To Kill A Mockingbird Comparison Essay

The novel To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee is a timeless novel that has been taught in schools for centuries. The novel was written in 1960 and is written from the point of view of the protagonist Jean Luise Finch, more commonly known as Scout. In the novel, Scout tells a story about growing up in the 1930’s in Maycomb, a small town in Alabama. The main event in the novel is the trial of Tom Robinson, a black man accused of raping a white women. During this time period in Maycomb, black people were oppressed and disrespected. The novel was such a hit that it was adapted into a movie by director Robert Mulligan. The movie followed the same storyline with the addition and subtraction of certain scenes. The 1962 movie To Kill a Mockingbird

The film successfully captures the theme of racism as depicted in the novel. In the novel, Bob Ewell, a poor drunk, accuses Tom Robinson of raping his daughter Mayella. Tom Robinson passed the Ewell house everyday on his way to work and almost everytime that Mayella saw him she would ask him to help her with something around the house and Tom would always be glad to help her. Mayella had seven siblings and a drunk father that never helped her and in addition she had no friends. Mayella even offered to pay Tom after he helped her but he always refused because he knew that she had no one else to help her and that she didn’t have the money to give away. One time she asked him to help her grab something that he couldn’t reach then she started trying to kiss him but he refused. After the case was brought to court, it was evident that Tom was innocent but the jury still said he was guilty because “In our courts, when it’s a white man’s word against a black man’s, the white man always wins. They’re ugly, but those are the facts of life” (Lee 295). This shows the injustice in Maycomb and how black poeple are treated unfairly just because of the color of their skin. If Tom was white he would

In the novel, Scout is portrayed as a tomboy and hates wearing girly clothes such as dresses. The only time that she would wear a dress is when aunt Alexandra forces her to. Scout thought that she could do more in more casual clothing so she usually went “around in overalls. Aunt Alexandra was fanatical on the subject of my attire. I could not possibly hope to be a lady if I wore breeches; when I said I could do nothing in a dress, she said I wasn’t supposed to be doing things that required pants” (Lee 108). This shows how Scout doesn’t like dressing in fancy clothes and doesn’t like doing fancy things as she enjoys playing outside and running around. In the movie, one big difference is the absence of aunt Alexandra. This makes a difference because Scout is not pressured into dressing and acting more ladylike. Even though she is not pressured to wear dresses in the movie, she is seen wearing them on a few occasions. This differs from the novel because Scout would never be seen in a dress unless forced but she willingly wears dresses. To sum it all up, a lot of characters don’t change between the novel and the movie but some are missing and other main ones such as Scout are portrayed