How Does Lee Use Words In To Kill A Mockingbird

How to Kill a Mockingbird with Words "Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing" (Lee 20). When Scout realizes that she could lose the time she spends reading with Atticus every night, she becomes worrisome. She fears that every second of reading with Atticus could be her last until, she confesses her troubles to him. The exact emotion that was running throughout Scout's body would be felt if humans lost the ability to speak, everything would turn to chaos. We take for granted the power we have when we use words to speak, to write, or to think. In To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee shows the power words have throughout the entire book. Words have the influence to change someone's perspective, relationship

For example, when Atticus talks to Scout about Mrs. Caroline telling her not to read, he says, “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 consider things from his point of view-...-until you climb into his skin and walk around in it” (Lee 29-30). Then later more into the book Scout uses Atticus’ mighty fine advice and says “Jem stayed moody and silent for a week. As Atticus had once advised me to do, I tried to climb into Jem’s skin and walk around in it” (Lee 55). Atticus’ words are absorbed into the children's lives and later used by them. This shows how impactful his words are to his children: they shape Jem and Scout’s life choices. They also cause Scout to see the situation from Jem’s perspective and realize she too would be angry if she got in trouble for going to the Radley’s alone, so she took the smart road and left Jem to be somber alone. This shows how impactful Atticus’ words are to the children, and those around

Just like the bond and relationship between Boo and Scout. It’s is so powerful, words aren't necessary. On the night they met, when Scout had taken Boo to go see sleeping Jem she says, “I was beginning to learn his body English. His hand tightened on mine and he indicated that he wanted to leave” (Lee 244). After all the times Dill, Jem and her feared Boo, when they meet she seems to start to understand Boo. When Scout stands alone in front of the window on the Radley’s porch everything seems to click in her mind as she says, “It was still summertime, and the children came closer. A boy trudged down the sidewalk dragging a fishing-pole behind him. A man stood waiting with his hands on his hips. Summertime, and his children played in the front yard with their friend, enacting a strange little drama of their own invention. It was fall, and his children fought on the sidewalk in front of Mrs. Dubose’s. The boy helped his sister to her feet, and they made their way home. Fall, and his children trotted to and fro around the corner, the day’s woes and triumphs on their faces. They stopped at an oak tree, delighted, puzzled, apprehensive. Winter, and his children shivered at the front gate, silhouetted against a blazing house. Winter, and a man walked into the street, dropped his glasses, and shot a dog. Summer, and he watched his children’s heart break. Autumn again, and Boo’s children needed him”