...In the novel, “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee, a character that shows true courage during the trial is Atticus Finch, lawyer and loving father to Jem and Scout. True courage is being able to defend and fight for something despite the circumstances.Numerous times Atticus shows courage in the story which all relates to the theme, having to be faced with the harsh reality of the world which ruins your innocence. Atticus Finch stays strong and practical during the trial, defending Tom Robinson with his life. Atticus’s effort during the trial shows his courage because, despite it being tricky to get the judge and people of the racist South to side with Tom Robinson, compared to Mayella, who claims to be the victim. Atticus does not give up and continues to fight for Tom Robinson’s justice. Atticus shows courage through logical...
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...In the article Hidden Intellectualism, Gerald Graff addresses the problem with intellectualism and the education system. He starts off by noting that most everyone knows someone else that may not exactly be the most studious person, but is incredibly street smart. This brand of smart is too often overlooked in school settings because, as Graff puts it, “we associate the educated life, the life of the mind, too narrowly exclusive with subjects and texts that we consider inherently weighty and academic,” (Graff 244). Put simply, he states that the education system sees street smarts as anti-intellectual. Graff goes on to offer an anecdote from his own life. Throughout primary school, he never cared for books assigned to him in class,...
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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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...“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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...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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...In the book To Kill a Mockingbird, justice is demonstrated throughout Atticus’ actions. His strive for equality can be represented by the scales of justice. Atticus believes that everyone should be treated fairly regardless of race, socio-economic or familial background. Having such an honorable and just character, propels Atticus to defend the wronged individual, Tom Robinson. Atticus believes that Tom Robinson is innocent of the crime accused against him and he believes Robinson should not receive the death penalty. Atticus knows Tom might lose this case due to the racial attitudes and prejudices prevalent in the community. When an African-American is accused of a crime, the person is undoubtedly presumed guilty. Atticus still persists in...
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...Chapter 22: 1. After Atticus lost the case with Tom Robinson, Jem, Scout, and Dill were bitter about this and could not believe what had happened during the trial. They thought that it was unfair, and so then Miss Maudie had to comfort them and explain why thing were how they are. She then said that the case have made a “baby step” in this right direction. She says this because after this case about Tom Robinson, a new light have been shown to Maycomb, that not all black people are bad. This may have lessened the racism against black people, which is taking a step towards the right path, even though it is just a baby step, but it is still a step in the right direction. Chapter 23: 2. The trial ended with it in Mr. Ewell’s favor, however Atticus...
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...Faisal Amjad 11/01/15 Film Appreciation The Film and novel I decided to do on is the classic To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), which had a legendary cast starring Gregory Peck as Atticus and Mary Badham as Scout, this adaption of the book is as much a classic as the novel itself in my opinion which can be backed up by any person who is in American theater. The film received eight Academy Awards nominations and netted awards for Best Actor, Best Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium, and Best Art Direction — Set Decoration, Black and White. This film was a critical adaption of the book. Fans and critiques alike rank this among the best movies of all time, it is ranked #84 top rated movie of all time on IMDB.com, (rated by the people and critiques alike) the production was very extensive and expensive for its time, the budget for the film was about 2 million dollars and made well over $15 million at the box office and it was filmed on 35mm role of film. It was directed by Robert Mulligan, Written by Harper Lee (based on her novel "To Kill a Mockingbird"), and Horton Foote (screenplay) the movie was produced by universal international pictures....
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..."Each time a man stands up for an ideal or acts to improve the lot of others or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope” (National Legal Aid & Defender Association). To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee follows Scout, a young girl growing up in the middle of The Great Depression and seeing an incredible amount of injustice in her southern town. During this time period, segregation was still legal and the US was even deeper immersed in racism than it is today. Justice rivals fairness in To Kill A Mockingbird because of deep rooted prejudice in the novel’s society. Prejudice is evident throughout the novel, one specific example would be that Tom Robinson is not given the benefit of the doubt when he dies. This...
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...“Tom was a dead man the minute Mayella Ewell opened her mouth and screamed.” (Lee #323) In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird racism is an important theme in the book. The majority of Maycomb are racist by calling dark colored people “niggers” and even though Scout’s father is white, Atticus defends a African American named Tom Robinson. Scout doesn’t understand why people use the word “nigger” at first she says it because children at school use it, and its common. Throughout the story Scout starts to realize how wrong racism in Maycomb is and that it is used commonly by others. In the beginning, Scout was unsure why she shouldn’t say “nigger¨ but she hears it at school as a common word that everyone says. She asks “Do you defend niggers,...
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...TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD Analysis of Atticus’ Closing Argument Using the Rhetorical Devices The purpose of this writing assignment is to analyze Atticus’ closing statement and identify the three approaches – ethos, logos, pathos—he uses to persuade the jury. This approach to rhetorical analysis will help you question a text, explore your responses to it, and prepare an analysis on the thoughts and ideas of the novel. INTRODUCTION: Paragraph 1: Introduction Catchy beginning – usually a quote from the reading Title of novel, Name of author 2-3 sentence summarizing what the trial is about Thesis statement based on the reading prompt and including the three points the prompt suggests—ethos, logos, and pathos. BODY PARAGRAPHS: Paragraph 1: Discuss...
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