To Kill a Mocking Bird Essay. In the book, To kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee highlights the meaning of the narrative using novel standpoint, structure and irony. Harper Lee investigates the absurd attitudes of adults towards race and status

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EN3UO

Mr. Miller

June 16, 2009

To Kill a Mockingbird

An innocent child is unaware of the realities of the world until they witness through experiences and teachings, ethics and morals. A book, in the same way, consists of characters, whose experiences, feelings and thoughts convey a subtle theme or message that is usually ethically accurate. The theme represents the controlling idea of the book and the central purpose for which the author decided to write the novel. The theme of the book is usually what the author wants the reader to take away from the book. As a crucial element of a novel, the way in which the author generates the meaning of the book is significant. The author can express the theme effectively not only through the characters present in the novel but also through specific writing styles, the focus being form and text. In the book, “To kill a Mockingbird”, Harper Lee highlights the meaning of the narrative using novel standpoint, structure and irony. Harper Lee investigates the absurd attitudes of adults towards race and status in the Deep South in the 1930s through the eyes of Scout Finch. The novel illustrates the conscience of a town that is suffused in prejudice, violence and hypocrisy, which is understood through a black man’s struggle for justice. Harper Lee mainly emphasizes the irrationality of prejudice thoughts of a town, along with other themes incorporated in the book by means of distinctive form and text.

The understanding of a novel is often dependant on who is appointed by the author to narrate the novel. The narrative standpoint, through which the author chooses to narrate the story, determines the amount and type of information that the reader will gain throughout the novel. The novel, “To Kill a Mockingbird”, is written in first person, so that the story is told in the point of view of Scout Finch. The interesting aspect of the narrative standpoint, used in this book, is that the beginning of the book starts of with Scout Finch, an older woman, explaining her brother’s broken arm. "When enough years had gone by to enable us to look back on them, we sometimes discussed the events leading to [Jem’s] accident" (Lee 1). The book then proceeds to the events that lead to the incident where the majority of the story is still narrated by Scout Finch, but as a young girl. The author uses young Scout Finch to narrate the story because, as a child, Scout is new to the reactions of her towards a certain race or even a controversial subject. So, Scout narrates the story, not only addressing her feelings, but she talks about events, as she understands them when she was younger. “Atticus had promised me he would wear me out if I ever heard of me fightin’ anymore. I was far too old and too big for such childish things, and the sooner I learned to hold in, the better off everybody would be” (Lee 99). This way there is no bias adult opinion on the subject matter. The events are retold just as they happened without any comments, allowing readers to know exactly what happened and how the people in the town were feeling. This way the readers can more easily interpret the theme of the story because the narrator is not swaying the reader with their opinions and the characters’ behaviour is narrated without change. The older Scout Finch, on the other hand, occasionally narrates the story just to provide more information. “Maycomb was an old town, but it was a tired old town when I first knew it. In rainy weather the streets turned to red slop; grass grew on sidewalks, the courthouse sagged in the square” (Lee 6). The adult Scout usually gives background information that readers are conscious and they need to know in order to get a better understanding. There is some information that young Scout may not be aware of at the time, which is narrated by older Scout. “Neighbors bring food with death and flowers with sickness and little things in between. Boo was our neighbor. He gave us two soap dolls, a broken watch and chain, a pair of good-luck pennies, and our lives. But neighbors give in return. We never put back into the tree what we took out of it: we had given him nothing, and it made me sad” (Lee 373). The older Scout is more aware, and she better understands situations, during the time of her childhood, as an adult which needs to be pointed of to the reader. The story told through the eyes of Scout Finch, as an adult and as a child, allows reader to understand the theme, the prejudice attitudes of the residents of Maycomb County. Harper Lee, along with narrative standpoint, uses a specific structure to highlight the themes of the book.

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A book’s structure is often used to create effect and emphasis to certain aspects of the narrative plot. In the book, “To Kill a Mockingbird”, Harper Lee uses organization of the book to convey a message. The book is divided into two parts; each part focuses on an aspect of the story while conveying a theme. The first part is mainly an introduction to all the characters, in order for the readers to get to know the personalities of the characters. One of the character focus in part one is Boo Radley. The children, Scout, Jem and Dill, are exceptionally ...

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This is a very strong essay; on the whole it is very well written and demonstrates a high level of analytical skill. At times further links between different points in the text could be made to illustrate an in depth knowledge of the whole narrative. 5 Stars