To Kill A Mockingbird

To Kill A Mockingbird is a novel written by Harper Lee. The novel took place
in a "tired old town" in Maycomb, Alabama during the great depression in the
1930s. It is narrated by a six-old child, Jean Louise Finch (nicknamed scout), who
lives with her older brother Jeremy (nicknamed Jem) and their widowed father,
Atticus Finch, who is a lawyer. Jem and Scout befriend a boy named Dill, who
visits Maycomb to stay with his aunt each summer. The three children are terrified
yet fascinated by

Their mysterious neighbor, Arthur "Boo" Radley, who disappointed the children
as he never shows up in person.

Their lawyer father, Atticus, agrees to defend a black man called Tom Robinson,
who is accused of raping a young white woman, Mayella Ewell. Atticus receives
hatred and disapproval from many of Macomb’s citizens.

Harper Lee describes the novel throughout many themes, of which the story
starts, climaxes, and concludes. The novel starts off with the children's innocence,
immaturity, and superstition. The novel climaxes with the region's conflicts of
racism and injustice. And then conclude on the children's maturity and logical
understanding, as they grow up.

Scout and Jem express the immaturity in the first 7 chapters of the novel. They
get curious about the Radley's mysterious story and ought to discover and unravel
the Radley's secrets. They disturb and play games that disturbs the Radley's place.
Consequently, Atticus punishes them, and as a father teaches them essential life
lessons.

The children became more personally responsible for themselves. one example
was when Jem lost his pants at the Radley's place, and he risked his life of being
shot, just to fix something that he has done wrong. and their love and respect to
their father develop.

The racism and injustice factor was about Tom Robinson. as he is a black man
accused of raping a white woman, who's of upper class than him. Atticus is
discriminated and mocked for his decision to defy known social morals of white
people and deciding to defend a black man in a trial. In the time of Harper Lee,
such a decision taken by a white man might lead to more than discrimination in
real life. However, in the current years, this mentality has largely shifted to
acknowledging the backwardness of this mentality.

In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee addresses many controversial

issues. Such issues as, racism, discrimination, and social class are explored. During
the 1930s in the small county of Maycomb, the mentality of most southern people
reflected that of the nation. Most of the people were racist and discriminatory. In
the novel, these ideas are explored by a young girl, Scout.

The readers see the events that occur through her eyes. In the book, Scout’s father,
Atticus, tells Scout and Jem, “I’d rather you shoot at tin cans in the backyard, but I
know you’ll go after birds. Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit’em, but
remember it’s a sin to kill a Mockingbird.” (pg. 69) The mockingbird is a symbol
for two of the characters in the novel: Tom Robinson and Boo Radley. The
mockingbird symbolizes these two characters because it does not have its own
song. Whereas the blue jay is loud and obnoxious, the mockingbird only sings
other birds’ songs. Because the mockingbird does not sing its own song, we
characterize it only by what the other birds sing. Hence, we see the mockingbird
through the other birds. In the novel, the people of Maycomb only know Boo
Radley and Tom Robinson by what others say about them. Both of these characters
do not really have their own “song” in a sense, and therefore, are characterized by
other people’s viewpoints. Throughout the novel, Scout, Jem, and Dill are curious
about the “mysterious” Boo Radley because he never comes outside of his house or
associates with anyone in the neighborhood. The children are, in fact, afraid of him
because of all the stories they hear about him from the people in Maycomb. For
example, Miss Stephanie tells the children that while Boo was sitting in the living
room cutting a magazine, he “drove the scissors into his parent’s leg, pulled them
out, wiped them on his pants, and resumed his activities.” (pg. 11) After hearing
stories like these, the children consider him to be evil. Gradually they assume more
about Boo because he never plays outside or with anyone, and therefore, the
children are not convinced otherwise.
Boo Radley becomes a game for the children; over the summers they act out “Boo
Radley scenarios” that they believed to be true. Over time they create new parts to
the story: they even include Mrs. Radley into the story and portrays her as a poor
woman, who after she married Mr. Radley, “lost her teeth, her hair, and her right
forefinger.” (pg. 39) These stories are based on the gossip that trail through their
neighborhood. In reality, no one knew anything about Boo Radley; he stayed
inside his house and remained reclusive in Maycomb county. At the end of the
book, Scout finally meets Boo Radley after he helps her and Jem escape Mr. Ewell.
She finds that her beliefs about him are not true. Essentially, she finds the songs
that the neighbors were “putting into his mouth” were not true. In the book, Boo
Radley is a micro version of Tom Robinson. Boo is the outcast of the
neighborhood, but at the time, Tom Robinson was the outcast of the society. The
novel centers around the trial of Tom Robinson. To the people of Maycomb
County, Tom Robinson is just a “sorry nigger” who committed an unthinkable
crime. In the novel, Tom represents the black race in American society. He is a
victim of racism, which was the major controversy in our culture at the time. Like
Boo Radley, Tom Robinson is characterized by what the people of Maycomb
county say about him. After being accused of rape, most of the people see him as
an evil beast.

