To Kill A Mockingbird: Chapters 7-12: Themes
To Kill A Mockingbird: Chapters 7-12: Themes Over the chapters we have already analysed we have been able to identify many different themes that link the chapters together. The first of these is parenting. Atticus displays good parenting skills throughout the chapters. In chapter 9, we learn that Atticus is instilling moral values in Jem and Scout. By standing up for what he believes in and by going against what everyone else thinks in the town, he shows them that in order to get justice, you just have to have courage and belief in yourself. By continuing with the Tom Robinson case, Atticus not only displays a good role model for the kids, showing them to do what they believe is right, but he also highlights to them the prejudice in the town. Even the family turn against Atticus, because they'd rather match in and follow the rest of the town than have justice. Aunt Alexandra talks of Atticus to Scout saying how "it's bad enough he lets you all run wild, but now he's turned out a nigger lover we'll never be able to walk the streets of Maycomb again. He's ruinin' the family". However, Atticus uses all his courage to stand strong and follow what he believes is right. Even though the rest of the town see that what Atticus is doing is wrong, in actual fact he's the best role model that Scout and Jem could possibly have in their lives. However, the news that Atticus is defending
Questions on "To kill a mockingbird" Chapters 28, 29, 30 and 31
CHAPTER 28 . Comment on the way this chapter reminds the reader of earlier events in the novel? Chapter 28 is pretty action-packed, so there isn't too much time for reflection, but there are some reminders of previous events. First, as Scout and Jem walk to the school for the pageant, they pass the Radley yard. As they do, they comment, "Boo must not be at home. Listen." They pause and listen, pondering Boo, which is one of their favorite pastimes. This is reminiscent of the earlier chapters, when they were fascinated with Boo, constantly wondering about him, and playing games of daring in regards to him and his house. As they listen, they hear a mockingbird in the tree; this reminds us of Tom Robinson and his death, since the mockingbird was symbolic of Tom and his innocence, and how his death was such a travesty (like the death of a mockingbird would be). So, we can reflect on Tom a bit through that reference. When Cecil Jacobs scares them, it reminds us of how Scout almost beat him up earlier in the novel for making fun of her dad for defending Tom. As Judge Taylor laughs at Scout's tardy entrance onto the stage, this also reminds us of the trial, because he was the presiding judge. All of these little things serve as reminders of many things that have happened in the story to this point. They all merge into one action-packed and very dramatic chapter, that
To Kill A Mockingbird
"TO KILL A MOCKING BIRD" -Harper Lee Portfolio by Philipp C. Protschka Grade 9 Table of Contents .) Why the book is called "To Kill A Mockingbird"? 2.) Compare and contrast the book and the film. 3.) "To Kill A Mockingbird" takes readers to the roots of human behaviour -to innocence and experience kindness and cruelty. Love and hatred, humour and pathos." What is your view? 4.) "Shoot all the blue jays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird." Place this extract in context and discuss which characters in the book you consider to be blue jays and which characters you consider to be mockingbirds. 5.) Discuss Harper Lee's presentation of the theme of family life in To Kill A Mockingbird. You should concentrate on the Radley, Harris and Ewell families in your discussion. 6.) Discuss, using examples from the book, how Atticus raises his children. What does he teach them and what lessons do they learn in the process? 7.) Compare and contrast the characters of Scout and Jem. 8.) Write a letter from Mrs Merriweather to J. Grimes Everett. In it, ask him about his work and praise him and encourage him. The main purpose of the letter is to tell him of Tom Robinson's trial and any events (especially the reaction of the Negroes) which take place afterwards. Bear in mind that Mrs Merriweather holds strong opinions about everything and will
Discuss the importance of the first two chapters of "To Kill a Mockingbird".
