Preview

Literary Analysis Essay On To Kill A Mockingbird

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1759 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Literary Analysis Essay On To Kill A Mockingbird
Classic. A piece of work or art of recognized and established value that is known to be of the highest quality, an outstanding piece of its time. Classic novels are still appreciated as much today as they were when they became a hit. To Kill A Mockingbird is one of these novels labelled a classic. I had heard about the book several times before, I even read a book that mentioned To Kill A Mockingbird because it was so impactful on the main character. Without even reading To Kill A Mockingbird it already had importance in my life. To Kill A Mockingbird is my mom's favourite book from her childhood. She felt so connected to Scout at the time and was so excited to share her with me, knowing that I would feel the same way and Scout would have the same impact on me. But, I didn't completely understand all the details to their entirely and missed the writing between …show more content…
Such as not letting other people tell you who or what you should be, but just continuing to be yourself, and understanding where someone else comes from before you judge them. Scout learns this about Boo Radley. Her perspective about Boo changes as she grows up. In the beginning, she fantasizes about Boo Radley and all the unrealistic rumours she hears about him that she believes, but by the end of the book she realizes that Boo Radley is just as human as her and did none of those things. Scout now understands that there is almost always a reason behind an unusual action, thanks to Atticus, who shared with Scout that, "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." Atticus told Scout this early in the book and this is one of the many wise pieces of advice Atticus shares with Scout and Jem that really help them to develop over the course of the book and I felt that I developed with

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    "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." This quote is taken from chapter three, on page thirty of the novel. Not only is it just moral advice from Atticus to Scout, it is but a sheer beginning of Scout's magnificent path to adulthood. These simple words of wisdom from her father represented a similar way in which Atticus led his own life. He can easily relate to his children and refer to everything in a way where his kids can understand it ("climb into his skin and walk around in it"). Scout struggles with trying to put her father's advice into reality. Near the end of the novel, Scout accomplishes this by putting herself in "Boo Radley's skin" and that way shows a huge step to maturity. Scout's journey to adulthood took a giant leap thanks to her father, Atticus, who gave her moral advice that she would always remember.…

    • 694 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    She demonstrates this improved attitude through her comprehension of Atticus’ eloquent speech. Scout takes Boo upstairs to say goodnight to Jem and then walks home with him. As she is leaving the Radley house, approaching the porch, just for a moment, she imagines the world from his perspective. Her level of maturity already this far in her life supports her better understanding of her father’s speeches. She clearly demonstrates her acknowledgement when she says, “Atticus was right. One time he said you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them. Just standing on the Radley porch was enough” (Page 374). Scout took Atticus’ lesson and utilized it in her situations, she considered aspects from Boo’s perspective and saw a whole different side. Undoubtedly, Scout achieved a distinct new behavior and insight on…

    • 698 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Scout grew up to the mystery of Boo Radley as she often heard rumors and gossip throughout town. Boo Radley was feared among the children and frowned upon by the adults, but the moment he saved Jem from Mr. Ewell everything changed, especially Scout’s perspective. When Scout met him she realized the gossip was mostly misunderstandings, but even so, she noticed that Boo Radley was much simpler than what Maycomb saw him out to be. In Scout’s eyes, he was only a lonely man with no friends. When Scout walked alongside Boo Radley, leading him back home, something changed within her when she stepped onto the Radley’s porch. One of the similarities between the book and movie is the quote that was said during this distinctive scene, “Atticus was right. One time he said you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them. Just standing on the Radley porch was enough.” (pg. 279) This quote relates back to Atticus’s words in chapter three, “You never really understand a person...until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” (pg. 30), but this time, Scout finally succeeds in understanding a different perspective of the world for the first time. When she turns back and walks down the street, she sees the town in a completely new light, almost as if she is looking at it through Radley’s eyes. While she goes down the road the book reads, “I…

    • 1184 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Atticus Finch is considered to be one of the most honorable characters in American Literature. Atticus lives in Maycomb County, Alabama. He is respectful person, who looks beyond a person’s appearance and sees who they are on the inside. He keeps a calm mind, even when tempers are flaring around him. Atticus is one of the most honorable characters because of his actions, his words, and his philosophy on life.…

    • 560 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    How does an eight year old learn about the unknowns of life? In the book To Kill A Mockingbird written by Harper Lee the main character Scout is shown growing up. Scout's personality changes in many ways throughout the book.…

    • 452 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    There are many themes in the book To Kill a Mockingbird. Deceptive appearances are one of them and that is what I will prove. People like, Dolphus Raymond, Lafayette Dubose, and Boo Radley. These characters may be portrayed as drunks, mean old spirited, or psycho, but that may not be what they truly are. Deceptive appearances are presented plenty of times; they are usually people who want to be different from the population without being judged.…

    • 688 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    “The bravest of individuals is the one who obeys his or her conscience” said J.K. Clarke. In other words, he his saying that a person who does what is right rather than the easier choice requires courage. This is proven in the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee shows how brave Atticus is for putting an effort into defending Tom Robinson (a black man), when it is unacceptable in his society, and obeying his conscience.…

