Preview

The Theme Of Justice In To Kill A Mockingbird

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
534 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Theme Of Justice In To Kill A Mockingbird
Justice keeps America on its feet. It sets it apart from other nations. Defending the defenseless and accounting for the unaccountable, justice was worth the fight to preserve. But the fight for justice does not end on the battlefield. Through Harper Lees’ To Kill a Mockingbird, the theme of justice burrows itself in the readers mind. The Finche family fights furiously the onslaught of stricture and abuse directed toward them for taking a stand for justice. However, they are not the only ones to endure this Alamo.

Scout, the little girl who doubles as the narrator for this story, tends to be mercurial. Therefore, when her cousin, Francis, begins lampooning her father, she doesn’t hesitate to fight him. Immediately Scouts’ Uncle Jack begins to lay into her. Francis accusation are the only thing heard in the bustle and Scout gets severely reprimanded. Scout, although furious, manages to explain to her Uncle Jack in these words, “Well in the first place you never stopped to give me a chance to tell my side of it-you just lit right into me…Francis provoked me enough to knock his block off….Francis called Atticus something.” (86) Uncle Jack instantly feels terrible
…show more content…
Boo Rally, a reclusive hermit, saves Scout and Jem from certain death by stabbing their attacker with his own knife. However, the sheriff makes a decision to hide this good deed to preserve the man’s privacy. Atticus, the children’s father, is not happy about hiding the truth, but Scout tries to reassure him. “‘Mr. Tate was right.’ Atticus disengaged himself and looked at me. ‘What do you mean?’ ‘Well, it’d be sorts like shootin’ a mockingbird, wouldn’t it?’” Scouts wisdom goes beyond her years as she quotes the line “To Kill a Mockingbird” which means to harm the harmless. It would, indeed, being harming the man who saved his children to expose him to the public eye. Thanks to Heck Tate, Boo’s peace stays

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Atticus promised Scout that he would "go on reading with her every night" if she would "concede the necessity of going to school." Later on in the book, Lee infers that he kept his word. Uncle Jack promised Scout that he would not tell Atticus the real reason why Scout got into a fight with her cousin, Francis. Scout recalls, "I waited on tenderhooks, for Uncle Jack to tell Atticus my side of it" and she goes on to say that he was a "prince of a fellow not to let me down." One of the main ways Atticus and Uncle Jack differ is their views of fairness toward Scout and Jem. Uncle Jack's unfairness is indicated when he jumped to the wrong conclusion and just "lit right into" Scout without even giving her a chance to explain. Afterwards, Scout explains to Uncle Jack about Atticus's fairness when she says, "'when Jem and I fuss Atticus doesn't ever just listen to Jem's side of it, he hears mine too'". After hearing this, Uncle Jack realizes that he knows nothing about children and I think inside he admires Atticus. Through dialogue with Jack, Atticus also says, "'when a child asks you something, answer him, for goodness sake"¦children are children, but they can spot an evasion quicker than adults, an evasion simply muddles the'". This reveals how Atticus is not only fair with his children physically, but also in a knowledgeable…

    • 578 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    discrimination towards Blacks is so severe that even Atticus, Tom’s lawyer, is scolded by his…

    • 1238 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    To Kill a Mockingbird’s themes of justice, morality, and ethics are represented through the actions and beliefs of the characters Atticus, Bob Ewell, and the town of Maycomb, represented through the Missionary Society, which is controlled by the sociable white women. Justice, as in justice by law, is inherent in the novel as is justice through karma. Morality is also central to the novel; a strong sense of morality, or rather a lack of, guides the characters as the story progresses. Ethics and unethical conduct form the basis for the plotline. Harper Lee uses characters to control the events that bring conflict in To Kill a Mockingbird.…

    • 547 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Morality is the principles concerning the distinction between right and wrong or good and bad behaviour. Personal morality is a set of beliefs or code that an individual lives and abides by. To Kill a Mockingbird is an exploration of human morality, and presents a constant conversation concerning the goodness or evilness of people and moral education.…

    • 81 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Atticus Role Model

    • 1079 Words
    • 5 Pages

    He wants to get revenge on Atticus by hurting what he loves most--his children. On Halloween night, Scout and Jem are walking home from their school’s annual Halloween play when a drunken Bob Ewell abruptly attacks Scout and Jem. Scout recalls the incident and explains to Heck Tate, the sheriff, that “…all of a sudden somethin’ grabbed an’ mashed my costume…think I ducked on the ground…heard a tusslin’ under the tree sort of…they were bammin’ against the trunk, sounded like. Jem found me and started pullin’ me toward the road. Some—Mr. Ewell yanked him down, I reckon. They tussled some more and then there was this funny noise—Jem hollered…” (273). Scout later finds out that Boo saved them from Mr. Ewell, who was planning to kill them. Heck Tate tells Atticus that in the paper they will not mention that Boo Radley saved the children. Scout does not understand why they would not give Boo credit, since he saved their lives. After reflecting on the situation, she figures out that putting the truth in the paper would be like killing a mockingbird. There was a reason why Boo went inside his house and never came out, and acknowledging Boo in the paper would give him a lot of unwanted attention. Through this experience, Scout learns to respect other’s wishes. Also, because Boo turns out to be something completely different from what was expected, Scout…

