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It must be acknowledged that there were several negative outcomes of Atticus’ decision to take on the case of Tom Robinson. For instance, when it is first discovered by the people of Maycomb that Mr. Finch has assumed the black man’s case, even their children lash out against Scout and Jem, nearly causing a fight in the schoolyard as a result (Lee 77). However, Atticus uses this as a teaching moment for his children, which is then imparted along to the vast number of readers who have studied the pages of To Kill A Mockingbird, learning the same invaluable lesson that Scout does, to “hold [one’s] head high and keep [one’s] fists down” and continue to stand and fight for what is right and just (Lee 78). Furthermore, some could question the wisdom…
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In the story Of Mice and Men many characters break social conventions with each other. Comparing Lennie and Montresour the both of them can be unpredictable. Each one has a different belief system. How this comparison is shown is how I believe they broke social conventions in favor of their own ideas…
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To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel about growing in the 1930s in the Southern United States. Scout Finch lives with her brother Jem and their father Atticus (a lawyer) in the town of Maycomb, Alabama. Maycomb is a small town, and every family has its social standing depending on where they live, who their parents are, and how long they have lived in Maycomb. Atticus raises his children by himself, with the help of neighbors and a black housekeeper named Calpurnia. Scout is a tomboy who prefers to solve her differences with her fists. She tries to make sense of a world that demands that she act like a lady, a brother who criticizes her for acting like a girl, and a father who accepts her just as she is. Scout hates school, gains most of her education on her own and from her father. Scout and Jem understand their neighborhood and town. The only neighbor they do not understand is Arthur Radley, nicknamed Boo, who never comes outside. When Dill, another neighbor's nephew, starts spending summers in Maycomb, the three children begin an obsessive quest to lure Boo outside.…
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One of Atticus’ courageous acts is when he defends Tom fairly even though many people in town are very prejudiced about the situation. Atticus says to Scout that, ‘ “...every lawyer gets at least one case in his lifetime that affects him personally. This one’s mines, I guess. You might hear some ugly talk about it at school…” ’ (Lee 101). The next day Cecil approaches Scout and says, ‘ “My folks said your daddy was a disgrace an’ that nigger oughta hang from the water-tank!” ’ ( 102). Afterwards when Jem left to help Mrs. Dubose, Scout and Atticus began talking. Then Atticus said, ‘ “...Scout, I couldn’t go to church and worship God if I didn’t try to help that man.” ’ (139). Fortitude is show when plenty of people in Maycomb oppose the idea of Atticus defending Tom with fairness. Atticus shows his boldness when he still defends Tom Robinson with fairness even though he is risking his reputation. Atticus’ courage is obviously shown in his capability to defend and support Tom despite what many in Maycomb County say, and even risking his reputation. Not only does Atticus show courage when he is bold, but also courage shows when he’s coerced to show his…
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Atticus Finch is a famous Maycomb lawyer as well as the father of the protagonist of “To Kill a Mockingbird”, Jean Louise.…
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Children have different aspects of thinking. This all depends on what their parents and what the society teaches them. Jem is an innocent child born in to the middle of the great depression, where racism was not a problem. Jem changes in the course of the story ‘To kill a mockingbird by Harper Lee’. Jem is one of the main characters in this book. He learns about the reality of the situation and learns how to deal with it. These changes are seen from the point of view of his little sister, Scout. This gives us a unique perspective of the growth of Jem and the way he changes. Jem displays qualities and traits that can be rarely seen in most kids in literature or in real life. These qualities are that he is very brave, he is very protective over his little sister and he respects his father a lot during the course of the book.…
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One of the most important lessons in To Kill a Mockingbird is to stand up for your beliefs. The character Atticus is a promonate example Harper Lee used to express the importance of standing up for your beliefs. “Atticus had used every tool available to free men to save Tom Robinson, but in the secret courts of men’s hearts Atticus had no case. Tom was a dead man the minute Mayella Ewell opened her moth and screamed.” (Lee 323). Atticus throughout the novel displays the courageous and daring act of standing up for his beliefs. Atticus presented a strong defence for the coloured man, even though he knew that there was nothing he could really do. Atticus was appointed to defend Tom Robinson in his case. Atticus took the case seriously and took it upon himself to take all evidence into close examination. “This case, Tom Robinson’s case, is something that goes to the essence of a man’s conscience-Scout, I couldn’t go to church and worship god if I didn’t try to help that man.” ( ). Atticus strongly defends Tom Robinson for his own personal beliefs and took this case ‘white vs. Black’ seriously and he has taken all odds against society to justify this man. Standing up for what you believe in is a strong way to under mind authorities and prove a strongly arguable point. Atticus did…
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To Kill a Mockingbird is a fiction novel that takes place in a small town in Alabama during the Depression, and is narrated by a little girl named Jean Louise "Scout" Finch. She is a rowdy little girl that has strong opinions, loves her family, and likes to play outside. Scout tries to get her father to excuse her from school because of the teacher that she doesn't like, Miss Caroline, who doesn't know the usual Maycomb culture. It shows how stubborn she is and that she has a very short temper for such a little girl. She loves her family and thinks her dad is a very good person, if not a little old. She and her brother Jem, who is also close to Scout, play outside all the time and even made a snowman of half dirt, half snow. Her father, Atticus Finch, is a lawyer who cares for everyone and is very kind. She loves her father very much and goes to him for advice when her life gets difficult. Scout, Jem, and their friend Dill, are interested in the rumors about a man named Boo Radley, who lives in their neighborhood but never leaves his house and some people say that at night, he comes and peers through peoples windows. A tree on the way back from school near the Radley house has a hole where things are left for Scout and Jem, like pennies, chewing gum, and soap carved figures of a little boy and girl who look like Scout and Jem. They don't know where these gifts are coming from, and when they go to leave a note for the person who gives them the gifts, they find that Boo's brother has filled the hole with cement. The next winter brings sudden snow, and Miss Maudie, Scout's favorite neighbor, has her house catch on fire. While Jem and Scout watch the fire from near the Radley house, someone puts a blanket around Scout without her realizing it. Not until she goes home, and Atticus asks her where the blanket came from, does she realize that Boo Radley must have put it around her while she…