‘Discuss the importance of the first two chapters of To Kill a Mockingbird’ This essay will explore the significance of the first two chapters in Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. I will be studying the narrative style, different themes within the book, the mockingbird symbol, and how social context is portrayed. The novel begins with Scout reciting her genealogy. This is significant, because it not only introduces us to the history of Maycomb, but also gives us an insight into the Maycomb society without allowing us to become part of their community; we are treated as outsiders. “If General Jackson hadn’t run the Creeks up the creek, Simon Finch would never have paddled up the Alabama, and where would we be if he hadn’t?” This quote uses many literary devices, including stream of consciousness and a rhetoric question. Stream of consciousness is a narrative device that presents the thoughts and feelings of a character as they pass through the mind; the thoughts are not crafted nor considered, they are continuous. Stream of consciousness is effective because it allows you to truly understand the narrator - you are literally reading their minds. Scout uses this device to confuse us; she is speaking about people we don’t know. This method of narration combined with a rhetorical question is very effective. It shows that Scout expects us to know her
To Kill A Mockingbird
What Message Does The Novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, Convey About Prejudice? 'To Kill a Mockingbird' was set in Alabama during the thirties and wrote the novel in the sixties when Civil Rights Movement was being written. The message of the novel is that people should not be judged according to who/what they are but should be judged on their actions and behaviours. Harper Lee shows prejudice in events like Tom Robinson's trial, also through characters like Arthur (Boo) Radley. Prejudice is also shown in the day to day activities. The novel is titled 'To kill a Mockingbird' because the mockingbird represent innocence. At the beginning of the novel Atticus tells Scout and Jem "Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit `em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird," which illustrates and explains you should not kill innocent beings. Tom Robinson is clearly a mockingbird. He is an untainted person who has in no way pained or harmed anybody and is directly and deliberately shot by society not because of justice but prejudice. The jurors sentence him to death not because he did anything wrong but because of the prejudice. He is then later shot for trying to escape this unjust ruling. So Tom Robinson just like a mockingbird is shot for no reason at all. At the beginning of the novel we are introduced to life in Maycomb, life in Maycomb is small town life where the
To Kill a Mockingbird
To Kill a Mockingbird Coursework Do you think To Kill a Mockingbird is a depressing or an optimistic novel? "When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow." This is how the novel written by Harper Lee in the 1930s starts, this awkward beginning grabs our attention before introducing us to the horrendous conditions in the 1930s. Lee offers us an awkward beginning introducing a first person narrator and other main character of the novel. If we were only to judge the novel by its first sentence, we would think that the novel narrates an adventure that Scout and Jem experience throughout the time narrated. However, as the novel and time progresses we can see how both depressing and optimistic events are narrated through Lee's use of Scout as the narrator of the story in the first person. Throughout the novel, Harper Lee presents different depressing events including not only the trial, but many other events which I will also analyse. Poverty in southern USA in the 1930s was very common. This poverty is display in the novel by the use of lower class citizens such as the Ewell. In the trail, the reader sees the Ewell social class and they realize how poor they were. Jem also call them trash when explaining to Scout how there are four types of folks. The fact that Harper Lee exhibits this poverty in the novel, and the fact that she uses Mayella
To Kill A Mockingbird - Arthur