    • 1079 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    In her novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee tells the story of Scout and her father…

    • 454 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Most people may not know this book was based off some of Harper Lee's childhood experiences. The theme is based off many things but main thing is moral courage and how it is used in conflict and characterization. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee shows how conflict and characterization reflected this theme of moral courage through many problems that happened and through many of the characters actions in this novel.…

    • 654 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Atticus Finch Justice

    • 565 Words
    • 3 Pages

    “There is no crueler tyranny than that which is perpetuated under the shield of law and in the name of justice.” Charles de Montesquieu. Harper Lee’s “To Kill A Mockingbird” novel presents a small town battling racism, through a dramatic court case between a black man and a white woman. Atticus Finch represents the black man, Tom Robinson, as his defense because he knows he is innocent. As a result Atticus’s children were impacted greatly by his view on justice. Atticus defines justice through respect, equality, and peace, but he couldn’t change the town drastically.…

    • 565 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view” (Harper Lee). Harper Lee wrote the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, a top selling novel that brought the nation and the world to a realization. This novel hit the stores in 1960, selling millions of copies and becoming an award winning film. She lives in a small town down in the southern part of the United States, where racism is at its highest. Harper Lee is a ninety-four year old woman whose goal in writing the novel was to bring awareness about discrimination. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Lee does an incredible job of portraying the necessity of morality, the importance of family, and the overwhelming power of justice.…

    • 792 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Social inequity is an arising issue has been affecting billions of people around the world for centuries, and it needs more attention! Even innocent teenagers have been exposed to these types of prejudices. Of course, the effects of it are not good. Different kinds of literature are useful tools for shining a light on social injustice, and writers are taking advantage of this fact and writing many novels about social inequities. Authors have been writing articles and stories about racial, social, financial and gender inequities which reflect to today’s society to try and galvanize readers into action.…

    • 1338 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    “Racism and injustice and violence sweep our world, bringing a tragic harvest of heartache and death,” Billy Graham once said. In Harper Lee’s novel “To Kill A Mockingbird Atticus is a father and a lawyer, who lives with his children, Jem and Scout, and their cook, Calpurnia, in a town of Maycomb, Alabama. Maycomb is a town populated with black and white people, where racism is apparent. White people feel they are superior than the black people and treat them poorly. Racism is evident when Tom Robinson lost the trial to Bob Ewell, because he was black, even though he is innocent. People were also being judged on appearance, or being treated improperly, like how people see the kind of person Boo Radley is in the beginning of the story. Harper Lee’s novel “To Kill A Mockingbird” is about injustice.…

    • 708 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The only way a person is able to appropriately judge someone, is if they put themselves in their shoes first. Even in the beginning of the book, Harper Lee addresses the judgement that everyone passes to each other. When Scout attends school, she automatically dislikes her teacher when she tells Scout that Atticus can’t read to her anymore. After relaying this to Atticus, he say, “ … if you can learn a simple trick, Scout, you’ll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks. You will 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” (Lee 39). By having Atticus give this advice to Scout, Lee foreshadows coming events that Scout will need to use this information.…

    • 525 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee brings up the topic of equality with court systems in her novel. Atticus Finch, father of the main character states that “our courts are great levelers, and in our courts all men are created equal” (274) Atticus is right by saying this. In Lee’s story scout defends her father’s thought by adding more evidence.…

    • 435 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Many members within the Maycomb community were heavily affected by this dramatic trial. Various emotional changes occurred among these characters before, during, and after the final verdict. Tom Robinson, Atticus Finch, and Robert Ewell were all affected severely by the trial and by the communities’ reactions. Though some may not believe, it is shown multiple times in the novel that these characters were affected by the trial.…

    • 695 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Scout and Jem learn about the power of being prejudice. Boo Radley has always been the scary-like human that everyone is scared of, for they judge him since Boo is different from everyone else. According to the people of Maycomb, Boo Radley “went out at night...and peeped in windows.” The people of Maycomb criticize Boo for not being like everyone else, for every time a crime is committed, it is blamed on Boo Radley. The townspeople believe Boo Radley is an evil guy; therefore, the legends of Boo Radley get passed down to the children, which teaches the children to become prejudice at a young age. Scout soon realizes all the rumors about Boo Radley are all lies; therefore, Scout discerns Boo Radley’s name isn’t Boo, it’s Author Radley, and he is a good guy that saved Jem and Scout lives. No one will ever know Author Radley saved Jem and Scouts’ lives because the people of Maycomb will not only begin rumors about Author Radley, but also begin to go to his house when he wants to be away from…

    • 856 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays