to kill a mockingbird
In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the story unfolds through the eyes of a six-year-old girl named Scout. The story takes place in the small southern town of Maycomb, Alabama during the early 1900s where prejudice was at its peak. Miss Harper Lee has chosen Scout as the narrator in this story. This narrative technique has much strength and some weakness. Scout is a bright, sensitive and intelligent little girl. For all her intelligence, she is still a child and not always fully understands the implications of the events she reports. This is sometimes amusing, like the time she thinks Miss Maudie's loud voice scares Miss Stephanie. Scout does her best to inform us of the happenings at the Tom Robinson trial. Yet, she is not certain what rape is, or aware of the prejudice surrounding her. Ultimately she represents the innocence within society. This story has a variety of themes and lessons including maturity. The story shows Jem and Scout going through many life lessons and how they've grown from it. Prejudice (like in the Tom Robinson case in this small community), and courage (it takes courage for anyone to stand up to the events that go on in this book.
Prejudice has caused the pain and suffering of people for many centuries. Some examples of this include the Holocaust and slavery in the United States. In To Kill a Mockingbird, racism was the cause of much agony to the blacks of the segregated South. Along with the blacks, other people are judged unfairly because of their differences. The prejudice and bigotry of society causes the victimization of people with differences. [Some who are discriminated against those who are born differently than the majority.] One person that is treated unfairly is Calpurnia, as you can see when Aunt Alexandra tries to get Atticus to fire Calpurnia, because in her eyes, Calpurnia isn't a good female role model. This is a prejudiced action, because Calpurnia is a good as role model as Aunt Alexandra, if not better. Aunt Alexandra is a bigot and does not see the character of Calpurnia, just the color of her skin. Another person who is treated like an inferior is Scout by her teacher, because she knew how to read. "She discovered that I was literate and looked at me with no more than a faint distaste." Scout is treated like it is her fault that she knows more then the average child did. She learned earlier then others so she gets punished unjustly. Tom Robinson is also one who is discriminated by the biased community. The jury finds Tom guilty in his case against the Ewells. The guilty verdict is a direct result of a racist community. Tom was never given a fair chance in the trial, even though the evidence proves him innocent. People that are born differently often get mistreated and are discriminated against. Another group that is treated poorly in the society based on bigotry, are the people who have chosen to be different. One who chose to be different is Dolphus Raymond. He pretends to be drunk so no one gives him trouble about the way he lives his life. Another person that lives differently is Boo Radley. Boo stays inside his house for a number of years without even coming out to inter-act with others. He did not want the attention that would come from rumors that were said about him. Stories are made up about him and he feels it was risk of being made an outcast of the majority of the society. Throughout the story, people that are unlike the majority get hurt. They are given obstacles that they have to overcome in o
Some common words found in the essay are:
Tom Robinson, Kill Mockingbird, Jem Scout, Sheriff Tate, Harper Lee, Aunt Alexandra, Lee Atticus, Radley Boo, Boo Radley, Bob Ewell, tom robinson, kill mockingbird, boo radley, harper lee, kill mockingbird harper, scout jem, courage stand, mockingbird harper, aunt alexandra, mockingbird harper lee, jem scout, throughout story,
Approximate Word count = 1576
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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