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Literary Elements In To Kill A Mockingbird

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In Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird”, literary elements in this passage help develop a theme of the novel using conflict, characterization, dialogue, diction, and imagery. One key coming to age scene was when Scout felt left out of Dill and Jem’s friendship. In chapter 5, Scout states how she felt excluded from Jem and Dill as if they neglected her. “...then he neglected me. I beat him up twice but it did no good, he only grew closer to Jim” (Lee 46). Chapter 5 used literary elements such as conflict, dialogue, and diction. Conflict was one of the literary elements shown throughout this chapter. In chapter 5 “To Kill a Mockingbird,” there is a conflict between Scout, Jem and Dill over their game of Boo Radley. Scout is hesitant to play the game because she is scared of getting in trouble with Atticus, but Jem and Dill pressures her into playing. This conflict starts tension between Scout’s desire to please her friends and her desire to do what's right. …show more content…

There is a significant amount of dialogue between Scout, Dim, and Jem as they play their game of “Boo Radley”. The children engage in plans for their game, Scout expresses how she would play. As the game progresses the children continue to argue with each other. In chapter 6 the book reads, “Scout, I'm telling you for the last time, shut your trap or go home- I declare to the Lord you’re getting more like a girl every day!” (Lee 58). This dialogue used amongst one another revealed their different personalities and perspectives. Scout is becoming more

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1) Briefly describe the examples that Lee uses in this chapter to show Scout’s continuing character development. What does each example illustrate about Scout? There are two main examples that Lee uses in this chapter to show Scout’s continuing character development. One is a minor one involving Boo Radley, and the other is a major one involving justice. In this chapter, Scout realizes what a bother she was to Boo, and uses simple to logic to make the assumption that Boo is still alive because he is not carried out yet.

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In chapters four through eight, the audience gets to experience the continuous growth of Scout through her own eyes. Lee’s diction portrays Scout’s curiosity when says that the gum I found was fresh, and “ I licked it and waited for a while. When I did not die I crammed it into my mouth” (Lee 1). In this instance, Lee is trying to remind us of Scout’s innocence and compelled mindset, due to her young age. Similarly, when Dill comes back to Maycomb in the summer Scout starts to feel like a third wheel.

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The theme of this novel is "Not everything is the way you predict it is". I believe this thematic statement suits the story because throughout the book there are lots of surprises, and most situations don't go the way people predict they will. For example, Aunt Alexandra was first seen as mean, according to her attitude towards Scout. At the end of the book Aunt Alexandra hands Scout her overalls, as mentioned in the story, "the garments she most despised." Because she always wanted Scout to be a lady and wear dresses.

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In Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird, Scout’s transformation from naive to mature as the novel progresses is evidenced

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To Kill A Mockingbird is a literary fascination about two siblings named Scout and Jem accompanied by their friend Dill, who are in bewilderment as to who and what Boo Radley appears to be. As Scout and Jem grow and mature throughout the story, they start to realize how the world contains people who discriminate and insult others for petty reasons. The story portrays the view of Scout and the reader soon sees how she develops from childish kid to mature teenager. This story is a coming of age novel for many readers, for one of the characters, whose name is Scout, grows up and is shown the world’s true colors. The reader can notice Scout’s mindset alters in Chapters seventeen to twenty-two when stricken with the realization of how unfair it

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Overall, both of these events expose conflict and the theme that sometimes the kids know better than their parents. Next, Lee also uses plot events to continue with the recurring theme in this passage that sometimes the kids know better than their parents. Scout has an idea of how she can attempt to break down the mob: “Hey, Mr. Cunningham.”

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Her altercation, or lack thereof, with Cecil exhibits her progress towards becoming a young lady. In addition to maturing herself, Scout also helps others develop. Scout confronts her Uncle Jack about how he does not “understand children”, and enlightens him on how

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In Harper Lee’s classic novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, two characters change because of experiences they witness first hand. These characters, Scout and Jem, morally developed throughout the story by watching what happens with Tom Robinson’s trial, and by watching their father face the discrimination and hate because of the trial. Jem is a kind, young boy. He sees the world as a little kid would. Jem was bewildered when his dad, Atticus, shot and killed a dog in one shot.

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(Lee, 39) Scout reflects on what Atticus told her, and it shows how she has learned to empathize with others. Scout's values and behaviors demonstrate how mature she is as she grows in her ability to have kindness for others and to understand the need of treating everyone with respect. Her growth is a significant theme of the novel, and her experience influences the reader's view of the importance of

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This quote highlights Scout's ability to empathize with others and understand their perspectives, even if they are vastly different from her own. As Scout's character matures, she also begins to question the norms and values of her community. She recognizes the hypocrisy and contradictions inherent in the behavior of the adults around her, particularly in their attitudes toward race and gender. This is reflected in her statement, "I think there's just one kind of folks. Folks" (Lee 227).

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The concept of adulting is becoming more mature. Scout throughout the book, To Kill A Mockingbird, demonstrates this as the story goes on. In the beginning of To Kill A Mockingbird, the main character, or Scout, can be seen talking in third person, reminiscing about his time in Alabama when he was younger. Scout would be in kindergarten by this time, as she is 5, and her brother, Jem, would be 10, as he is in 4th grade.

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Both Jem and Scout shift from wild, naive children to sensible and sophisticated young adults. They both come to many of the same realizations about what it means to be grown up, but the way that they encounter such understanding is much different. This theme is an important concept to grasp for everyone because from experience, many people either don’t understand or remember what it’s like to be young. Whether it’s because they don't remember, or think it’s different than when they had to grow up, it should still be an idea people think

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(195) Again, a level of maturity is shown from Scout. She grasps the idea of understanding how to take losses and how to not start unnecessary problems, with opposing counsel. Scout understands that by viewing opposing counsel in an inferior way could cause worse consequences that are simply not needed. To know that causing unreasonable and outright silly problems at a young age, shows the level of maturity that Scout obtains. Characterization is clearly portrayed, as Scout has become more engaged and more thoughtful then she has been in the past.

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By the end of the book, Scout mentions “One time he said you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them. Just standing on the Radley porch was enough” (Lee 322). This shows Scout is understanding Boo by looking out into the street from the Radley lot and thinking about everything that has happened in the book from Boo’s perspective, and understanding why Boo stays hidden from everyone. Therefore in these three instances the children have shown that they are maturing. The writer shows they are maturing in these 3 moments because the children are showing empathy to Boo instead of making fun of

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To Kill A Mockingbird Behind every great story there is the coexistence of good and evil that is materialized into the essence of themes. These resulting themes are scattered throughout Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. The novel revolves around the Finch siblings, Jem and Scout, as they grow up in the southern 1930s and start to discover the truth about their society with their father who is also a talented lawyer, Atticus Finch, and the people of Maycomb County. Atticus faces the dilemma of sticking to his virtues by defending Tom Robinson, a black man wrongly accused of raping a white woman: Mayella Ewell.

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