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Examples Of Reality In To Kill A Mockingbird

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One of the most prominent themes in To Kill a Mockingbird is facing reality. As Scout gets older and the novel progresses, there are many instances in which Scout and Jem are seen facing reality, or opening their eyes up to see the world differently. One clear instance in which the kids face reality occurs when Jem learns about the trial ruling, which he finds unfair. Even though it was clear to most that Tom Robinson was innocent, the jury found him guilty because of his race. Lee writes, “His face was streaked with angry tears as we made our way through the cheerful crowd. “It ain’t right,’ he muttered” (Lee 284). Even though Jem knows why Atticus lost the trial, he finds the ruling unfair. Because of the way Atticus has raised the kids, Jem quickly becomes aggravated and upset abou. t the outcome. He’s forced to …show more content…

Another instance in which the kids face reality is when they go to church with Calpurnia. She is the Finch’s housekeeper, but is also one of Jem and Scout’s main female influences, seeing as they’ve both grown up without a mother. Since Calpurnia is black, she goes to an all black church, and other people of the church aren’t happy that she brought two white kids there. Calpurnia’s friend Lula states, “You ain’t got no business bringin’ white chillun here- they got their church and we got our’n. It is our church, ain’t it, Miss Cal?” (Lee 158). Because of all the racial segregation going on in Maycomb at the time, it was rare for white and black people to be anywhere together. Calpurnia bringing white kids to a black church was something unheard of. Because Scout and Jem are two white kids who are very young, they’ve only seen the segregation in the town from one point of view. When they were brought into a black church, it was one of the first times that they were the “odd ones out.” In this, they faced reality by realizing how special their church was to them, seeing as that was one of the few things that they could call

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In the movie To Kill a Mockingbird, the kids never go to church with Calpurnia even though this plays a key role in the book. In the movie they skip the event of Calpurnia taking the kids to a service at her church. Since the church scene never occurred, Scout and Jem never got to see how unjust the prejudiced town of Maycomb is to people who have a different skin tone than themselves. Scout and Jem also do not get the chance to learn more about the way Calpurnia grew up and her current life at the moment. This important scene never occuring in the movie takes away from the plot and theme of To Kill a

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Calpurnia is Jem and Scouts mother figure, because their mother died due to a sudden heart attack. Calpurnia takes Jem and Scout to her church, First Purchase, and introduces them to the fact that not all black people are bad people. She shows courage because it’s nerve racking to bring 2 white children to an all black church. Calpurnia says, “I don’t want anybody sayin’ I don’t look after my children” (Lee pg. 118). Calpurnia takes pride in Jem and Scout and shows a massive amount of courage taking these children to her type of life, and to her church.

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1434 Words | 6 Pages

When they walked up to the front, a nasty black woman named Lula came up and told Cal “‘You ain’t got no business bringin’ white chillun here’” (158). Scout was scared that none of them wanted the children there with Calpurnia because they were white and that their presence wasn’t appreciated; she later found out that they were wanted. Zeebo, the garbage man explained “‘we’re mighty glad to have you all here’” (159). Calpurnia said there were going to be no issues with the children going with her and that the lady was not used to white people coming to their church.

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744 Words | 3 Pages

The author demonstrates the problems in the school systems when Scout enters school she is reprimanded by her teacher, Mrs. Honeycomb for reading proficiently. She is commanded to “tell [her] father not to teach [her] anymore” and stop reading outside of school. Lee’s incongruity of the situation alerts her readers to the flaws within the school system. Lee satirizes the church when Scout and Jem are taken to church by Calpurnia, their black housekeeper, when the children’s father is unavailable. At this Christian church, the children are ridiculed for being white.

