To Kill A Mockingbird Religion Analysis
In Harper Lees’, To Kill A Mockingbird, the community of Maycomb County is full of varied religious perspectives. Lee uses religion as framework for everything that happens in the community with examples that are both harmonious and conflicting. In doing so, religion has both a positive and negative impact. On one hand it can be interpreted as happiness, unity and charitable goodwill. On the other, it can be seen as the cause of hatred, violence and segregation. Atticus sets the moral standard for the town of Maycomb in a positive way. He shows conviction in doing what is right in the eyes of God, and stands up for what he believes in. He explains his reasons to defend Tom Robison to Scout with a religious message saying, “This case,
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She helps educate Scout on religion as she sees it in the town of Maycomb, explaining she often has regular confrontations with the Baptists, “Foot-washer’s believe anything that is pleasure is a sin. Did you know some of ‘em came out of the woods one Saturday and passed by this place and told me me and my flowers were going to hell” (59). Her perspective is more open-minded without taking religion and what happens in the afterlife too seriously, “There are just some kind of men who—who’re so busy worrying about the next world, they’ve never learned to live in this one, and you can look down the streets and see the results” (60). A negative perspective can be seen through the conflicts between blacks and whites and the segregation of the churches they worship in. Calpurnia tries to break the segregation barrier by bringing white children into a black service, and when told they are not welcome, “you ain’t got no business bringin’ white chillun here—they got their church, we got our’n” (158) she argues, “It’s the same God, ain’t it?” (158). Lee portrays a variety of religious perspectives through warm hearted church goers, judgmental “foot washing” Baptists and those that are somewhere in between. She bases the daily lives of all the different people in Maycomb County on the importance of their religious
She helps educate Scout on religion as she sees it in the town of Maycomb, explaining she often has regular confrontations with the Baptists, “Foot-washer’s believe anything that is pleasure is a sin. Did you know some of ‘em came out of the woods one Saturday and passed by this place and told me me and my flowers were going to hell” (59). Her perspective is more open-minded without taking religion and what happens in the afterlife too seriously, “There are just some kind of men who—who’re so busy worrying about the next world, they’ve never learned to live in this one, and you can look down the streets and see the results” (60). A negative perspective can be seen through the conflicts between blacks and whites and the segregation of the churches they worship in. Calpurnia tries to break the segregation barrier by bringing white children into a black service, and when told they are not welcome, “you ain’t got no business bringin’ white chillun here—they got their church, we got our’n” (158) she argues, “It’s the same God, ain’t it?” (158). Lee portrays a variety of religious perspectives through warm hearted church goers, judgmental “foot washing” Baptists and those that are somewhere in between. She bases the daily lives of all the different people in Maycomb County on the importance of their religious