    • 350 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Celtic civilizations were hardy, to say the least. Withstanding the strength of Rome, they lived in some of the harshest environments in Europe, and managing to somehow prosper at the same time. As with any civilization, they told myths to explain natural phenomena, like storms and the seasons. One of the more recognizable Celtic god is Lugh, who originated in Ireland, and the Outer Hebride islands, off the coast of Scotland. Lugh is said to have hosted a contest on Ireland, and anyone who had the mettle to go up against a god could join. However, Lugh did not anticipate that Belor, the king of a race of giants known as Fomorians would accept the challenge. Through trial after trial, taxing events that…

    • 585 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    "Never judge a book by its cover." This book in reality might be a good book, but one would not know because it is judged upon what its appearance is. Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mocking Bird” has a wide variety of themes and messages in this 288 page novel. The author introduces themes like loneliness, prejudice and shows a lot of character growth. To Kill a Mockingbird is sleepy town where everyone knows one another. It is from a child’s eye perspective telling us about the interesting journeys she went through. She learns a lot of important messages from prejudice, racism, loneliness and appearance vs. reality. Many characters in this novel are looked upon as drunks, impolite, or no life outside of their work but under what everyone sees is…

    • 1015 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    As most people have read the novel “To Kill A Mockingbird” by Harper Lee, many have wondered, what contributes most to the story’s themes? Well, throughout the novel, there are three main literary elements that come into play. In the passage “‘It ain’t right, Atticus…”’(pg.284) to “I looked up, and his face was vehement”(pg.296), Harper Lee uses the literary element character, setting, and tone to develop the theme that recognizing perspectives contributes to coming of age. As many other themes in the novel, the theme will show a change in how Jem starts to view the world, and the major roles included in it, such as racism. But his perspective comes mostly from the kind of character he is.…

    • 1008 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view.” (Lee, 39). Authors have the power to show us others point of view, they can put us in their shoes. Literature teaches empathy, gives us a deeper look at things. To Kill a Mockingbird and “A Bronzeville Mother Loiters in Mississippi. Meanwhile a Mississippi Mother Burns Bacon” shows us things very differently than what we initially thought it would was. Things aren’t always what they seem, the truth is mostly being overshadowed by what others want it to be.…

    • 613 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A plot twist towards the end truly shifts Scout’s understanding of Boo Radley. Though before the plot twist, Scout already was beginning to realize Boo’s situation differently, thinking that “What Mr. Radley did was his own business. If he wanted to come out, he would. If he wanted to stay inside his own house he had the right to stay inside free from the attentions of inquisitive children” (Lee 65). Scout put herself in Boo Radley’s shoes and came up with many reasons why Boo would want to stay hidden away in his house, showing that she had figured out a new way to appreciate him aside from her curiosities and fears of him. The more she did this, the more she began to feel sympathy and “remorse” for Boo Radley (Lee 324). Upon further thought, Scout had realized how terrible it was of her and Jem to take “part in what must have been sheer torment to Arthur [Boo] Radley” (Lee 324). Before this realization, Scout had thought it was okay to pry at Boo Radley to manage to catch a glimpse of him or to find out more about him. Now with this different perception of her actions, she knows it was wrong of her and Jem to do such actions to Boo Radley. Boo Radley ends up saving Jem and Scout’s lives later on, and he is not terrifying as Jem once said he was, totally changing Scout’s perspective…

    • 908 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In “To Kill a Mockingbird” by harper lee clearly says that killing a mockingbird is a sin because it does not commit crimes,besides making its beautiful music. therefore there are a few characters in the story that could be considered to be mockingbirds.…

    • 712 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    After the dilemma of Jem and Scout being attacked by someone in the middle of the night and Mr. Bob Ewell being killed, Scout meets the one person she has been curious about the whole book: Boo Radley, the town mystery, who has just saved their lives. After his visit to Jem, Scout decides to walk Boo Radley back to his house because he is terrified of going alone. Harper Lee says, in the voice of Scout, "He had to stoop a little to accommodate me…she would see Arthur Radley escorting me down the sidewalk, as any gentleman would" (Lee, 319-320). In the town of Maycomb, the tale of Boo Radley was a popular topic, detailing a crazy man who does terrible things and is not in the correct mindset for anything. Scout does start to gain curiosity pertaining to Boo and his household through being aware of the different stereotypes and "tall tales" the town has expressed about him. Scout is still very cautious as to what to believe. The setting of the Radley house was so prominent in this scene, since it represented an unknown for Scout. She has been known to be intimidated and heedful when approaching his home in several circumstances. Regardless of what she has heard or felt about the Radley place, Scout made a very mature decision. She saw the fragile and cautious exterior of Boo (his apprehension of anything outside of his house) and decided to put her fear aside. She had the strength to…

    • 846 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “The witness of the state… have presented themselves to you… in cynical confidence that their testimonies won’t be doubted [because of]... the evil assumption - that all Negroes lie, that all Negroes are basically immoral beings.” (Lee 273). This was a line quoted from Atticus during Tom Robinson's court case in To Kill a Mockingbird. To Kill a Mockingbird took place in the early 1930’s in Maycomb County, Alabama, when many people were strongly prejudiced against blacks. Atticus said this line not only to save Tom Robinson, a black man, from the wrongful verdict of rape, but potentially even some of his town from the stifling grip of prejudice. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee demonstrated that prejudice causes lack of empathy and bias; this was shown through the words and reactions to conflicts of prejudiced characters.…

    • 774 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays