To Kill a Mockingbird Critical Essay

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To Kill a Mockingbird Critical Essay

A book which I have studied recently in class is “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee. In this essay I am going to write about how Harper Lee explores the main themes of the novel and which characters illustrate which theme. I will also write about the novels central message.

To Kill a Mockingbird is a coming-of-age story of Scout Finch and her brother Jem, in 1930's Alabama. The summer when Scout was six and Jem was ten, they met Dill. Dill and Jem become obsessed with the idea of making Boo Radley, the neighbourhood recluse, come out of his home. Scout and Jem's father, Atticus, is a respected lawyer in Maycomb County. When he takes on a case of a young black innocent man, Tom Robinson against two dishonest white people, Atticus knows that he will lose, but he has to defend the man because he feels he is obliged to. The case is the biggest thing to hit Maycomb County in years and it turns the whole town against Atticus. The children have to face insults and slurs against their father. Tom Robinson is sent to a work prison to await another trial, but before Atticus can get him to court again, Tom is shot for trying to escape the prison. The case is finally over and everything returns to normal until one Halloween night. On the way home from a pageant Bob Ewell attacks Jem and Scout in the dark. Boo Radley rescues Scout and her brother. In order to protect Boo's privacy, Sheriff Tate decides that Bob Ewell fell on his own knife while he was struggling with Jem. Boo Radley returns home never to be seen again.

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A recurring theme throughout the novel is the theme of courage. This theme is used as a link throughout the novel. An example of courage in the novel is Mrs Dubose.

“It's when you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do.”

In this quotation Atticus explains to scout how Mrs Dubose was a woman with courage. Even though she was going to die, she put herself through pain by not taking the morphine so she could die free. This ...

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