ipl-logo

To Kill A Mockingbird Themes

895 Words4 Pages

Oceana Presley Mrs.Vidaurri English 9 Honors, Period 1 23 March 2016 There are many themes in the book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee many of which are very important to the storyline and how things turn out for scout and her family. In her 1960 novel, To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee illustrates the theme a person's environment shapes his or her perspective in order to express that the people we surround ourselves with our family, friends, peers, and colleagues very well change the way one thinks and what they believe. The family: Scout and Jem are both raised by Atticus. A man who has few rules but rules that are always important, have a purpose, and never just because. This is something that makes it easy for kids to understand and …show more content…

He even points out this subtle anonymous fact. “If you had been on that jury, son and eleven other boys like you, Tom would be a free man, said Atticus. So far nothing in your life has interfered with your reasoning process.” (Lee 295). This shows that Jem has little to no bias and looks purely at the facts, something that they could use a lot more in courts then and now. Even if he did have a bias it would have been towards the idea that all men are very well created equal and need to be treated like that. This comes from his upbringing and being raised by Atticus a man that is the same in the house as he is on the streets, he treats everyone fairly deserving of it or not. The Finches seem to make some connections that the rest of Maycomb can't seem to make. They have some insight and or perspective on things others can simply not make. “Scout, he said, Mr. Ewell fell on his knife. Can you possibly understand? ...Yes sir, I understand, I Reassured him. Mr. Tate was right. Atticus disengaged himself and …show more content…

They were raised by their parents who had a bias that was passed down to them through a number of generations and even if they thought different, nobody wanted to be the person who supported the African-American community nor any other during this time.”But I want to play with Walter, Aunty, why can’t I? She took off her glasses and stared at me. I’ll tell you why, she said. Because ---he---is---trash, that's why you can’t play with him.”(Lee 301) Even Scout and Jem's very own Aunt Alexandra does not want their family to be associated with a lower social class in general. Aunt Alexandra later even proves to be very biased against the African-American community as seen in chapter 14 “You all were coming back from Calpurnia's church that Sunday?... Yessum, and she promised me I could come out to her house some afternoon. Atticus, I’ll go next Sunday if it's alright, can I? Cal said she’d come get me if you were off in the car. You may not! Aunt Alexandra had said it. I wheeled around, startled.”(Lee 181) Aunt Alexandra seems to be one of the few Life role model characters that seems to have had been raised at the same upper-class standards as Atticus and yet, refuses to sway in the least in her beliefs that there should be no interracial anything from the church outings to social meetings to

Show More
Related
532 Words | 3 Pages

Aunt Alexandra’s relationship with Cal is also another example of how she supports segregation. In the text, Scout (Atticus’ daughter) finds out that Aunt Alexandra disapproved of him on the trail of defending a black man from her cousin Francis, “[Aunt Alexandra said that Atticus] turned out a nigger-lover and we'll never be able to walk the streets of Maycomb agin. He's ruinin' the family, that's what he's doin'" (Lee 110). This demonstrates how ashamed she is that her brother is defending a black man and that she is scared of what other people will think. One more example that Aunt Alexandra supports segregation is that she is very concerned about the children and Cal’s relationship.

Read More
680 Words | 3 Pages

-Summary for Ch. 11-15 (AT LEAST FOUR SENTENCES): Atticus has to be away a lot more than usual for the case, so Scout’s Aunt Alexandra came to stay with them. Their Aunt is really proper and wants them to act proper too, but they rebel.

Read More
479 Words | 2 Pages

So as you can see, Aunt Alexandra has changed not only socially, but at a very foray type pace that is very noticeable. She would at first hate colored people and as well as disrespecting and disagreeing with Atticus and Scout to being a loving, nice and respectful person to all no matter how nebulous it was to

Read More
202 Words | 1 Pages

In the novel, Cisneros depicts the idea of one’s judgement based on perception through the characters’ influence on the main character Esperanza. Throughout the book, Cisneros illustrates Esperanza’s meeting many people who teach her new ways of thinking and influence her behaviors. In the vignette “A Rice Sandwich” Cisneros states, “The special kids, the ones who wear keys around their necks, get to eat in the canteen. The canteen! Even the name sounds important,” (43).

Read More
2105 Words | 9 Pages

Atticus tells Scout that the southern woman expectations are a “polite fiction” because they are an unrealistic expectation that the southern community excepted all women to reach. Aunt Alexandra had positive influence at times such as these, “ Aunt Alexandra looked across the room at me and smiled. She looked at a tray of cookies on the table and nodded at them. I carefully picked up the tray and watched myself walk to Mrs. Merriweather. With my best company manners, I asked her if she would have some.

