How successful is Harper Lee in establishing character & themes at the start of to kill a mockingbird.

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How successful is Harper Lee in establishing character &themes at the start of ‘T.K.A.M.B

     In order to portray how successful Harper Lee is at establishing characters and themes at the start of ‘to kill a mockingbird’ the reader needs to know a little about Harper Lee’s character to enable an understanding of how her personal life has been incorporated into the book, which could have an influence on how she builds up the characters and themes.

     Nelle Harper Lee was born in 1926 in Monroeville Alabama being the youngest of 3 children, and the daughter of a lawyer.  This is similar to the background of ‘Scout’, whose father is also a lawyer living in Alabama and the youngest of the family.  Thus Harper Lee certainly identifies with some of the characters and themes portrayed in ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’.

     She appears to have successfully created a character within Scout that is intriguing, and inspires you to continue reading to find out a little more about her ‘boyish activities’ and ‘fiery temper’. Upon introducing Scouts character there is a continuing theme of childhood and education ‘she ain’t even started school yet’.                                                     Lee cleverly draws you towards the main character, in the first chapter by her letting Scout introduce characteristics of the other’s and setting the scene for the book, creating the story through a child’s eyes, and the recognition of racial tension.  “Dill was a curiosity”, and “our mother died when I was two”,  “our father was satisfactory” “we lived on a main residential street”, “A negro would not pass the Radley place”. This feeds you information, whilst holding back on some, to allow your own imagination to wonder how Jem and Scout are really feeling, but knowing enough information about them and the setting, to allow curiosity within the reader.

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      Lee further establishes a strong theme of racism and religion “Don’t have any pictures shows here except Jesus ones”, and that was evident at this time “ some of it as previously mentioned reminiscent of her own childhood,  “being Southerners”.  This theme runs throughout the first few chapters allowing the characters, and their hereditary status to develop.

      Lee presents Scout as being very wise, she knows a lot about the town people and the history of Maycomb compared to most of the town folk her age “the Radley place was inhabited by an ...

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