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To Kill A Mockingbird

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To Kill a Mockingbird
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Review
Armand Durandt

Title: To Kill a Mockingbird
Author: Harper Lee
Place of publication: Great Britain
Date of Publication: 1960

To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel following the life of a girl by the name of Scout Finch as she learns valuable life lessons from her father, Atticus Finch, and from other inhabitants of the town of Maycomb, Alabama…
To Kill a Mockingbird was written by Nelle Harper Lee between 1950 and 1960, being published in 1960. Lee’s chosen setting for the book in reminiscent of her childhood as the novel follows a course of events very similar to her own experiences. She draws inspiration for many of the characters from her own friends and family. Critically, To Kill a Mockingbird was a huge …show more content…

Scout narrates the events of the novel in the past tense, as she experienced them, augmenting pivotal motifs (such as racism, social class, and good vs evil) throughout the novel through the eyes of a child. However, her narration is a reflection and she has matured since the events of the novel took place, it is unclear how much time has passed. She comments on herself and notes the naivety of her thoughts and actions as a young girl. We quickly learn that Scout was far more intelligent than other children her age, when she goes to school for the first time she is able to read where as others in her class cannot. Throughout the novel she learns lessons from inhabitants of her town whom are portrayed as virtuous to the reader. The first lesson is to put yourself in other people’s shoes, Scout gets this wrong for most of the novel. The second lesson is that the world is full of injustice; Scout learns this through one event which reveals the evil side of her town. The final lesson is that it is a sin to kill a mockingbird; this lesson is the most important. Scout’s father, Atticus, gives her and her brother air rifles and says they are allowed shooting any bird but “remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” This is because “mockingbirds do not do anything but make music for us to enjoy. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” Apart from being literal, this lesson has a deeper meaning later in the

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To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is an amazing book with an abundant of surprises. Set back in the 1930’s in Maycomb, Alabama, when the Great Depression was happening and racism from the civil war still rages on in this southern city. All the quotes and themes in the novel can still be associated to life today. As the book was narrating in the past by Jean Louise Finch (Scout), there is one man that guides her and her brother, Jem Finch. It is their father, Atticus Finch.

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Readers are able to see her change of views and change of opinions over the course of four years. Her views and opinions such as her father’s court case and due to people who re-path her way of thinking such as Dolphus Raymond. Scout learns, changes, and grows throughout the novel because of the things that happen in her life that don’t normally happen to girls her age. One of the many lessons that Scout adapts during the novel is that things and people aren't always the way they're made up to be.

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The mockingbird is a symbol of innocence, and therefore killing a mockingbird is a sin. Atticus says, “…but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird” (90). Miss Maudie says afterwards, “Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don’t eat up people’s gardens, don’t nest in corncribs, they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us” (90).

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The first lesson is “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”. Next is when Atticus teaches Scout to keep fighting even if she can’t win. Atticus teaches Scout “It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what”. Lastly the lesson found is that “it’s a sin to kill mockingbird”.

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To conclude, Scout learns many lessons throughout the first five chapters of the book; not judging people’s ways of doing things, considering things from other people’s perspective, and not using rumors to base your opinions about others. These lessons are essential

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Through this quote, Scout is deep down smart. She loves to read as to where most people her age do not care for reading at all. Throughout the novel, Scout begins to become very dramatic due to the many things she has experienced throughout the entire novel. Scout most clearly leans this when she begins to argue with Miss Caroline about reading when she says “He hasn’t taught me anything.

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Published in 1960, To Kill a Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee, is a timeless novel that is narrated by young Jean Louise “Scout” Finch. The novel takes place in a small Alabama town called Maycomb during the 1930s, a period when racism and segregation were heavily prominent in society. Although Scout is young, she is already exposed to the presences of discrimination and inequalities within her small town. Scout’s father, Atticus Finch, is an esteemed lawyer with beliefs that differ from others and a strong desire to do the right thing. Atticus teaches his children valuable lessons, such as the other means of handling conflicts, the importance of equality, and the deception of outer appearances in hopes that they learn to feel compassion

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Readers look to Scout as a test to character and innocence. As Scout is only six years old in the beginning of the novel, she is unaware of the surrounding bigotry in her town, Maycomb. Unlike many of the characters in the novel, she is able to look at the world in a unique perspective due to her innocence and influence from her activist father, Atticus

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At the start of the novel Scout begins a more naive and innocent, believes lies about Boo and Mrs. Dubose but as the novel proceeds, we see how the different lessons taught to her release her from her naivety and allow her to have an opinion

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The events that occur in the book display all the bad and horrible things in life one has to eventually go through, like racial injustice and learning the truth about people. Since Scout is so young, she experiences adult situations that develop her understanding of life. With Jem, Atticus, Cal, and other citizens of Maycomb helping her get through, she molds into a grown up little girl. One event that had a major impact on Scout’s maturity was Tom Robinson’s

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Scout starts the story and as she uses flashbacks, it starts to reveal the type of character she was along with her small town. As the story progresses we start to learn about the type of lessons that Atticus teaches his children and what he expects from them, not only as being his children but being good humans in the world. Scout also reveals her fear of a man named Boo Radley, she doesn’t actually know this man, but based on rumors spread about him she presumes he is a bad person. “Jem gave a reasonable description of Boo: Boo was about six-and-a-half feet tall, judging from his tracks; he dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch, that's why his hands were bloodstained—if you ate an animal raw, you could never wash the blood off,”(14).

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Throughout life, society creates stereotypes and misinterpret people. This often has severe impacts on the person’s life and their interactions with outside world. Similarly, Harper Lee connects people in her novel to an innocent songbird: the mockingbird, a symbol that she uses a numerous amount of times to connect between the title and the main theme. Throughout the novel, the mockingbird represents two things: an innocent creature that perishes by acts of evil and a symbol of innocence and purity that does no harm while spreading joy and happiness. Mayella Ewell, Tom Robinson, and Arthur Boo Radley identify as mockingbirds - pure, innocent characters that face injuries through contact with evil.

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As a child without much "hard" evidence on certain situations, Scout is left to draw her own conclusions. Harper Lee chose to write from Scout 's current perspective as a way to get a reader out of their own

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The title of the book is To Kill a Mockingbird. The reason it’s called To Kill a Mockingbird is because Atticus says “It’s a sin to kill a Mockingbird”. A Mockingbird is best described as a bird that doesn’t hurt anyone, does not attempt to hurt anyone, sings for enjoyment, tires to help, and has nothing but innocence. There are many “Mockingbirds” in the book To Kill a Mockingbird. The two characters that really stood out to me as the Mockingbirds were Atticus Finch and Calpurnia.

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Thesis - In these text To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee we see that as humans many of us criticize and look at colored people differently because of a certain image has been drawn of them. Many people and even colored people themselves sometimes believe that they don’t have the same power as other people because of their skin tone . Although throughout this nation there have been many examples of black people being treated unjust they are still people. All people should be treated the same and everyone has the same power.

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