At the beginning of the novel, Scout is an innocent, good-hearted five-year-old child who has no experience with the evils of the world. As the novel progresses, Scout has her first contact with evil in the form of racial prejudice, and the basic development of her character is governed by the question of whether she will emerge from that contact with her conscience and optimism intact or whether she will be bruised, hurt, or destroyed like Boo Radley and Tom Robinson. Thanks to Atticus's wisdom, Scout learns that though humanity has a great capacity for evil, it also has a great capacity for good, and that the evil can often be mitigated if one approaches others with an outlook of sympathy and understanding. When he agrees to defend Tom Robinson, a black man charged with raping a white woman, he exposes himself and his family to the anger of the white community. Arthur "Boo" Radley - A recluse who never sets foot outside his house, Boo dominates the imaginations of Jem, Scout, and Dill. He is a powerful symbol of goodness swathed in an initial shroud of creepiness, leaving little presents for Scout and Jem and emerging at an opportune moment to save the children. An intelligent child emotionally damaged by his cruel father, Boo provides an example of the threat that evil poses to innocence and goodness. He is one of the novel's "mockingbirds," a good person injured by the
To Kill A Mockingbird
Write about the ways that Lee shows the significance of the title in 'To Kill A Mockingbird' In part one of 'To Kill A Mockingbird' (Mockingbird) Atticus tells Jem and Scout that "it's a sin to kill a mockingbird." The word "sin" suggests that it's a crime against God and alerts the reader to the importance of what Atticus is saying. It is Miss Maudie's further explanation, however, which enables us to link the mockingbird motif to 2 characters in the novel. According to Miss Maudie, mockingbirds "don't do one thing but sing their hearts out for us." They simply make beautiful music for people to enjoy. They are innocent of wrongdoing (such as eating "up people's gardens"). Reading on through the novel, it therefore becomes obvious that the mockingbird is used asan analogy for Tom Robinson and for Boo Radley. Tom Robinson is a victim of racial prejudice; he ends up in court, fighting for his life, because he is accused of rape by Mayella Ewell. Twice during the court case, Lee makes it very specific that he is like a mockingbird. During his testimony, we hear about how often Tom Robinson tried to help Mayella with her chores. When asked why he was "so anxious to do that woman's chores", Tom replies, "Looked like she didn't have nobody to help her". Tom feels compassion for Mayella, he realises that she gets no help from her father or from the children. Like a
To Kill a Mockingbird - Maycomb County
David Pearce To Kill a Mockingbird - Maycomb County To Kill a Mockingbird is set in Maycomb County, an imaginary district in Southern Alabama. The time is the early 1930s, the years of the Great Depression when poverty and unemployment were widespread in the United States. Maycomb is home to the main characters including Atticus (The head of the Finch family household), Aunt Alexandra (Atticus's sister), (Jem) Jeremy (The oldest of Atticus's two children), (Scout) Jean Louise (The youngest of the two. She also try's to be a boy by doing boy things) and their black maid Calpurnia. They live on the main residential street in town. There are many other people living in Maycomb, who all seem to know each other very well like one big family. There are some characters that are excluded from this family, such as the Radley's. They are a dark family surrounded by rumors and different stories. Apart from this aspect of Maycomb, the rest of the town is very quiet and dreary as explained in the first few chapters. Here is what Harper Lee tells us: "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 the sidewalks, the courthouse sagged in the square." He then goes on to describe how the Great Depression effected the city: "People moved slowly then. They ambled across the square, shuffled in and
To Kill a Mockingbird.
To Kill A Mockingbird To Kill a Mockingbird The American Classic, To Kill a Mockingbird, first began as two separate short stories. Harper Lee needed a way to transform these stories into one compelling novel of human injustice. ***Throughout the novel, many themes/motifs are explored. The title of To Kill a Mockingbird carries a great deal of symbolic value. It provides a necessary function to unify the two major plot elements. In this story of innocence destroyed by evil, the mockingbird represents the idea of innocence. "I'd rather you shoot at tin cans in the backyard, but I know you'll go after birds. Shoot all the blue jays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird." Atticus is referring to the idea that a mockingbird is a harmless creature and does nothing but sing and bring happiness to the world. Miss Maudie explains to Jem: "Mockingbirds don't do one thing but ... sing their hearts out for us. That's why it's a sin to kill a mockingbird." The mockingbird is a symbol for two of the characters in the novel: Tom Robinson and Boo Radley. In the novel, the people of Maycomb only know Boo Radley and Tom Robinson by what others say about them. These two characters are harmless songbirds that are sinfully destroyed. In the beginning of the story, Boo represents the unknown. The children of Maycomb believe that anything that comes from
