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Theme Of Diction In To Kill A Mockingbird

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In Harper Lee’s historical fiction novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, two children live in a chaotic world of racial injustice and poverty. In this book, two siblings named Jem and Scout Finch grow and mature in a mysterious area of people battling and supporting racism. Throughout this book, Harper Lee uses symbolism to provide the view of racism. While doing this, she also uses selective choices of diction to shape the story. Harper Lee wrote To Kill A Mockingbird with a purpose, to bring awareness to racial injustice through hidden symbols and diction.
To start off, the book To Kill A Mockingbird's name alone is a claim that mockingbirds are similar to African-Americans. Atticus says to Jem and Scout "It is a sin to kill a mockingbird"(90) because mockingbirds are harmless. This is similar to the situations that people of color frequently face. Throughout history, black people have been judged for their skin color time and time again. This occurred when Africans were brought on a boat to America in the 1600s. People of color were also discriminated against during the time of when the Underground Railroad was made and the Civil War was fought. …show more content…

Through the type of language Lee writes him using, he is able to expose the picture of racial injustice. As Atticus is talking to his daughter, Scout, Atticus says “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” (30), explaining that she doesn’t know what people are going through. Atticus could’ve said it in a different way, but he said "into his skin” (30) because there is racial injustice in the book. This slight change of words that Lee imported into Atticus’ dialogue is also talking about how different ethnicities face different problems. People of color are often discriminated against for their color of skin, while white people aren’t as often, if

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Harper Lee’s novel, To kill a Mockingbird, is a book about the Finch family, living in Maycomb, Alabama, during the early 1930s. The book is told through the perspective of an 8-year-old girl called Scout, and it's about the struggles she and her brother Jem, age 11, face when their father Atticus takes a case defending a black man accused of raping a white girl. Lee embraces the idea of nonviolent resistance and shows how sometimes it can be the most powerful influence in change, how hate is not the way, and she pushes the reader to consider their worldview about the differences among people. The Author shows her belief in nonviolence in many ways throughout this book.

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The main character in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird is Atticus Finch, a middle aged man living in Maycomb Alabama. Even though he is a southerner he isn’t racist and he believes that everyone should be treated equal, Atticus teaches his children empathy and not to discriminate against other people, he does his by telling them “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.” Even though Atticus treats everyone as equals he gets affected by the town and their prejudice way of thinking. Because Atticus accepts Tom Robinsons case he gets called a “nigger lover” and him and his children get treated differently by the town.

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In Harper Lee's classic “To Kill A MockingBird” A great scene is when Scout and Jem were in court when Atticus was defending Tom Robinson. Atticus demonstrates the use of setting diction (words) and pathos I think they learned that no matter how right you are, other people that don't like you well say that you're wrong. No matter how much evidence Atticus showed they weren't going to change the outcome of the trail.

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Both stories, To Kill a Mockingbird and Black Like Me contain racial segregation. The quote, "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 30). is said to Scout by Atticus in To Kill a Mockingbird. Both of these novels can relate to this quote.

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To Kill a Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee and set in the early 1930s, follows through the young eyes Scout, Jem and Dill and their development throughout the book. The book reflects the dominant view of racism, through the use of the characters who see the world through innocent eyes. Through the use of characterisation Harper lee invites the reader to view Scout, Jem and Dills loss of innocence through the racist beliefs of the 1930. Throughout the novel Scout gradually loses her childhood innocence as she encounters life's many injustices. Jem loses his innocence by realising the racist stereotypes of the people in Maycomb and Dill loses his care free attitude by seeing how Maycomb treat Tom Robinson.

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The award winning book by Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird, explores various views on stereotypes and defying the standard. Atticus Finch, the father of Scout Finch and the main protagonist, must go against societal standards and follow his personal morals. He fights against the injustice in Maycomb Alabama, all while teaching his children valuable life lessons along the way. Although this book has many anti-racial themes, the characters in the story have racial beliefs that over-power its anti-racial themes, downplaying the book’s value as a teaching school.

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Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel that show the life of a southern state od Alabama during the “black racism” time period, where majority of the people had the mentality that (quote) with the exception of a few. To chosen to portray it from the eyes of Scout Finch, from a child’s point of view. Living in Maycomb, in the midst of a conservative society of the 1930’s and 20’s Southern America Scout Finch is an extra ordinary child.

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Correspondingly to figurative language, Lee also uses diction is to imply a message about racism and justice in Maycomb County. The "inflexible and time regarded code" of society was that, while, white individuals could utilize and even endeavor African-Americans, there could be no individual relationship between African-Americans and whites and no acknowledgment that African-Americans had the same responses and emotions as white individuals. Furthermore, there was an obnoxious assumption "that all Blacks lie, that all Blacks are essentially indecent creatures". “Despite the fact that Calpurnia is a female, Aunt Alexandra neglects her great work as a result of her race” (Lee p.129). The Court trial is described by Lee with strong diction in

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The novel “To Kill A Mockingbird” was written in 1960 by Harper Lee in the point of view of a young innocent girl named Scout. One of the main messages that Lee has (need a new word than – indicated or set out) is racism, it plays an important role which strongly impacts many character’s lives unfairly and changes the relationship between two. Harper Lee’s “To Kill A Mockingbird” shows that it is wrong to hurt someone who does no harm to you, for example, black people are innocent but no way did they have as many rights as white people did. Black people lived hard lives because society was judgemental, irrational and most importantly, racist. As Scout and Jem grow older they learn to cope, take responsibility and are introduced to new aspects of life, one of which is racism.

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In the novel, Harper Lee uses several literary tools to show the theme of not prematurely judging someone. This thought is first introduced to Scout Finch by her father Atticus, when she is struggling to see her teacher’s perspective. He tells her, “‘First of all, 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 22).

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To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee touches on some significant subjects, which still arise evidently in today’s problems. Furthermore, a gender-biased world includes one of the prominent themes running throughout the book and Harper Lee brilliantly explores this controversial topic without a noticeably heavy tone. Lee introduces the main narrator and character, Scout Finch, as a young girl in a tight-knit family living in the sleepy town of Maycomb where her family begins to struggle with injustice looming above, ready to dampen their spirits. Though their father Atticus keeps their family strong, it does not stop inequity to rear its ugly face to show no mercy at all. As Scout matures, she often gets berated about her tomboyish attitude and her liking to the company of men instead of women, as well as her brother making conflicting comments by using her gender against her.

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The way the people and the town influence Jem and Scout make the characters more realistic and the overall story much more interesting. To Kill a Mockingbird is an exceptional novel that conveys many positive messages throughout. In her novel, Lee creates honest and relatable characters that take the reader on a journey through life in the south during the Great Depression. Readers are impressed by Lee’s eloquent writing and amazing characters, all of which make To

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In spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart. I simply cannot build my hopes up on a foundation consisting of confusion, misery, and death. I see the world gradually being turned into a wilderness, i hear every approaching thunder, which will destroy us too,i can feel the suffering of millions and yet, if I look up into the heavens, I think that it will all come out all right, that this cruelty too will end and that peace and tranquility will return again. This is a quote written by a young girl named Anne Frank in her diary during world war two. Anne diary showed the world the cruelty of war and the suffering of those that were innocent of the cause, her thought have given us a clear image of the reality of her

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