Don’t judge a book by its cover because the cover does not show the full story. In the novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee is a coming-to-age fiction novel that takes place in Maycomb, Alabama and is narrated by a girl named Scout and her Lawyer father Atticus. At the Radley tree in Chapter 7, Scout, and Jem learn that Boo Radley is trying to get out to the kids that helps Jem to come to the age that involves them understanding what’s going on. The setting of the Radley tree highlights thoughtfulness as Jem wants to thank, Boo Radley by writing a letter for all the gifts that are in the knothole.
“The world is full of people who think different is synonymous with wrong” - David Levithan. In the book, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, she writes about a county named Maycomb that is fearful of anyone that is different from them. Jean Louise Finch, often called scout in the book, grows up in a xenophobic society. Scout grows up alongside her older brother Jem, her father, Atticus and their family’s mother-figure caretaker named Calpurnia. When Scout’s father is asked by Judge Taylor to defend a black man named Tom Robinson, he faces harmful backlash from the community.
Humility, one of the best virtues to have, gets used in many characters. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee valued humility and incorporated it into the positive characters of the book. She showed many people with non who acted like fools. Then she also had many characters who demonstrated it. She displayed the value of having humility and some of the best characters known for it today come from her book.
“Heroes are made in the hour of defeat.” This quote, by the late Mahatma Gandhi, who was an Indian activist, perfectly encapsulates the meaning of a hero. A hero is someone who stands up for what he or she believes in, and confronts the evils that the person may face, no matter how big or small those evils may be. This is exhibited in both Harper Lee's Atticus from To Kill a Mockingbird, and Markus Zusac's Hans Hubberman and Liesel Meminger from The Book Thief. Just like the quote eludes to, these characters stay resilient even when there seems to be no hope.
In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, one of the themes is that people should not be quick to judge others based on the labels given by society. During the story, the children judge Boo Radley based on what other people have gossiped about him and what comes from their imagination. “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. There was a long jagged scar that ran across his face; what teeth he had were yellow and rotten; his eyes popped and he drooled most of the time.”
Kindness is a universal language that everyone understands and should be willing to speak. In “To Kill a Mockingbird” one theme that has been internalized is the theme of compassion. Harper Lee truly understood the power that kindheartedness can have on a person. She wanted her audience to understand that being a kind person beats being a bitter person any day. “One can trap more flies with sugar than vinegar,” this quote embodies Harper Lee’s purpose in writing TKAM.
Throughout the book there are many different sins that the people of Maycomb show. The whole town is full of everything wrong with society many of the characters represent how we are failing in life while a few others show what we are doing right. From racism to being rude to people who are different this book outs everything that we have done wrong with history and all the mockingbirds that we have killed. Racism is a misdeed that keeps on showing up in the book, Calpurnia keeps on showing Jem and Scout about how the African American society is treated.
Pride holds strong inside of us whether good or bad people will always fight tooth and nail to keep their morals in check. The places we live, people we surround ourselves with and the choices we make are all impacted by our pride and when we take a moment to look around our own community, we see what matters to us and how our life forms around it. The southern town of Maycomb is no different, we see a story. A story of the precious dignity of the human race and the role it plays in a community.
Anne Frank, a Jewish girl who was in hiding during World War II stated, “No one has ever become poor by giving.” The quote means that you are never too poor to do something nice for someone. This quote relates to the book,To Kill a Mockingbird, as we learn about the Ewell family who didn’t understand that they could be nice. Atticus notes, “You never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them.” (Lee 30)
Courage has gone through many changes. It has been altered throughout races, cultures, religions, sex, and time. However, the core values of courage has always remained parallel. It is difficult to explain in words the meaning of courage, like describing a color, but everyone knows what courage is, how it feels, and how to perform it. In Harper Lee’s
TKAM Essay A person or event can make an impact on a child or young adolescent in either a positive or a negative way and can teach them a lesson that they can carry with them throughout their lives. In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Scout Finch is given exquisite examples and terrible examples in her modest town. Scout discovers courage and cowardness from the ones who are surrounding her while growing older in Maycomb. (77) Scout Finch receives courage from her peers in her surroundings, mainly from her father Atticus Finch who presents many acts of courage in and outside of the counsel.
How many Americans know what happened during the Vietnam War? Probably not many. This is probably because as a society, we do not talk about it much. I’m sure that most Americans have family members who were in the Vietnam War. But they don't understand why America was involved or what even happened during this war.
How does Harper Lee vividly capture the effects of racism and social inequality on the citizens of Maycomb county in ‘To kill a mockingbird’? In the novel, ‘To kill a mockingbird’, Harper Lee conveys the theme of racism and social inequality by setting up the story in Maycomb, a small community in Alabama, the U.S back in 1930s. Lee presents some of the social issues of 1930s such as segregation and poverty in the novel. These issues are observed and examined through the innocent eyes of a young girl, Scout, the narrator.
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.
As well as “How touchingly paternal, Black. Perhaps Potter will grow up to be a felon, just like his godfather!” This tormenting continued throughout all of school.