Read More
916 Words | 4 Pages

Aunt Alexandra is a conservative woman who is conscious of propriety and class. So she wanted Jem and Scout to live in a certain way especially Scout, She was worried Scout was too much of a tomboy. Aunt Alexandra was also concerned that Atticus was too careless in his parenting. He allowed his kids to do whatever they wanted. She was also concerned that Calpurnia had too much say and authority over the lives of the children with the absence of their mother.

Read More
788 Words | 4 Pages

Aunt Alexandra demonstrates discrimination, even against her own race, when she refused to allow Scout to have Walter Cunningham over for

Read More
1473 Words | 6 Pages

At the beginning of the story, Scout, like many others in Maycomb, holds racial biases influenced by the societal norms of her times. She witnesses the injustice faced by Tom Robinson, a black man wrongly accused of a crime he did not commit, Scout begins to question and challenge the discriminatory beliefs of those around her. “ I think there’s just one kind of folk. Folks." (page 259)

Read More
712 Words | 3 Pages

Ryan Talley Mrs. Malone English 9H Period 5 05 March 2023 Jem’s Journey Coming of Age “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 39). This is what Atticus Finch tells his kids that start their coming of age and worldview in Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, which takes place in the small fictional town of Maycomb in the 1900s. Although one of the protagonists Jem is fairly young in the novel, his actions and growth significantly show how far he has matured in these years of his life.

Read More
1649 Words | 7 Pages

Grace Merriweather, and Bob Ewell. Aunt Alexandra is one character that is prejudice against African Americans by not liking Calpurnia taking care of Jem and Scout. Aunt Alexandra is also racist against people like the Cunninghams because they are in a lower-class than the Finch’s. Mrs. Merriweather is another character that also does not agree with what Atticus is doing for Tom which leads to her showing behaviors that are prejudice against Tom for being African American. Also, by showing disrespect to her servants, Mrs. Merriweather shows people that she is racist.

Read More
923 Words | 4 Pages

Told in the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, the author Harper Lee conveys the idea of perspective through the many hardships that the characters go through. The novel, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is a coming-of-age story that takes place in the mid 1930’s when the great depression is starting to hit. The story is told through our narrator Scout who is a little girl, who has a brother named Jem and their father, Atticus. Scout and Jem go through many significant events throughout their town of Maycomb, Alabama. In which most of these events are influenced by racism or even their prejudiced town.

Read More
900 Words | 4 Pages

To begin with, southern hospitality is a key part of Aunt Alexandra’s characteristics. She believes that people, especially females, should have polite manners towards every one of the same equality of themselves. If a person is of lower status, then they are not to be associated with by the higher class people. Aunt Alexandra deems it wise to cast her cares away whilst in the midst of a social gathering as she shows in the following passage, “I thought Aunt Alexandra was crying, but when she took her hands away from her face she was not… Aunt Alexandra rose and smoothed the various whalebone ridges along her hips…

Read More
1205 Words | 5 Pages

Unlike Atticus, his sister Alexandra’s use of traditional knowledge segregates the duties, attire, and lifestyle of both men and women. She is a firm believer in perpetuating sexism where women should only be seen in modest dresses, cooking, and tending to the children. For instance, she pesters Scout to follow societal roles such as, wearing dresses instead of breeches and behaving like a proper lady. On page 92, the author states, “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 require pants” (92).

Read More
720 Words | 3 Pages

Forget it.”” (Lee 177-179) Although Atticus was supposed to follow as Aunt Alexandra wanted him to make the kids be, he did not do so because his beliefs were different. Atticus did not believe in the traditions that ran in his family. This is specifically portrayed in the quote when he told the kids to forget about what he said, and also by the way he raises the kids because he knew what he had said was wrong, and did not follow what his beliefs were. Finally, Lee portrays not all agreeing on their traditions, even though they may be classified into a certain group when Atticus told of his feelings towards white people cheating black people.

Read More
305 Words | 2 Pages

Today, the large debate is that if the Russian Revolution still relevant today, and if it should even be taught in school today. The Russian Revolution was a event from 1917 to 1945 that went through the change of a autocracy government to a communist government. The main idea that the people of Russia had was to change the government so that all people were treated equal. Russia had a bad start from the beginning of the revolution, in 1914 Russia entered World War 1 and ultimately lost to Japan. As a result of the loss the people in Russia were suffering from food shortages and weapons shortages.

Read More

More about To Kill A Mockingbird Themes

Related Topics

Open Document