EssaysForStudent.com - Free Essays, Term Papers & Book Notes
Search

To Kill a Mockingbird

By:   •  Essay  •  1,126 Words  •  February 21, 2010  •  987 Views

Page 1 of 5

Join now to read essay To Kill a Mockingbird

To Kill a Mockingbird

Mockingbirds are birds that does one thing; Making music for us to enjoy and nothing else to harm us. In the remarkable novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the mockingbird is used as symbolism for real people. Including the human mockingbirds, the novel represents other pieces of the prejudice such as racism and hypocrisy. In the little town of Maycomb in its 1930ЎЇs, the prejudice was an accepted concept for every individual and Atticus even called it a Ў®diseaseЎЇ of the town. This time-honored perception, prejudice, was very distinctly shown in the novel from its characters and the society. Prejudice does not seem like a such a big deal in the novel as it actually is now

As it was mentioned before, mockingbirds do no harm to people, and so did Boo Radley. Boo Radley was known as a malevolent evil, almost a monster to Jem, Scout, and Dill ( ). The children heard rumors from other people about Boo Radley and in spite of their young age, believed what they heard. Boo Radley just never got out of the house for some reason and that just interested and inspired them more and more to know more about him to see him. Likewise, Jem and Scout hold the opinion that it was Boo Radley who had put in gifts in the little hole of the tree for them ( ). Not only this, but Boo Radley had fixed JemЎЇs ripped pants on the day that the children tried to give a letter to Boo through his window ( ), and had put a blanket on Scout on the day of Miss MaudieЎЇs fire ( ). But the children still thought suspiciously about Boo Radley and were scared of him after all the nice things he had done for the children. Finally on the Halloween night that Bob Ewell tried to hurt the Finch children on the way back from a party, Boo Radley kills Bob Ewell and saves Jem and Scout ( ). Children then realize what kind of a person Boo Radley really was: A good person just does not want to get out of house. Boo was a mockingbird that did no harm to anybody but did only good to the children all along.

The trial of an innocent black man Tom Robinson shows just about how bad the extent of racism could get to. Although Tom Robinson was telling the truth and from AtticusЎЇs defense everything turned out to be what Tom Robinson said it was, the jury decided that Tom Robinson was guilty (233). The words of Bob Ewell and Mayella Ewell did not quiet fit. People could surely tell that they were making things up as they went on. Also Mayella did not answer some of AtticusЎЇs questions which asked if the words of Tom Robinson about the incident were true. Furthermore Mr. Gilmer stresses it was wrong for Tom Robinson to have felt Ў®sorryЎЇ for Mayella ( ). What was more immoral was that the courtroom was put to ease by that statement of Tom Robinson that he felt pity for Mayella. Townspeople actually believed that it was criminal for a black person to simply be sorry for someone. In that little town of Maycomb, it was not even okay for a black person to feel something for a white person. Who are merely the same complete person that God created. Even though the people of Maycomb knew the ConstitutionЎЇs saying that Ў®all men are created equalЎЇ the prejudice and racism in them leads them to not accept it word for word.

The hypocrisy of the society drives Mr. Dolphus Raymond to his pretense. Alongside his wealth, Mr. Dolphus Raymond lives with a black woman and has mixed children. Mr. Dolphus Raymond also is a heavy drinker. Not. Mr. Dolphus Raymond pretends to be a serious alcoholic when he actually just drinks coca-cola (170). Mr. Dolphus Raymond

Download as (for upgraded members)  txt (6 Kb)   pdf (93 Kb)   docx (12.2 Kb)  
Continue for 4 more pages »