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Essay On Boo Radley Trial In To Kill A Mockingbird

2408 Words10 Pages

Praised by some yet, ridiculed by others, Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird provides material for the omnipresent debate on those recurring thematic issues of race, gender, and social structure which classify and define our society. Though written during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s, the story takes place in the South during the Great Depression over a period of three years. During this time, the child protagonist Scout Finch bears witness to one of the county’s most significant trials - that of Tom Robinson, a black man accused of raping a white woman and a trial for which her father is the defence counsel. Through this trial, she learns lessons on morality, personal dignity, and what it means to exist within the boundaries of her society’s expectations. This trial and the events of the novel imbue the story with the values of the Civil Rights Movement and it is around the characters of Scout, Boo Radley (a …show more content…

Though he has lived most of his life in seclusion, ostracized and labelled a social outcast, the colour of his skin and the background of his family provide him with grounds to be treated with more respect then the likes of Tom Robinson. This is a subtle appeal to the readers, in which the idea of the social outcast is introduced in a potentially more relatable way. Reflecting society and it’s regulations, Scout and Jem are taught to develop their senses of self by “learning to identify the Other” (Best 542) and it is inarguable that with Radley this sense of “Other” is extremely evident. This is why is why Scout and Jem have troubles understanding his character initially and why the character of Boo Radley is a scape goat for the ridicule of society, providing a moral dilemma which the protagonist and readers must work

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