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716 Words | 3 Pages

Jem reacts, “It was Jem’s turn to cry. His face was streaked with angry tears as we made our way through the cheerful crowd.. ‘It ain’t right, Atticus,’ said Jem” Jem knows what is right and he knows that the verdict should have been not guilty. He is crushed by the fact that skin color is the driving reason that Tom Robinson’s life will never be the same and eventually gets shot. This goes back to my original claim that even though Atticus doesn't necessarily want the kids to know about the trial and the verdict, he understands that he can’t always protect them from the times they live

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1045 Words | 5 Pages

It is at this moment that Jem and Scout realize that as much as they want the world to be fair, it is never going to be in favor of them. The morals in Maycomb, no matter how unfair and biased they may be, will not change as the racism and prejudice present in the novel have been in Maycomb for as long as the people living there can remember. This incident is another example of a lesson learned for both Jem and Scout as they see that life is not always perfect, but they have to make out of it what they

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596 Words | 3 Pages

Scout and Jem were explained by their father, Atticus, that racism does exist in the following sentences. “There’s something in our world that makes men lose their heads¬—they couldn’t be fair if they tried. In our courts, when it’s a white man’s word against a black man’s, the white man always wins. They’re ugly, but those are the facts of life.” (Harper 295).

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Children are very impressionable people. Almost everything around them changes them in some way. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the main characters, Scout and Jem, start out as little kids who spend their days making up stories and playing sill games. Then their dad, who is a lawyer, takes on a case defending a black man who has been charged with rape. Since they live in Alabama, The whole family has to absorb some pretty ugly things, which forces Scout and Jem to grow up quickly, and it gives them a different and more mature view of the world.

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World War One Attestation Paper What was only intended to be a war for the Austro-Hungarian Empire to gain back lost land, resulted in one of the most horrific, disastrous wars in history. Although there were many moments leading up to June 28th, 1914 that could have possibly sparked World War I, the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand is the widely recognized event to have triggered the war. This death may have not been metamorphic for the Austrian people however, this was just the excuse their empire needed to commence a preventative war against Serbia in which they planned to reclaim the Balkans, a contentious geographical area in South-Eastern Europe. Due to all of the alliances in Europe at the time, it only took Germany’s promise to help Austria-Hungary fight Serbia, for over a dozen more countries to be pulled into the war.

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Atticus has molded his children by exposing them to people in the town of Maycomb who have questionable morals in order to teach his children acceptance. Jem and Scout live in a primarily racist society and learn quickly that the children's

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372 Words | 2 Pages

Scout and Jem receive harsh treatment by an African-American woman named Lula when they come to Sunday mass with Calpurnia. The children expect the rest of the community to treat them the same way, but they are shocked when the community accepts them with open arms (Lee 119). Calpurnia brings Scout and Jem to her African-American church, The First Purchase, for Sunday mass while Atticus is working hard on the Tom Robinson case. Before the mass begins a woman named Lula comes up to Scout and Jem and starts making horrible remarks at them. She starts to yell at Calpurnia, not fully understanding why she would bring white children to a black church.

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920 Words | 4 Pages

The acceptance theme is portrayed by Calpurnia’s church, Aunt Alexandra, and by the children's understanding of Calpurnia. Calpurnia's church was for colored people only, but Jem and Scout were wholeheartedly welcome by everyone except Lola who thought that Calpurnia “ain’t got no business bringing chillon here”. The

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715 Words | 3 Pages

To Kill a Mockingbird has many of underlying themes such as racism, courage, respect, femininity, etc. But the theme that fits this book most appropriately is innocence and the harm caused to the innocent by evil and bigotry. Examples of this include Jem, Dill, Tom Robinson, Boo Radley. While all these characters have completely different personalities and circumstances they all have one thing in common. All of them were innocent at one point and were harmed by the evil of

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852 Words | 4 Pages

Persecution comes from people who are prejudiced” (Lee 329). While this may seem like a useful life lesson, Scout realizes the clear hypocrisy in her lesson. Like every other citizen of Maycomb, she is prejudiced against black people. Even though she is teaching her students that prejudice and persecution is wrong, she is participating in those very activities at home. She heard her third grade teacher after Tom Robinson’s trial, she thought “it’s time somebody taught ‘em a lesson, they were gettin’ way above themselves, an’ the next thing they think they can do is marry us” (Lee 331).

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Children go to school to gain knowledge, but life can give children the most important education. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Jem, and Scout are two growing children navigating life in the 1930’s in racist Alabama. They see racism throughout their town and have to navigate how they want to live their lives or follow their town. In their own school, they see racist people, and they often question what they hear, see, and learn.

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