I am reading To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. This book is about a girl, named Scout, her brother Jem, and the people who lived in the small town of Maycomb, Alabama during the 1930s. Along with their summer friend, Dill, the children become obsessed with the idea of getting a look at their unseen neighbor, Boo Radley. Meanwhile, their father, Atticus Finch, decided to defend Tom Robinson, a black man who was wrongly accused of raping a white woman, Mayella Ewell. The children get caught up in the trial, in which Tom is convicted and eventually killed while trying to escape from prison.
Published in 1960, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is seen as a book embedded into the American public school education system with good reasons. To Kill a Mockingbird symbolizes innocence, classism, and racism. We look through all of these statements from an 8 year old girl nicknamed Scout as she grows up during the Great Deppression, When Scout was around 7 years old, a trial shook the little town of Maycomb when a 19 year old girl accused a black man named Tom Robinson of raping her. Being set in the 1930’s when segregation was a prominent factor in America, With little evidence and witnesses Tom Robinson was still found guilty and was sentenced to death by electrocution.
The 1893 world's fair was an amazing experience. New inventions and extraordinary exhibits were scattered throughout a gleaming white city of newly constructed buildings, including the largest ever built at the time. Millions came from around America and the world to see this confluence of civilization in Chicago, but some never made it home. Before, during, and after the Fair, a serial killer named H. H. Holmes preyed on single women, killing possibly as many as 200 people total, although that estimate may be unrealistically high. The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson tells the story of the Fair and of the trajectory of Holmes’s killings.
In the book, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee tells a poignant coming-of-age story about the loss of innocence in the character of Scout. Three significant events illustrate this fact. The first example portrayed in the novel occurred when Scout went to the jail to find out what Atticus was up to, only to find that a mob had arrived to lynch Tom Robinson. This event left Scout with the notion of a mob mentality. Another event was the turning point of the story, the trial of Tom Robinson; this defining moment taught Scout of prejudice and injustice.
In Atticus Finch’s closing declaration, Mr. Finch sways the jury through the use of logic, good judgment, and wisdom or also known as logos. For instance, Atticus proclaims there is no medical evidence present that proves that “the crime Tom Robinson is charged with ever took place.” Clearly, Atticus convinces that if ever “physical contact” occurred between Tom Robinson and Mayella medical verification would have been available to prove that Tom Robinson is guilty or not. However, this strengthens Atticus’ argument because he’s influencing the jury to think and use good judgment by conveying that there is no medical support present, so how can a person being charged of rape be pronounced guilty when there was no evidence present. Additionally,
Grabbing the audience's attention and making them want to hear more is the most important part of any conversation, especially when it is in court. In To Kill a Mockingbird Atticus Finch wants to create a stable groundwork for all the claims and evidence he has brought up throughout his case. He does this by using Pathos, Ethos, and Logos to first appeal to the audience's emotions and establish a credibility to himself, he finally uses logic to wrap up all the claims he has made. The closing argument uses Pathos, Ethos, and Logos to establish logic and morals to the case and make him sound credible.
To Kill a Mockingbird is famous for its controversy. In fact, it has been banned from being read at many schools for its use of racial, sexual, and political content, all of these aiding the book’s “big ideas”. To Kill a Mockingbird has many themes. For example, one is about racial injustice. You would think a jury would establish their final decision based upon the facts, but in this book, the jury had already made up its mind once it heard that the case was a white man versus a black man.
During the trial in “To Kill a Mockingbird,” Atticus uses the three forms rhetoric to defend Tom Robinson, Ethos, Logos, and Pathos. One of the major points Atticus uses demonstrates the first form of rhetoric, Ethos. At the ending of Atticus’ closing statement, he says, “I am confident that you gentlemen will review without passion the evidence you have heard, come to a decision, and restore the defendant to his family. In the name of God, do your duty” (Lee, 4). This statement demonstrates Ethos because he is appealing to the jury’s moral code, and their personal code of conduct.
Brigance and Attiicus’s closing arguments both were fulfilled with many emotions. The emotional device used to reflect their arguments was mostly pathos. Pathos greatly influences people because it conveys emotion and invokes sympathetic stories. They reflected a similar tone of pathos, for example, Atticus and Brigance both use a guilting techniques to enforce the juries to feel a remorse, guilt. Atticus says to the jury, "[...] so a quiet, respectable, humble man who had the unmitigated temerity to 'feel sorry' for a white woman has had to put his word against two white people ''(Atticus).
To Kill a Mockingbird and Mississippi Trial, 1955 are novels that tell the story of young children living in the 1900’s, when the world was full of racism. In the realistic fiction novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, and the nonfiction novel, Mississippi Trial, 1955, by Chris Crowe, tell the stories of two Negro men suffering the wrath of white men. There will be a glimpse into the cruel situations the blacks had to endure. Characters in the books, watch innocent men get convicted, watch juries turn away from justice, and how the characters' grow with the knowledge they gain. Lee and Crowe’s trials have the same idea when it comes to their causes, development, and outcomes, like watching their justice system give no justice at all, truly changes
In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus Finch uses several forms of persuasion to convince his audience of Tom Robinson’s innocence. These forms include Pathos, Logos, and Ethos – although he uses them all multiple times, Pathos is the form that is most used. Atticus is trying to provoke guilt out of the jury, and wants them to push aside their prejudice and see the obvious fact that Tom Robinson did not commit the crime of raping Mayella Ewell. The most powerful Pathos phrase he uses is, “…the truth is this: some Negroes lie, some Negroes are immortal, some Negro men are not to be trusted around women – black or white. But this is a truth that applies to the human race and to no particular race of men.
Katie Fitzmaurice Mrs. Fanous English Honors B 5/16/24 FYRP Write “Funnel” Introduction Paragraph Here WRITE HOOK Authors choose to write because they feel passionate about what they write. Harper Lee grew up in Alabama in the 1900s and was raised close to the courts due to her father's work as a lawyer. This allowed her to possess a first-hand account of larger topics including the prejudice in the American court system. “According to this year’s data, 62% of victims were targeted because of the offender's bias toward race/ethnicity/ancestry” ("2020 FBI Hate"). This theme was still relevant in courts during the 1900s and influenced Harper Lee's decision to write To Kill A Mockingbird.
The novel To Kill a Mockingbird takes place in the segregated South of the 1930’s. The book is told in the eyes of an eight year old girl, Scout Finch. Her father, Atticus Finch, is an attorney who is struggling to prove the innocence of a black man incorrectly accused of rape. The historical context of the book lets one see the social status of different groups during the civil rights era. The story explores who fits into certain societies, who is respected in the community, written and unwritten rules concerning family, gender, age, and race, expectations of certain people, and what conflicts arise out of tension.
I wrote my creative assessment on To Kill a Mockingbird based on Atticus's perspective during Tom Robinson's trial, where he cross-examines Mayella Ewell, the supposed victim of the story. I decided to write the scene on his perspective because the story was originally written on a child's perspective, and by having a mature mind experience this moment, the reader is able to understand the situation more vividly and accurately, as well as learn characterization from the character chosen. The dialogue I chose is mostly copied from the book so that the moment can be accurately reenacted and built-up on with a solid foundation. Although the original narrator might've been Scout, a child, the scene's most important parts are based on its dialogue,
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