During the trial, while Bob Ewell testifies, he points to Tom Robinson and says, “I
seen that black nigger yonder ruttin’ on my Mayella.” According to Mr. Ewell,
Tom Robinson is an animal who tormented and violated his daughter. Throughout
the trial, Tom Robinson is portrayed in this manner because of the racist mentality
of the people in Maycomb. Even though there is a sufficient amount of proof
which shows he did not commit the crime, Tom is a black man who will be denied
justice. Atticus reinforces this idea when he tells Jem, “in our courts, when it’s a
white man’s word against a black man’s, the white man always wins.” Generally,
this was the mentality of most Americans at the time. Tom Robinson is a Boo
Radley, but on a larger scale. He is an outcast, as well as all the other black
Americans in the country. Black people did not have their own song; other people
sang their songs based on their beliefs about them. Like Boo Radley, people only
knew Tom Robinson through what other’s said about him. Throughout the trial,
Scout and Jem believe in Tom Robinson’s innocence. They see him for whom they
believe he is, and do not know enough about “racism” to be a part of it. They did
not believe the trial was fair because they believed there was evidence in Tom
Robinson’s favor. At the end of the book, however, Scout realizes the same about
Boo Radley. When she finally meets him, she sees how unfair she has been to him.
She and Jem had believed all of the horrible stories about Boo without knowing
him. In actuality, Boo Radley contradicts everything that the children believed
about him. Boo Radley is a representation of Tom Robinson on a smaller level.
Tom Robinson is a reflection of society as a whole. The fact that no one realized
the unfair treatment of Tom Robinson made his death that much more tragic.

In To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee uses the mockingbird symbolize of Tom and
Boo. Boo Radley is an outcast in the neighborhood, and Lee is trying to show that
every neighborhood has a Boo in it. She relates Tom Robinson to Boo Radley and
shows that Tom reflects society on a larger scale. He is representative of the
outcast in society throughout the United States. But in reality, there is Tom
Robinson’s in all of our neighborhoods or communities, whether they are black or
white. When Atticus tells Jem and Scout that it is a sin to kill the mockingbird, this
refers to the actions directed towards Tom and Boo. It was a sin to dislike Tom and
Boo based on what others say about them. They were punished by the people in
Maycomb because they did not have their own voice. Lee is trying to explain to
her readers that there are many people without their own voice in our society. At
the time, Black Americans did not have a voice. But, as it is a sin to kill the
mockingbird, it is a sin to kill those without a voice. The message of the novel is to
stop knocking those people down who do not have a voice. Scout realizes that it
was wrong to assume evil things about Boo Radley. Furthermore, it was
unfortunate that the people of Maycomb county did not realize their unfair
treatment of Tom Robinson. But most importantly, it is tragic that the American
society did not recognize the injustice done to the black race.

The ideas in To Kill A Mocking Bird are not limited to racism and social
discrimination directed towards black people. Harper Lee also gives insight
regarding education in her time. Lee’s writing about Boo Radley being a supposed
ghost and how Scout rejected to education system put forth by her teacher have
changed in modern days. The events told in the novel were meant to deliver a
message by Harper Lee on her opinion regarding education.
In her development of certain characters in To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
conveys her disapproval of some educational theories—in particular, the idealized
concept of equality in education that sometimes results in the discouragement of
gifted children. Scout's father never attended public school, yet he is an
accomplished scholar and attorney, and Scout learns to read before she goes to
school.

In his closing statement at the trial of Tom Robinson, Atticus brings up: “Thomas
Jefferson once said that all men are created equal... There is a tendency for certain
people to use this phrase out of context, to satisfy all conditions. The most
ridiculous example I can think of is that the people who run public education
promote the stupid and idle along with the industrious.”

After pointing to the misuse of this concept of "equality" in education, Atticus

states that there is one place in which all men are created equal in America, and
that is "the institution [of] a court." There, Tom Robinson is equal to everyone else,
and Atticus says that he should be treated fairly.

Scout's first-grade teacher, Miss Caroline Fisher, seems to embrace what Atticus
calls the "ridiculous example" of equality in education, as she wants everyone in
her class to learn the alphabet together—despite the fact that Scout can already
read. Further, Miss Caroline foolishly directs Scout to tell her father to stop
teaching her because "it's best to begin reading with a fresh mind. I'll take over
from here and try to undo the damage." Even though Scout reads fluently, Miss
Caroline says, "Your father does not know how to teach," because she thinks he is
not acquainted with the educational techniques and theories that she has embraced.
Clearly, Lee mocks some of the ideologies of public education and rejects the
narrow thinking that there are designated correct methods and that all children can
learn the same way. Scout's first-grade teacher, Miss Caroline Fisher, seems to
embrace what Atticus calls the "ridiculous example" of equality in education, as
she wants everyone in her class to learn the alphabet together—despite the fact that
Scout can already read. Further, Miss Caroline foolishly directs Scout to tell her
father to stop teaching her because "it's best to begin reading with a fresh mind. I'll
take over from here and try to undo the damage." Even though Scout reads
fluently, Miss Caroline says, "Your father does not know how to teach," because
she thinks he is not acquainted with the educational techniques and theories that
she has embraced. Clearly, Lee mocks some of the ideologies of public education
and rejects the narrow thinking that there are designated correct methods and that
all children can learn the same way.

Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mocking Bird has delivered several points regarding
many important themes to contrast what the south of the 1930s think and what the
current world now thinks. Her points regarding her opinions of racism and
education have made this novel one of the most popular pieces of modern English
literature. Her work will forever be respected for reminding us of the dark times
that followed the Civil War and how colored people used to be mistreated and how
poor people were not given the right opportunities to lift themselves off of their
poverty.

Made by: Asem Matar / 12w / 23