How effectively does Harper Lee use Scouts rite of passage to explore prejudice of the American South in the 1930's?
In the book To Kill a Mockingbird the town in which the story is based is small 'tired old town' called Maycomb; where most people are poor and also where there is not a lot of money to spare. Everybody seems to know everybody's business and there is also a lot of idle tongues and small town gossip. But most of all there is racism and prejudice. This is shown mainly by Tom Robinson a black man being accused of raping a white girl; Mayella Ewell. Most of the people in Maycomb believed he was guilty while others thought him to be innocent; especially his defendant Atticus Finch. This book was set in the times of the Jim Crow laws and these would consist of set rules for white and black people.
The story is told through the eyes of a young girl called Scout; she is six years old at the beginning of the novel; she has an older brother called Jem who is 'four years her senior' who she gets along with extremely well as she is a tomboy herself. Scout is Tom's defendant, Atticus' daughter; so Scout also believes that Tom Robinson is innocent as she hears a lot of the stories her Father tells her about the case. Harper Lee has a unique way of telling the story through a child's point of view growing up throughout the novel, then an adult's approach from looking back on her childhood. From this way of writing we see the proceedings of Scouts childhood through a child's eyes but in an adult's point of view. This is an effective way of doing this as Scout is young, naïve and asks a lot of questions which makes people think about how to respond. In doing this the reader also learns along with Scout. This implies that at Scout's young age she is very intelligent as she is being taught many lessons throughout the book.
In the book To Kill a Mockingbird the town in which the story is based is small 'tired old town' called Maycomb; where most people are poor and also where there is not a lot of money to spare. Everybody seems to know everybody's business and there is also a lot of idle tongues and small town gossip. But most of all there is racism and prejudice. This is shown mainly by Tom Robinson a black man being accused of raping a white girl; Mayella Ewell. Most of the people in Maycomb believed he was guilty while others thought him to be innocent; especially his defendant Atticus Finch. This book was set in the times of the Jim Crow laws and these would consist of set rules for white and black people.
The story is told through the eyes of a young girl called Scout; she is six years old at the beginning of the novel; she has an older brother called Jem who is 'four years her senior' who she gets along with extremely well as she is a tomboy herself. Scout is Tom's defendant, Atticus' daughter; so Scout also believes that Tom Robinson is innocent as she hears a lot of the stories her Father tells her about the case. Harper Lee has a unique way of telling the story through a child's point of view growing up throughout the novel, then an adult's approach from looking back on her childhood. From this way of writing we see the proceedings of Scouts childhood through a child's eyes but in an adult's point of view. This is an effective way of doing this as Scout is young, naïve and asks a lot of questions which makes people think about how to respond. In doing this the reader also learns along with Scout. This implies that at Scout's young age she is very intelligent as she is being taught many lessons throughout the book.