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“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view . . . until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” says Atticus, as he gives his 6- year- old daughter, Scout, a lesson she will never forget. In the book,” To Kill a Mockingbird,” Jem and Scout experience a rape case, and learn that you never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view, like Boo Radley. As they grow up, Atticus, their father helps them realize that not everybody is not what they first seem like. To Jem and Scout, Atticus has always been there for them; whether guiding them through racial prejudice, answering their question on unknown words, and most importantly being there for them through the ups and downs. It's Atticus that changes these two children's lives, and, in my opinion, has the most courage out of all the characters in the book.…
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To Kill a Mockingbird is set in the 1930’s during the Great Depression in Maycomb, Alabama. Harper Lee, the author, wrote this book in 1960 based on “the Scottsboro Boys” Trial of 1931 to 1937. This trial accused twelve Negro men, which Tom Robinson represents in the book, of raping a woman that is considered white trash [Mayella Ewell]. At the beginning of the novel, Harper Lee introduces a white lawyer, Atticus Finch, who is all about equality and angel-like moral. Atticus hears about the Tom Robinson Trial, and takes matters into his own hands to defend the Negro Man to promote equality for all men, and to prove Tom Robinson innocent. At the end of the trial, Atticus’s closing statement consists of him saying, “Our courts are the great levelers, and in our courts all men are created equal.”Atticus’ statement is incorrect because the court of law is not equal to every man based on the facts of the extreme racist United States from the 1800’s to the 1900’s, the present day corruption in the court system, the story “Twelve Angry Men” and in Harper Lee’s “To Kill A Mockingbird” that shows prejudice stems from the naïve opinions people develop in order to establish a sense of superiority.…
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In the book To Kill a Mockingbird there are a lot of interesting people with different characters. There are those who are brave and those who are cowards. For example Atticus is the bravest character and his son Jem is also brave. On the other hand there are the disgraceful people like Bob Ewell who is the coward. There are several events that take place in the book that show the characteristics of each of these three characters.…
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Harper Lee's book, To Kill a Mockingbird, about Jem, Scout, and Dill growing up in Maycomb County and their fascination and thoughts about Arthur (Boo) Radley is very exciting and interesting. The children's personalities change drastically throughout the story as well as their views of Boo. Growing up is the process of shifting from a child to a young adult. Watching their views grow and their minds expand made the book appealing and fascinating.…
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The inspirational novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee shows us that good men can only do so much in places where evil flourishes. Throughout the novel we are faced with the reality of racial prejudice and injustice in our society and that ‘evil’ runs rampant in places particularly where good men do nothing. Only brave and just men like Atticus Finch attempt to stop the evil from flourishing. The novel also shows us the ultimate price of ignorance and failure to act- another person’s death.…
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In “To Kill a Mockingbird,” Atticus Finch included many themes in his closing speech to the jury. Some of the themes were loneliness, racism, human nature, and equality. The theme loneliness was demonstrated in the speech when Atticus attacked Mayella’s loneliness and blamed her for her child – like decision to accuse Tom Robinson for her unhappiness. “She did something every child has done – she tried to put the evidence of her offence away from her. But in this case she was no child hiding stolen contraband: she struck out at her victim …” Another theme of Atticus’s speech was racism, which was shown when the jury did not believe the word of Tom Robinson, a black man, over the word of “white trash” like the Ewells. Atticus attempted his point that Tom had been exploited and unjustly accused. “And so a quiet, respectable, humble Negro who had the unmitigated temerity to ‘feel sorry' for a white woman has had to put his word against two white people's.” Racism was also demonstrated throughout the story by how Tom Robinson was convicted purely because he was a black man and his accuser was white. The evidence was so powerfully in his favor, that race was clearly the single defining factor in the jury's decision. Human nature was one of the themes shown in Atticus’s speech. It was shown when Atticus reminded the jury that not all Negroes lie, not all are immoral, and not all can be trusted around women – black or white, and that blackness does not necessarily associate to evil. “… some Negroes lie, some Negroes are immoral, some Negro men are not to be trusted around women – black or white …” Atticus then further appealed to the jury the honest of nature. “… this is a truth that applies to the human race and to no particular race of men. There is not a person in this courtroom who has never told a lie, who has never done an immoral thing, and there is no man living who has never looked upon a woman without desire.” Lastly,…
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The title of the extract I am going to analyze is entitled «To Kill a Mockingbird» written by Harper Lee. The novel was published in 1960.The book is mainly based on the author’s recollections of her own childhood. This book is a magnificent, powerful novel in which the author paints a true and lively picture of a quiet Southern town in Alabama rocked by a young girl's accusation of criminal assault.…
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